Brain Injury Attorney Little Rock, Arkansas
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are devastating and can lead to long-term health problems and disability. In the blink of an eye, your whole world can get turned upside down when you suffer a brain injury. While some people will recover from their brain injury, others may face a lifetime of physical and mental impairment.
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury, it is essential to consult with an experienced Arkansas brain injury attorney. At Rainwater, Holt & Sexton, we can help you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Our lawyers know how to fight insurance companies aggressively at every turn. We work with medical teams to identify how your specific brain injury will affect your life and future, and we use this to build a case for you and your loved ones. After all, we know that living life with a brain injury isn’t easy. It takes considerable resources to pay for medical bills, rehabilitation, and home care. That’s why we don’t back down when we negotiate with insurers on behalf of our clients. Our Arkansas brain injury lawyers will work to protect your future every step of the way.
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- What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
- Types of Brain Injuries
- Signs & Symptoms of a Brain Injury
- Common Causes of a Brain Injury
- How to Prove Your Brain Injury Claim
- What Compensation Can Brain Injury Victims Recover?
- How a Brain Injury Attorney Can Help
- How to Choose the Right Brain Injury Attorney
- Contact Us
What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A Traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. This can happen when an object hits the head, when the head hits an object, or when the brain gets shaken. Traumatic brain injuries most commonly occur after car accidents, falls, and assaults.
TBIs can range from mild to severe and cause various physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms.
While mild TBIs may result in a concussion, more severe TBIs can cause coma or even death. Because of the complex nature of brain injuries, personal injury cases involving TBIs can be challenging to win without an Arkansas brain injury lawyer on your side. For this reason, it is crucial to seek the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer if you have been involved in an accident that has left you with a brain injury.
Types of Brain Injuries
The type of brain injury you suffer will depend mainly on the location of the injury and how the injury occurred.
Some common types of brain injuries include:
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a more severe type of brain injury. It occurs when a large amount of force is exerted on the brain, such as from a fall from a great height or being in a car accident where your head hits something hard. A TBI can cause bleeding in the brain, swelling, and damage to brain cells.
A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. It often occurs alongside an impact to the head or after a whiplash injury. The symptoms of a concussion are relatively mild compared to more serious and life-threatening traumatic brain injuries. While concussions are not life-threatening, they do cause symptoms that require immediate medical attention. Some concussions can result in significant long-term disability and suffering.
A brain contusion is essentially a bruise to the brain. When trauma occurs, the brain tissue can get bruised and swollen. This can result in loss of oxygen to the tissue and other bleeding. Contusions are often found on the front and side of the brain, where the skull is the thinnest.
A coup brain injury refers to the side of the injury in relation to the point of impact. If the patient suffered a hit to the right side of the head and the brain injury is on the right side, then it is a coup brain injury. If the brain injury occurs on the side opposite the point of impact, it is considered a contrecoup brain injury.
This is the most severe form if a patient suffers both a coup and contrecoup injury simultaneously. Permanent brain damage risks are often high with coup-contrecoup injuries.
These injuries are most common when the brain gets shaken back and forth. Car accidents, falls, and shaken baby syndrome are the most common causes of diffuse axonal injuries. These brain injuries often result in loss of consciousness and can result in a coma in severe cases.
This brain injury occurs when an object penetrates the skull and damages the brain. These injuries are often complex because they involve skull fractures and foreign objects possibly embedded into brain tissue. Gunshots, stab wounds, and abuse are some of the most common causes of penetrating brain injuries
Signs & Symptoms of a Brain Injury
Some brain injuries can have serious consequences, including physical, cognitive, and emotional impairments. Depending on the severity of the injury, a person may experience some or all of these symptoms. In severe cases, brain injuries can even be fatal.
It is important to seek medical attention immediately if you suspect that you or someone else has suffered a brain injury. Early diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve the chances of a successful recovery.
Brain injuries can have a wide range of effects, depending on the type and severity of the injury.
Severe Brain Injury Symptoms
If you suffer from a severe brain injury, you might experience all the symptoms of a mild brain injury and more serious and life-threatening symptoms. Severe brain injury symptoms include:
- Loss of consciousness
- Persistent and worsening headache
- Repeated nausea and vomiting
- Convulsions or seizures
- Pupil dilation
- Inability to wake up
- Weakness or loss of coordination
- Clear fluid draining from the nose and ears
- Slurred speech
- Coma
If you or someone you know has suffered a brain injury, it is important to seek medical attention immediately.
Mild Brain Injury Symptoms
A mild brain injury can cause a wide range of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms, including:
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping
- Sensitivity to light and noise
- Difficulties with concentration and memory
- Mood swings or changes in personality
How to Prove Your Brain Injury Claim
After suffering a brain injury, the last thing you want to think about is compensation. However, getting the money you need to pay for your treatment and recovery is crucial. To do this, you must hire an experienced Arkansas brain injury lawyer to represent you. Your attorney will need to build your case to show the insurance company how much you’ve suffered and the damages you’ve incurred.
Your attorney must establish four key elements when proving a brain injury claim. These are the same elements as any personal injury claim.
A duty of care is the legal responsibility of a person or organization to proactively prevent harm to others. In the case of brain injury, this means taking precautions to protect people from accidents that could lead to brain damage. This might involve ensuring that dangerous materials are properly labeled and stored, maintaining a safe workplace environment, or driving safely.
For example, drivers must safely operate their vehicles to avoid injuring other motorists or pedestrians.
Breach of duty is a legal term used to describe the failure of a person to fulfill their duty of care. To prove liability and negligence in a personal injury case, your attorney must show that the defendant owed you a duty of care, which they breached. For example, a driver breaches this duty of care by speeding or driving recklessly and causing an accident. If they breach their duty of care, they can be held liable for any resulting injuries.
In a brain injury case, the defendant’s breach of duty must have led to you suffering damages. Many damages include medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. To recover these damages, you and your legal team must typically prove that you suffered damages.
To recover damages from the defendant, you and your Arkansas brain injury attorney must also show that the breach of duty caused their injuries. This is known as causation.
For example, if your attorney can show that the defendant’s speeding caused your injuries, you can recover damages from the defendant for those injuries. However, if you cannot show that the defendant’s actions caused your injuries, you cannot recover damages.
What Compensation Can Brain Injury Victims Recover?
When you suffer a brain injury due to the negligence of another, you can seek compensation for your losses. In general, you may recover three main types of damages in a brain injury lawsuit: economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are quantitative damages. You can measure these losses easily with receipts, bills, and data. Monetary damages include both past and future losses, including:
- Medical bills
- Rehabilitation expenses
- Long-term care
- Lost wages, earnings, and benefits
- Future loss of income
- Damage to property
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are awarded in cases where the defendant’s actions were particularly egregious, and courts award these damages to punish the offender and deter others from engaging in similar behavior. In Arkansas, there is no cap on economic or non-economic damages, but punitive damages are capped.
Non-economic Damages
These damages are more difficult to quantify because they’re subjective, and no two injured accident victims suffer similarly. Some examples of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
How a Brain Injury Attorney Can Help
As anyone who has gone through a legal process can attest, having an attorney by your side can be immensely helpful. This is especially true in the case of a brain injury, where the stakes are high, and the path to recovery is often complicated.
An Arkansas brain injury lawyer can help you navigate the legal system, protect your rights, and ensure you receive the compensation you need to recover. They can also help you connect with expert witnesses and gather evidence to support your case.
In short, an attorney can provide invaluable assistance if you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury. If you are facing such a situation, don’t hesitate to seek legal help. It could make all the difference in the outcome of your case.
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