If you sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in an Indiana traffic crash – or in any other situation where you’re injured because someone else was negligent – discuss your rights and options, and particularly your right to compensation, at once with an Indiana brain injury attorney.
Every year in the United States, over one million people are treated for traumatic brain injuries. If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence, your attorney will fight for the compensation – for your pain, suffering, medical bills, disability, and lost wages – that you are entitled to by Indiana law.
If you’ll keep reading, you will learn more about the different types of brain injuries, and you will also learn more about your legal rights as an injured victim of negligence in the State of Indiana.
How Are Brain Injuries Classified?
Every traumatic brain injury is unique. Traumatic brain injuries are categorized according to the type of brain injury and according to the injury’s severity.
Types of traumatic brain injuries include:
- concussions (the most common traumatic brain injury)
- contusions
- diffuse axonal injuries
- coup-contrecoup injuries
- penetration by a foreign object into the brain
Doctors additionally categorize a traumatic brain injury’s level of severity as severe, moderate, or mild.
What Should You Know About Concussions?
A concussion is usually caused by a blow or jolt to the head. Violently shaking the head can also cause a concussion. The effects of a concussion are typically temporary and may include headaches, coordination and balance difficulties, and problems with memory and concentration.
Physical symptoms of a concussion include nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, a ringing in the ears, sleep disorders, and constant drowsiness or fatigue. Mild concussions are common in sports accidents and traffic accidents, but even a mild concussion may cause long-term difficulties.
Most people recover fully after sustaining a concussion, but second and subsequent concussions can lead over time to cumulative neurological damage. After an initial concussion, repeated concussions must be avoided.
Can Concussions Be Prevented?
Below are several basic recommendations for helping you avoid concussions, contusions, and other types of brain injuries:
- Wear protective gear when you participate in sports and recreational activities. Be sure that the gear is worn properly and fits properly. Wear a helmet when you are bicycling, snowboarding, motorcycling, or engaging in any activity that could cause a head injury.
- When you’re traveling in a vehicle, use your safety belt. A safety belt may prevent a concussion, a contusion, or another type of head injury in a traffic accident.
- Stay safe around the house. Keep your residence well-lit and your floors free of debris. Slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall incidents around the house are a leading cause of concussions, contusions, and other brain injuries.
What Are Your Rights if You’re Injured by Negligence?
Brain injury victims and their families often face overwhelming financial pressures. The most serious TBIs require extensive rehabilitation, multiple surgeries, and lifelong patient care, and a personal injury claim can offer TBI victims the resources to cover the treatment they need.
In Indiana, if you have suffered a concussion, a contusion, or any other type of traumatic brain injury because of someone else’s negligence, after a medical provider has examined and treated you, schedule a consultation at once to speak with an Indiana brain injury lawyer.
In this state, an injured victim of another person’s negligence is entitled by law to compensation for his or her medical expenses and projected future medical expenses, lost wages and projected future lost wages, personal suffering and pain, and other related damages and losses.
How Are Traumatic Brain Injury Claims Handled?
Whether you can recover compensation for a traumatic brain injury will depend on how the injury happened and who is responsible. Concussions and other brain injuries are frequently caused by someone else’s negligence in, for example, motor vehicle collisions, slip-and-fall incidents, sports accidents, construction accidents, and steel mill explosions.
An Indiana brain injury attorney can offer sound guidance and advice to TBI victims and their loved ones. Your attorney will protect your legal rights, identify the person or persons who may be liable for your injury, and fight on your behalf for the compensation you need and deserve.
In Indiana, most personal injury claims arising from brain injuries are resolved in private negotiations with the liable party (or with that party’s attorney and insurance company). Typically, a traumatic brain injury victim does not even have to make a court appearance.
However, if liability for your brain injury is disputed, or if no reasonable settlement offer is forthcoming in the out-of-court negotiations, your attorney can take your case to trial, explain to a jury how you were injured, and ask that jury to order the payment of your full compensation.
When Should You Contact a Brain Injury Attorney?
The statute of limitations – that is, the deadline in Indiana for filing a personal injury claim arising from a traumatic brain injury – is in most cases two (2) years from the date you were injured.
Although rare, there are some exceptions when the statute of limitations is paused or extended, so if you sustained a traumatic brain injury more than two years ago, go ahead and speak with an attorney to determine if your case may qualify as an exception.
But if you sustained a brain injury recently because someone else was negligent, contact an Indiana brain injury lawyer now. Your lawyer will need to examine any evidence while it’s still fresh and speak to any witnesses before their recollections begin to fade.
Can You Afford an Attorney’s Help?
Most personal injury attorneys in Indiana represent their clients on a contingent fee basis, so you would pay no fee to an attorney until you receive compensation, and if for any reason you are not compensated at the end of the personal injury process, you will owe no fee to your attorney.
Your first consultation with a brain injury attorney is provided with no cost or obligation. It’s your opportunity to receive the personalized legal advice you need, to learn how the law applies in your own case, and to decide if you should move forward with a personal injury claim.
Do not take any chances with a brain injury. Seek or summon medical attention at once after any blow to the head. After you’ve been treated, arrange to meet with a personal injury attorney who will fight for your legal rights and for the compensation and justice you need.