Brain Injury

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

It’s quite easy to define what a traumatic brain injury is. You could go to the New England Journal of Medicine or a third year medical textbook if you so desired, but a TBI is so straightforward that going to Wikipedia should suffice:

“Traumatic brain injury (TBI, also called intracranial injury) occurs when an outside force traumatically injures the brain.”

That’s simple enough. Traumatic brain injuries happen when people hit their heads very hard. Somebody falls, or gets into a car accident, or something falls and lands on them, and the brain takes some damage. And even though they sound like rare occurrences, traumatic brain injuries actually happen with astonishing frequency.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million people suffer from traumatic brain injuries every year. Of these 1.4 million, 50,000 people die, while 235,000 of them suffer injuries that are severe enough to cause them to be hospitalized for an extended period of time.

So the occurrences are often enough, and the definition is easy enough to sort out, but when it comes to how a traumatic brain injury affects the victim, there is no such thing as an easy definition. The reason for this is that the brain is an incredibly complex organ that even modern medicine is still attempting to figure out. It controls all of the functions of the body, from sight to balance to movement to breathing to speech to the ability to eat. The brain handles literally everything. So if there is damage to the brain, there is no shortage of things that can go wrong with the body.

 

Since the brain is such a crucial part of body function, it is difficult to classify any form of traumatic brain injury as “minor.” A victim who has had his cognitive abilities affected might not find it to be “minor” if he works as an accountant. A victim who has had a TBI that results in emotional difficulties might not find it to be “minor” if she works as a preschool teacher.

As difficult as adjusting to life after a brain injury can be, it is an unfortunate reality that receiving compensation from an insurer can be even harder. While many injury cases are straightforward and are relatively simpler to resolve, injury to the brain is simply harder to prove.

For instance, if you got into a car accident and broke your leg, it doesn’t take much to prove to an insurance company that it is broken. The damage from a broken leg is perfectly visible. Brain injuries can be another matter entirely. An injury to the brain is internal, and the effects of brain injuries often manifest themselves in ways that alter moods or behavior. In other words, insurance companies can and will make it seem like the difficulties that brain injury victims go through are either psychological in nature or made up entirely.

Despite all the advertising and marketing to the contrary, the main purpose of an insurance company is to make money. The most efficient way for them to do this is to limit their financial responsibilities to injury victims as much as they possibly can. Since the effects of a brain injury are not immediately visible or immediately obvious, insurers will often take a gamble on a court date rather than simply offer fair compensation to the injured.

This is why having an experienced attorney is crucial towards receiving fair compensation in the event of a brain injury. Not having qualified and experienced legal help could be the difference between receiving the compensation necessary to help you get your life back on track and receiving nothing at all.

Greenberg and Bederman is an injury law firm based in Washington, D.C. We have years of experience in helping victims of traumatic brain injuries, and we can help you get past the delays and denials of the insurance companies. If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury due to no fault of your own, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free brain injury legal consultation today. We have offices in Silver Spring and Baltimore, and can assist injury victims in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
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