Difference Between a Brain Injury vs. a Traumatic Brain Injury
There is a difference between a traumatic brain injury and a brain injury. However, both are not good diagnoses. It is considered a traumatic brain injury if you sustain a sudden and violent blow or shaking to the head.
A traumatic brain injury causes a disruption in the brain’s function. This disruption can be short-term or permanent, where you cannot function independently and need custodial help for a while or the rest of your life. Function depends on how severe the injury was to the brain. Worst-case scenario, you could die from a traumatic brain injury.
An example of a traumatic brain injury would be,
- A gunshot to the head
- Blunt force trauma to the skull, shattering the skull bones
- A severe car accident where your head goes through the windshield or violently hits the dashboard
- A slip and fall accident
- In the active military
Some side effects include, but are not limited to, torn tissue, punctured brain tissue, bruising, bleeding, hematomas, and physical damage to the brain. There are four types of brain injuries. All types are serious. The cost of caring for you with a brain injury depends mainly on the severity and prognosis.
- Contusions
- Penetrating
- Concussions
- Anoxic brain injury
A concussion is the most common and mildest type of brain injury commonly seen in sports injuries, car accidents, and unexpected blows to the head, such as if you were to fall and hit your head on a hard floor or another object.
No matter the severity of the traumatic brain injury, you will find it challenging because a brain injury suddenly stops your daily activities and schedule either short-term or for the rest of your life.
If you sustain a severe traumatic brain injury, your family may have no option but to admit you to a long-term or permanent rehab center. A traumatic brain injury affects your quality of life, finances, and physical and mental health.
Often the doctor may miss the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, and you will eventually see an increased loss of finances and quality of life. This can be attributed to a diagnosis of closed head injury, which is slow to diagnose.
Insurance companies are becoming pickier in covering particular diagnoses, such as brain injuries, no matter how quickly you are diagnosed and treated. More insurance companies deny those costs associated with a brain injury, putting you in financial ruin.
However, if your brain injury was caused by the negligent actions of some other person, you may be able to file a compensation claim to help pay for mounting, unexpected, and unusual costs associated with your injury. Someone must pay for these expenses; it cannot be you, the victim.
Few people enjoy filing a lawsuit against another person over their accident. Never feel guilty about filing a claim. If the person was clearly negligent and their negligence caused great harm, you have no option but to seek compensation. Few people have the extra money to fund a traumatic brain injury.
While concussions require a few days of bed rest, more severe brain injuries can change your life forever. Those people who are more susceptible to traumatic brain injuries are men, seniors, and infants.
- Any person who is an athlete is at high risk of a brain injury.
- Men are more susceptible to TBI.
- Seniors are at high risk of slip and fall accidents and can quickly hit their heads, causing a brain injury.
- Infants are at high risk of being dropped or falling and hitting their heads or can be victims of shaking syndrome.
- Any person at any age can suffer a traumatic brain injury from a car accident.
Calculating the Cost of a Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury costs are as vast and varied as the injury. The deciding factor in costs depends on the severity of the brain injury, and you must know the degree of the injury before calculating the costs. Consider the three different categories of brain injuries. Each type of brain injury carries a cost with it, and these costs significantly increase depending on the severity of the injury.
Regardless of the three types of brain injury, you can expect a lot of testing such as blood work, x-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, surgery, and more. Depending on the level of trauma, you can expect weeks of testing.
A Mild Concussion
This injury may cause you to black out for a brief time, possibly 15 to 30 minutes. When you awaken, you have a tendency to feel dizzy, have a headache, blurred vision, feeling dazed, and you may experience a slight temporary memory loss of up to 24 hours.
A mild concussion may mean you must spend a night or two in the hospital, or you may go home. At any rate, your activity and work will be on hold until you recover, usually a week or less. While the costs of a mild concussion are less, you will still have unexpected expenses and perhaps loss of wages for a few days.
A Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury
This injury usually causes you to be unconscious for more than 30 minutes. You can expect some days in the hospital for advanced testing. If the doctor says you can go home, you will be restricted and unable to go to work for a week or more, depending on your healing progress.
The expenses for this moderate injury will be more than seen in a common concussion.
A Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
This injury may mean you are hospitalized for several days, weeks, or months. You may be transferred to a rehabilitation facility for therapy.
- You may recover, or you may experience a total life change.
- Perhaps you will need nursing care for the rest of your life.
- Perhaps you will be able to rehabilitate to your highest quality of life, which is nowhere near what you are used to living.
This brain injury can cost millions of dollars considering 24/7 nursing care, facility care, loss of wages, mounting medical debt, and much more. The list of needs and their costs can be unlimited and mind-boggling.
Our Expertise is in Calculating Injuries
The costs for a significant traumatic brain injury are enormous and complicated for you to calculate, considering all of your medical and custodial needs.
Our licensed, seasoned, and experienced attorneys can look at your case, review your accident, medical records, legal documents, and police reports, and accurately calculate your past, present, and future costs. You should not have to worry about finances while trying to recover and get back to life. Let us worry about dealing with the specifics of your accident and how you will pay your bills.
The problem is that you and thousands of others suffering from a traumatic brain injury due to someone else’s negligent actions must never pay a cent for their medical expenses, lost wages, and necessary rehabilitation.
The negligent person must pay for their mistake. Insurance companies must also settle for compensation amounts that are fair to you. The list of costs specific to traumatic brain injuries can be as follows.
- Doctors
- Specialized doctors and surgeons
- Hospital
- Surgical procedures
- Expensive tests
- Loss of wages
- Loss of personal property
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of quality of life and much more
The problem is that insurance companies do not want to pay the victim more than they have to pay. Insurance companies try to settle out of court for compensation amounts that do not begin to pay for your losses and will try every trick they know to make this happen.
We know all the tricks that insurance companies use to keep from paying victims. One trick is to make you look like the person at fault for your brain injury. They attempt to help the negligent person look like the victim so they can walk away from the accident they caused and not pay you anything.
We have been in the business of helping those hurt by the negligent actions of other people receive compensation for injuries. We would like to look at your circumstances to see if we can help you and your family. You suffered enough from your injuries brought about by a negligent person’s actions.
You should not pay a cent for those unexpected and exorbitant medical costs due to someone’s negligent actions.
Mild to severe brain injuries have costs attached to a time that never seems to end. In addition to the total medical costs, these injuries cause other losses not associated with money that can be forever lost. In other words, no amount of money can help recover these losses.
- Pain and suffering
- Memory loss
- Loss of quality of life
- Loss of motor skills
- Loss of body functions
- Loss of vision
- Loss of sense of smell
- Loss of hearing
- Chronic depression
- Loss of companionship
There have been enough reported and documented traumatic brain injuries at all levels that these various costs can be closely calculated. When calculating TBI costs, there are differences between various cities and healthcare facilities. Rarely are any two TBI circumstances the same or calculate the same amount. Cost-related calculations stem from research by the United States National Library of Medicine. As the years pass, these costs will likely continue to increase.
These costs do not include all total medical costs.
- In-hospital costs of at least $2,100 to upwards of over $400,000. These amounts depend on the length of your hospital stay and the care needed.
- According to the CDC, the total annual costs for non-fatal TBIs exceed $40 billion.
- You can expect to pay upwards of $6,500 for one emergency room visit.
- Loss of typical wages across the nation is calculated to be $1,600 or more for eleven days of loss of work.
Because traumatic brain injuries are a diagnosis that does not heal quickly, the time needed for healing if the prognoses expect complete healing is lengthy and can exceed five years.
While medical costs are exorbitant, the ensuing drive up these medical costs further. No individual can afford to keep up with these costs. For this reason, seeking legal counsel and considering filing for compensation to pay for past, present, and future expenses is vital.
- Rehabilitation facility care
- Therapy services such as physical, occupational, speech, and psychological therapy
- Medications
- Durable medical equipment necessary for recovery
- In-home assistance, from custodial care to cleaning
- Possible home remodeling to accommodate disabilities
- Travel expenses to and from doctor and therapy appointments
- Loss of wages
- Loss of quality of life
- Loss of companionship with spouse and children
Traumatic brain injury cases are highly complicated and complex. If you suffer from TBI, never think you can seek these tough losses yourself. Few, if any, victims and their families we represent can pay for these catastrophic costs. Whoever caused your injuries were negligent in their actions, and they and the insurance companies need to take the responsibility to pay for your losses.
All states may differ in their laws and limitations statutes. Our firm represents five locations in three states, and our expertise is in knowing the laws in these states.
- Tacoma, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Eugene, Oregon
- Everett, Washington
- Salt Lake City, Utah
Residents and traumatic brain injury victims in our locations must give us a call as soon as possible. We can explain the statute of limitations and the steps we must take to recoup your losses. When your statute of limitation passes, you can no longer file for a settlement to pay for all your losses. For this reason, we urge you to call our firm as soon as possible.
We urge you to not accept any settlement amounts from any insurance companies involved in your case until you speak with one of our esteemed attorneys. These settlement offers are never enough to cover all your costs.
You cannot refile a claim if you accept an insurance company’s settlement and find out that the settlement does not cover your costs. Your case is closed!
A Call to Action to Stop the Actions of a Negligent Person
If you are a resident of Washington, Oregon, or Utah and sustained a traumatic brain injury, Strong Law attorneys are here to help you and your family can recoup the costs that this injury cost you. We are licensed, experienced, and highly seasoned attorneys. We represent an award-winning group of attorneys who want to help you and your family.
It makes no difference if you are partially at fault. Let us look at your case and determine who is at fault. For example, you have three years to file a settlement claim in Washington, Oregon, and Utah.
These states will not cap your damages, meaning the recovery cost could be astronomical and allowable, but we need to look at your case before we can tell you how we can help.
We urge you to never allow an insurance company, the negligent party, and their attorneys get away with not paying you compensation. The negligent person (s) may repeat this action to another unsuspecting victim. We want to stop the person and their attorneys in their tracks.
