New Jersey Brain Injury Lawyers

Sustaining a brain injury or loving someone who has sustained a brain injury can be a traumatizing and life-altering experience. This is particularly true when the injury was not the victim’s fault but a result of someone else’s negligent behavior. In what is likely to be one of the most challenging times of your life, an experienced New Jersey personal injury lawyer may be able to take some of the burden. 

Working with our team at the Law Offices of Lloyd E. Bennett, you will get a dedicated and compassionate team that can handle your case with the understanding and dedication it deserves. With decades of experience, you will know that our team can effectively manage what comes our way. If someone else’s negligence has caused your injury, you should not have to absorb those costs. 

Understanding Brain Injury

Brain injury can be widely defined as any injury to the brain. It can include something minor like a slight concussion that heals in a week or two or an injury that leaves you unable to live independently or complete tasks. In the case of a severe injury, it can be fatal. Even for those who make a full recovery, a brain injury can be devastating. This may be from the stress of being injured and recovering or from missed pay from being unable to work because of the injury. 

Causes of TBI

Commonly, we see the term Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which refers to a brain injury sustained in an accident or from an impact or penetration of some kind. This is a common cause of injury, but medical events like cerebral ischemia are also a common mechanism of injury. Ischemia occurs when blood flow is blocked to an area of the body. In this case, that’s the brain. An event like a stroke or embolism can cause this. A condition like this can quickly become debilitating or life-threatening and should be treated as a medical emergency. Beyond a medical event, some common causes of brain injury are:

• Sports injury: high contact sports can frequently cause concussions
• Blast injury: Shrapnel penetrating the skull can cause injury, as can the force exerted from an explosion
• Crush injury: crush injuries can cause skull fractures that cause injury
• Gunshot wound: a bullet entering the skull and brain can cause injury
• Vehicle accident: A negligent driver causing an accident may result in brain injury
• Fall: an inattentive or negligent property owner or manager may be responsible for unsafe property
• Abuse: Brain injury from child abuse is most common in children under four years old and can include shaken baby syndrome
• Drugs: Drug abuse or misuse may result in a medical event causing injury
• Medical malpractice: A negligent physician, surgeon, or care provider may be responsible for your brain injury
• Product Defect: A product that has not been appropriately designed or marketed may malfunction, causing any number of injuries that result in a brain injury

New Jersey Brain Injury Statistics

Though anyone can sustain a brain injury in the right circumstances, some populations are more at risk than others. The New Jersey Department of Health(NJDOH) states that a large percentage of TBIs occur in individuals under 35 years old and then sees a sharp increase in individuals over 65. The National Library of Medicine source cited above also tells us that men are more likely to sustain a brain injury at any age. The health department also reports that the state sees between 12,000 and 15,000 new brain injuries each year, resulting in around 1000 deaths. It is estimated that nearly 200,000 people living in New Jersey are living with a disability caused by brain injury.  

Symptoms of Brain Injuries

Symptoms of a brain injury can vary depending on the severity of the injury and the part of the brain that is damaged. In some cases, the victim may experience slight dizziness, nausea, or headache but is otherwise fine. In other cases, it can be fatal, but for those injuries that fall in the middle, a source from the National Library of Medicine cites common symptoms as:

• Loss of consciousness
• Confusion
• Blurred vision
• Fatigue 
• Change in sleep patterns
• Mood or behavioral changes
• Repeated vomiting
• Slurred speech
• Dilated pupils
• Seizures
• Loss of coordination
• Speech problems

How Brain Injuries are Diagnosed

You should seek medical attention immediately if you experience any of the above symptoms following an accident or medical event. Some causes of brain injury require immediate intervention to prevent fatalities. When you speak with a physician for assessment, they will likely ask questions about your symptoms. This may include assessment tools and cognitive functioning assessments. They may also use imaging to confirm a diagnosis.

Treating Brain Injury in New Jersey

Recovering from a brain injury can be arduous and painful. It is also a journey that may take months or years without seeing a return to pre-accident functioning. A brain injury also makes you more likely to develop long-term problems like depression or anxiety. If you have sustained a minor injury such as a slight concussion, your treatment may be an over-the-counter pain reliever and a few days rest, at which point your symptoms should subside. In more severe brain injuries, treatment options may be:

• Surgical interventions to repair fractures, relieve pressure, or remove blockages
• Pharmaceutical interventions may include anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications. It may also include muscle relaxers, anticonvulsants, or anticoagulants, among others. 
• Longer-term treatments may include rehabilitative surgeries that may include speech, occupational, psychological, or physical therapy. 

In many cases, a victim of brain injury may make a significant or full recovery with regular intervention and support. Some may recover enough to complete day-to-day tasks with help, and some may still require around-the-clock support to live their life at a significant cost to family or caretakers. 

What Does it Look Like to Recover from Brain Injury?

Recovery is a different experience for everyone. For minor to moderate brain injury, when you can recover at home, a source with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides suggestions to support recovery. Some of these suggestions include resting during the day, avoiding tasks that are taxing on your brain or require focus, and avoiding prolonged computer use. The importance of these suggestions is undeniable, but they may put a significant strain on the victim or caregivers if they cannot work. 

If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident or assault, you may be more likely to develop symptoms of depression or anxiety from the experience. The National Center for PTSD acknowledges that many of the accidents or situations that would cause a TBI are also some of the same life-threatening situations that can cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) or PTSD-like symptoms. While mood dysregulation and anxiety may be a symptom of brain injury, you should be assessed for PTSD as well to ensure you are receiving the appropriate medications and therapies. PTSD is something that may be worked through in the span of a few months, or it may take a year or more. 

How Can a Brain Injury Lawyer Help?

In many cases, the last thing you want is to be engaged in a lengthy and stressful legal battle. Especially if you are trying to recover from a significant brain injury. However, you deserve to have someone fighting for your right to fair compensation. Brain injury cases can become incredibly complicated, and you may easily miss important details if you don’t have experience handling these cases. You deserve more than accepting the first few low offers the insurance company makes. When you hire a brain injury lawyer with the Law Offices of Lloyd E. Bennett, you are hiring our decades of experience and education with personal injury law. Some of those benefits include:

• Comprehensive legal strategy tailored to your case
• Medical knowledge to understand the diagnoses and ongoing needs that may accompany it
• Referrals to care teams that specialize in your type of injury. 
• Handles all communication so you don’t have to
• Legal literacy and familiarity with requirements and timelines 

In addition to the above reasons, having an attorney is another person in your corner who may be able to provide support during your settlement process and recovery. While they handle the small details of your case, you are free to focus on your recovery. 

Guidance

An essential benefit of an attorney is their guidance in minimizing the risk you may present to your case. Your lawyer may advise you to refrain from speaking openly about your accident or your case or from posting about it on social media. These are all ways that the opposing party’s insurance may use your statements and content to discredit your claims. Limiting your own liability to the case is a crucial part of supporting your lawyer in recovering as much compensation for you as they can.

Damages in a New Jersey Brain Injury

Damages in a brain injury settlement refer to the overall amount being requested as compensation for injuries. There are four categories that you may hear when people talk about damages. 

Compensatory and Non-compensatory damages

Compensatory damages are meant to compensate the victim. This compensation can be for a number of things, but both economic and non-economic damages would fall under this category. Non-compensatory damages, however, are not meant to compensate the victim but serve another function. Most commonly, in brain injury cases, this would refer to punitive damages, which are awarded as punishment for particularly abhorrent or intentionally malicious behavior. For example, if you were injured in a physical attack, that may be grounds for punitive damages if the case goes to court. These are not damages that you would ask for in a settlement or at court, but the jury would award them if they determined it was appropriate. 

Economic and Non-economic Damages

 Economic damages equate to the costs you accrued from the accident. These costs typically come with an invoice or receipt, such as medical bills or replacing or repairing damaged items like a vehicle. Additionally, this can include lost wages. In the case of a brain injury, you may be required to take unpaid time off work, and you deserve to be compensated for that. 

Non-economic damages can be more challenging to value. These are things that don’t necessarily have a price tag. Examples of non-economic damages may be pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of income, or the general inconvenience of managing medical and therapeutic appointments through your recovery. We understand that alone can be a full-time job. These may not have a specific dollar amount associated with them, but they are costs you pay because of someone else’s actions. 

Wrongful Death

In a worst-case scenario accident, you may have lost a loved one. If you have experienced a loss because of someone else’s negligent behavior, you may be eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit. We know that compensation will not bring back your loved one or even take away the void that the loss of them leaves, but recovering compensation can assist in medical bills or funeral costs for the decedent. It may also provide some financial cushioning to replace some of your loved one’s income if that was used to support your household. 

Contact Our Experienced New Jersey Brain Injury Lawyers Today

If you have sustained a brain injury because of someone else’s negligence, you may feel like you are in over your head. At the Law Offices of Lloyd E. Bennett, we understand that this is a difficult time in your life, and we don’t underestimate the role we can play in easing some of those burdens. Recovering from a brain injury can be grueling, and part of your recovery is trying to minimize stress and get as much rest as possible. Managing the back-and-forth negotiations of a settlement or prepping for a trial is not conducive to that. 

If you think you would benefit from a New Jersey brain injury lawyer, contact us for a free consultation today. You can rest easy and focus on your recovery, knowing that the Law Offices of Lloyd E Bennett are aggressively protecting your right to compensation for your injuries. Call us today.