Trauma caused to the brain is a serious matter. It can be catastrophic and complicated. The brain is your body’s control room. Any damage to it will impact you significantly. Even mild or moderate injuries can involve risks of losing vision, brain swelling, concussions, loss of speech, loss of motor functions, and more. Most TBIs result from car crashes, slip and fall accidents, or workplace accidents. TBIs take away an individual’s capacity to make rational decisions. In worst-case scenarios, they can lead to death. As per statistics, the United States witnessed over 64,000 TBI-related deaths in 2020 alone.
Such serious injury cases can have complex financial and legal aspects that you will want to take guidance on. Additionally, proving a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in court can be challenging. Usually, people with TBIs look “normal” if there is no physical injury and can make the jury believe that no harm has been caused. The challenge is to prove the existence of your emotional, cognitive, and internal injuries through evidence. If you want to win your case, you will need strong legal assistance from a law firm like Fernandez Firm that can offer you their expertise, experience, and dependability. Great legal firms will even provide you with a free consultation before taking on your case.
What will you need to prove your claim?
Think of these three questions before you begin to sort evidence:
- How did the injury happen? (This is your story of the entire occurrence. Recall the incident.)
- Who is responsible for it?
- How did it make you suffer?
You will need convincing evidence to support these three questions in court and a personal injury lawyer can help you gather this evidence.
Now, think of how your evidence will be able to prove your claims what it will prove:
- Proof that you suffered an injury: your medical records will be your documents to show the impact of the accident and how it has affected you. It will back your claims and show that you have suffered.
- Show the severity of your injury: This will determine your compensation. In a personal injury case, the worse your injury, the more it will cost to treat, and the more you should get in a settlement.
- Explain the impact of your injury in the long-term: Do not miss your compensation for future surgeries, rehabilitation, assisted care, and lost income, if any. Brain damage can affect you in multiple ways and your case can win you a settlement for future expenses.
- Proof that the injury was caused by accident or the incident in your claim: medical records are your savior in such cases. This is why it is important to get medical help immediately after such incidents. The more delayed it is, the harder it will be to prove your case. Take evidence to prove that the injury was caused as a result of the incident.
What kind of evidence can you use?
You will need to depend on eyewitnesses, medical records, and police reports to make your case strong. These are the kinds of evidence that are deemed reliable in court.
Medical records
“Demonstrative evidence” is a term for a lot of different kinds of visual aids used in the court, which in this case are most medical records such as CT scans, MRI scans, X-rays, and computer simulations. With the help of visual aids, an attorney can often show how bad the brain injury was, prove that the trauma caused the victim to suffer mental, physical, or emotional problems, and link the brain injury to the specific traumatic event. Diagnostic tests are key to determining your level of information processing, speech control, motor skills, etc.
Even if your radiology reports are negative, you can use brain mapping or a biomechanic exhibit as evidence.
Testimonies from psychiatrists, psychologists, or other involved mental health professionals will also help.
Eye-witnesses
A witness can back up what you say about what happened in the accident. If you can find someone who saw what happened before the accident, you can request them to support you with their statement in court. They could also tell the police or your insurance company if they saw you hurt your head in any way.
Police reports
If, for example, your TBI was caused by a car crash, someone must have informed the police. An investigation report usually confirms who was at fault, who was injured, and all other vital details. You can use these reports to show how you sustained a TBI out of the incident.
A traumatic brain injury can change not only how you think and move, but also who you are and what you remember. You might not be able to work like you used to. Changes like this can be very hard on you and your family, both financially and emotionally but you should not hesitate to take financial and legal support for yourself.
