What Compensation Can You Get for a Traumatic Brain Injury Caused by Negligence?
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) often leave lasting damage, physically, emotionally, and financially. These injuries can affect memory, coordination, behavior, and even personality. Whether caused by a car crash, a slip and fall, or an assault, TBIs linked to someone else’s carelessness deserve fair compensation.
Many people underestimate the long-term costs of a brain injury. Treatment expenses, income loss, and personal hardships can last for years. Understanding the types of compensation available helps protect your rights and ensures you’re not left managing everything alone.
What Damages Are Recoverable After a TBI?
Compensation for a traumatic brain injury is designed to restore what’s been unfairly taken. It covers medical bills and lost wages, but just as importantly, it accounts for emotional trauma, mental strain, and the drastic shift in how you live your life. These invisible consequences are just as damaging and deserve full recognition in any legal claim.
Having strong legal support beside you helps you overcome such challenges with clarity, confidence, and a better chance at securing the justice you deserve. For those injured in New Jersey, having a skilled Cherry Hill personal injury attorney from https://rosengardlawgroup.com can improve your chances of recovering the full value of your claim. An experienced legal team knows how to prove liability and demonstrate the total impact of a brain injury. You can visit their office at 496 Kings Hwy N, Suite 220B, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034, or call 856-284-6446 to discuss your case in person with a team that truly understands.
How Is Medical Compensation Calculated?
Medical costs make up a major portion of any TBI settlement or verdict. These include hospital bills, surgeries, rehabilitation, therapy, and long-term care expenses. Future costs are also calculated if the injury results in permanent impairment or requires ongoing support.
Insurance companies often try to minimize the value of care required. That’s why documentation from medical professionals, including neurologists and occupational therapists, plays a key role in proving the injury’s long-term impact.
What Are the Economic Losses You Can Claim?
Economic losses include both current and future financial setbacks caused by the injury. This can range from lost wages to missed promotions or even permanent loss of earning ability. Here is how financial loss from a TBI is typically measured:
Loss of Current and Future Earnings
TBIs may force you to stop working temporarily or even permanently. Compensation can be claimed for your current missed wages, as well as future earnings based on age, education, and occupation before the injury.
Loss of Earning Capacity
Even if you return to work, you may not function at the same level as before. Reduced productivity, limited stamina, or cognitive struggles can limit future job opportunities, which should be factored into the compensation.
Loss of Employment Benefits
Many people forget that benefits like retirement contributions, health insurance, or bonuses are lost when they stop working. These are all quantifiable damages that can be recovered.
Why Non-Economic Damages Matter
Non-economic damages account for the invisible consequences of living with a brain injury. They’re harder to measure but just as important. Emotional trauma, cognitive issues, and reduced quality of life are often more damaging than the medical bills. This is how they’re usually addressed:
Pain and Suffering
This covers the physical and emotional challenges that come with a TBI, like chronic headaches, confusion, memory loss, and frustration. Courts consider how severe the symptoms are and how long they’re likely to last.
Emotional Distress
Depression, anxiety, mood swings, and personality changes are common after a TBI. These psychological impacts can be disabling. Emotional distress compensation recognizes the disruption caused to daily life and relationships.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life
A TBI can make it hard to enjoy hobbies, socialize, or live independently. Compensation here acknowledges that the person’s lifestyle has been affected in ways that aren’t financial but still deeply felt.
How Are Family Members Affected?
Family members often face emotional strain and added responsibilities. Under the law, they may be able to seek compensation for loss of consortium or the loss of companionship, care, or intimacy.
In cases involving children or spouses, courts evaluate how the injury changed relationships. When a parent is injured, kids often experience emotional challenges and reduced stability at home.
When Do Long-Term Care and Disability Payments Apply?
Severe traumatic brain injuries can lead to lasting disabilities that change nearly every part of a person’s life. Many survivors struggle with basic daily tasks and may require mobility aids, specialized equipment, or even full-time caregiving. These ongoing needs make long-term care compensation a critical part of any TBI claim.
Settlements often include expenses for rehabilitation, such as physical, speech, and occupational therapy, which may continue indefinitely. If the injury affects mobility, home modifications like wheelchair ramps or bathroom adjustments may be necessary. In some cases, professional or family-provided caregiving services are also covered to support independent or assisted living.
FAQs
What if the brain injury symptoms appear weeks later?
Delayed symptoms are common in TBIs. If signs like dizziness, confusion, or headaches begin later, you can still pursue a claim. Medical documentation is key to linking those symptoms to the original incident.
Can I file a claim if the injury happened at work?
Yes. Workplace injuries fall under workers’ compensation, but you might also have a third-party claim if someone other than your employer contributed to the accident. An attorney can help explore both options.
What evidence is needed to support a TBI claim?
Essential evidence includes medical records, neurologist reports, accident documentation, witness statements, and expert evaluations. A legal team will collect and organize this information to build a strong case.
Conclusion
Compensation for a traumatic brain injury goes well beyond immediate medical bills. It can address lost earnings, emotional hardship, future rehabilitation, and long-term lifestyle changes resulting from the injury.
With the right legal help, victims can secure the support they need to rebuild their lives. Acting early allows your attorney to protect your rights, gather strong evidence, and pursue the maximum recovery available under the law.
