Brain Injury Lawyers
Victims of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) typically sustain life-changing consequences. Our brains control our cognition, physical abilities, internal body functions, and emotional regulation. When any–or all–of these areas experience trauma, the results are severe for the victims themselves and those who love and care for them.
Our brain injury lawyers from Mitchell Rogers Injury Law in Las Vegas, NV see your pain and understand your distress, and we are ready to help you fight for justice and financial relief. Our goal is to hold those who caused your (or your loved one’s) injury accountable for their negligence or intentional act of violence by demanding substantial compensation for your significant losses.
Brain Injuries Explained
As explained by Johns Hopkins Medicine, brain injuries are among the most common reasons for disability and death in adults. They occur when “a sudden external, physical assault damages the brain.” The effects of brain injuries cover the spectrum from mild to severe, but even those registering as mild–concussions, for example–can have long-lasting effects.
“Closed” and “Penetrating” are the two main classifications for brain injuries. A closed injury does not involve the breaking of the skull or puncturing of the brain. Closed injuries happen when a blow sends the brain moving back and forth within the skull. The rapid motion causes brain tissue and blood vessels to tear or bruise. In a penetrating injury, also called an “open head injury,” something (an object, weapon, or bone fragment, for example) breaks the skull and punctures the brain.
Brain injuries can lead to “focal” or “diffuse” damage. Brains with focal damage are only affected in one area. Diffuse damage, however, affects more than one part of the organ.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, most brain injury research shows brain cells do not regenerate after sustaining damage or destruction. However, some recovery is possible, especially for younger victims. Unharmed parts of the brain compensate for damaged parts. Still, brain injuries are somewhat mysterious, and predicting the measure of an individual victim’s recovery is not possible. As a result, rehabilitation efforts often span long periods of time, even becoming a lifelong process in some cases.
Causes of Brain Injuries
Most understand how violent accidents or intentional acts can cause a brain injury. But even apparently minor accidents, like a slip on ice, can produce devastating outcomes. Though a brain injury can result from a variety of scenarios, the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke (NINDS) recognizes some of the more common.
Motor-Vehicle Crashes
All who travel the roads, drivers and other vehicle occupants, cyclists, and pedestrians, face the risk of brain injury when involved in a crash. The impact of a crash is enough to force a victim’s head into that dangerous, rapid back-and-forth motion. But victims also often experience blunt-force impact when slamming into a part of the involved vehicle or the ground or when struck by debris. Pedestrians and cyclists have the least protection when involved in these incidents.
Bicycle Accidents
Bicycle accidents account for the “highest number of sport and recreation-related emergency department visits for traumatic brain injuries” countrywide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Research included in the National Library of Medicine (NLM) shows milder injuries sustained include damage to soft tissue and temporary loss of consciousness, and major severe injuries include:
- Skull fractures
- Subdural hematoma–damage resulting in blood clots that put pressure on the brain
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage–life-threatening bleeding in the space surrounding the brain
Falls
Falls from a high place, on slick walkways, or down stairs can cause a brain injury. In fact, the CDC, as reported by NINDS, recognizes falls as the most common cause of brain injuries. Young children and older adults are especially vulnerable to these serious fall outcomes.
Explosions
Most of us do not experience explosions in our everyday lives, but for active military or construction workers, the likelihood is there. Military personnel may be injured by blasts from roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices.
Construction workers may work on demolition sites where explosions are used to take down structures–or they may sustain injury from an accidental explosion if they work near chemicals. Though construction workers may be eligible for workers’ compensation, other third parties may bear culpability for their injuries. If you sustain a brain injury from a work-related situation, do not a accept settlement offer without first speaking with a brain injury lawyer from Mitchell Rogers Injury Law.
Blunt Force Impact
When victims are struck by or struck with an object, brain injuries are a common result. This kind of blunt-force impact can come from sports injuries, work incidents, motor vehicle accidents, falls, or acts of violence. All athletes face risk, but those participating in high-speed, high-impact sports, such as football or hockey for example, face increased danger. Similarly, all workers face risk, but those whose jobs involve heavy materials and equipment face more on-the-job hazards.
Acts of Violence–Intentional or Not
Spousal and child abuse are among the most reprehensible causes of brain injury. The tiniest victims are babies subjected to shaking, which leads to shaken baby syndrome. Intentional targets can be hurt by gunshots, beatings, or penetrating injuries from weapons used to break the skull. But even unintended victims, those unfortunately caught in the crossfire, can suffer brain injuries from acts of violence.
Whatever led to your injury, the traumatic brain injuries attorneys from our team are here to help you get the compensation you need to support your recovery and future.
The Life-Changing Effects of a Brain Injury
Brain injuries come with comprehensive effects, reaching into all parts of a victim’s existence–the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional–and leading to personal, professional, and financial turmoil.
Potential Physical Outcomes
When the brain sustains damage, communication between the brain and other parts of the body also sustains damage and, in some cases, is destroyed. Victims can experience both physical and physiological problems from the injury that include, but are not limited to:
- Lack of independent respiration
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Problems speaking and swallowing
- Reduced endurance and diminished mobility
- Problems with coordination and balance
- Seizures, muscle spasms, and tremors
- Changes in sensory function
Potential Cognitive Outcomes
Cognition relates to anything involving thinking, learning, and understanding. As the brain is the center of cognition, brain damage is an obvious cause of cognitive dysfunction.
Brain injury victims can experience cognitive dysfunction along with physical problems or cognitive consequences alone. According to the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC), common outcomes include, among others:
- Lack of, or diminished, self-awareness or awareness of others
- Confusion
- Reduced attention span
- Problems with memory
- Diminished ability to solve problems, reason, or think critically
- Problems following multi-step instructions
- Diminished communication skills
Potential Social-Emotional Outcomes
It is not uncommon for brain injury victims to experience personality changes. Cognitive damage affects their ability to communicate with others appropriately or establish or maintain relationships. Sometimes, victims lose the ability to get a sense “of the room,” notice, and respond to social cues, or they become uncharacteristically irritable, apathetic, or impulsive. Emotional self-regulation no longer comes naturally to them.
Even victims who do not experience these outcomes often suffer from anxiety and depression. Their diminished physical and cognitive abilities leave them feeling uncertain and alone.
Personal, Professional, and Financial Outcomes
Changed abilities affect social and family relationships that are challenging for all to navigate. Victims often cannot work or at least cannot work in the same capacity as they did before their injury. This loss can affect the victim’s sense of identity and cause serious financial uncertainty. That uncertainty is intensified when victims require extensive (and expensive) medical care.
Trust a brain injury attorney from our firm to help you mitigate the difficult outcomes incurred by your accident. Our team is ready to fight to restore your financial losses and secure your financial future.
How an Attorney Can Help
When you connect with experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers promptly after your accident, you give yourself the best chance to see a favorable case resolution. Nevada follows a two-year statute of limitations for most personal injury cases, as per NRS 11.190.4(e). Partnering with a TBI lawyer quickly allows your lawyer to carry out a full investigation of your accident and file against the appropriate party within that deadline. If you are afraid you have missed the deadline, please connect with Mitchell Rogers Injury Law anyway. Some personal injury cases warrant an extension of the two-year deadline.
As you put your energy where it belongs–into recovery and adjusting to your situation–your traumatic brain injury attorney will handle all legalities and communication related to your case.
Our team will:
- Identify the party at fault for your accident and the circumstances leading up to it
- Gather evidence demonstrating how the at-fault party’s negligence led to the accident, causing your injuries and other consequences
- Complete all document filings according to Nevada law
- Assess your losses with precision, calculate a fair settlement demand, and send that demand to the at-fault party’s representatives
- Manage negotiations and work to come to a settlement out of court
- If necessary, fight your case in court
Most personal injury cases settle through negotiations–victims never have to enter the courtroom. However, sometimes, the other side just does not play fair. They may use stall tactics or simply fail to make fair offers. Our TBI attorneys are skilled negotiators but also fierce trial attorneys. We will provide you with exceptional representation at the negotiating table or in front of a judge.
Compensation Available for Brain Injury Victims
Your initial brain injury is just the beginning–the ripple effects of the injury potentially reach into all areas of your life. Your brain injury lawyers in Las Vegas, NV will work to secure equally comprehensive compensation for those losses. Though settlement or verdict amounts vary by case, you can expect your TBI attorney to seek:
- Coverage for medical costs and future care needs. Our team will consult with your medical team, caregivers, and other medical experts to determine your continuing care costs.
- Income restoration: Your injury will likely keep you out of work as you recover and perhaps permanently. Count on your attorney to factor your lost wages and lost potential wages and benefits into your settlement demand.
- Property repair or replacement: If your accident involved damage to your property, a car, for example, we will include the value of your property into the demand.
- Compensation for other financial losses or incurred costs: Your life may change after your accident, and you may need to hire others to take care of responsibilities you can no longer manage–or you may need to make adjustments to your home or vehicle to accommodate your change abilities. These financial burdens are not yours to bear.
- Acknowledgment of your physical and emotional suffering: Your brain injury lawyers will not allow your physical and emotional suffering to go unaccounted for and will value these losses with compassion.
- Acknowledgment of your diminished enjoyment and quality of life: Loss of independence, changed relationships, and diminished ability to engage in special events, recreational activities, and vacations are devastating quality of life losses that must be recognized.
The brain injury attorneys at Mitchell Rogers Injury Law have the experience to value your losses fairly. Too often, the other side dismisses the extent of a victim’s consequences, offering inadequate and even insulting settlement amounts. Our team will demand true financial justice for you.
Put Your Fight in Our Exceptional Brain Injury Lawyers
After you or a loved one sustains a TBI, your schedule will be full of appointments, conversations with employers and human resources representatives, and the scramble to find others to help with everyday responsibilities as you work to recover or provide care for your loved one. Add the stress of worrying about your future and finances, and it is not hard to see how little energy you will have left to manage a personal injury case.
Mitchell Rogers Injury Law has a word of advice–make one more phone call, or just send a message–to arrange a consultation with a traumatic brain injury lawyer from our firm. Put your legal fight in our hands and put yourself in the best position to get the compensation you need for a stable future.