Each year, countless Lexington, KY residents suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) at no fault of their own. Some of the most common causes of these are car, motorcycle, and truck accidents. Violent criminal activity, such as assaults or shootings, slips and falls, and contact sports, are other common causes of this type of head trauma.
These types of injuries can be life-altering and costly to treat. Fortunately, Kentucky law allows victims to recover compensation for what they’ve been through if they can prove liability. To do this, it’s best to contact a Lexington traumatic brain injury lawyer.
How Common Are TBIs?
Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that at least 214,110 individuals were admitted to hospitals suffering from TBIs in 2020. This number doesn’t account for the number of individuals who suffered suspected TBIs who went to their primary care doctors, urgent care facilities, or only visited the emergency room (without being admitted).
Additional CDC statistics show that at least 69,473 people died after suffering a TBI in 2021.
Which Populations Are Most Vulnerable To Suffer This Type of Head Trauma?
A few different demographic indicators make some individuals more likely to suffer a traumatic brain or head injury than others. Those risk factors include:
Gender
CDC statistics show that males have a stronger likelihood of hospitalization or death if they suffer a TBI. More specifically, men are twice as likely as women to need to be admitted to the hospital after sustaining such traumatic injuries. The death among males who suffer TBIs is three times that of women.
Age
The population most likely to suffer traumatic brain or head injuries requiring hospitalizations or resulting in death are those individuals belonging to the 75 and older age group, also according to the CDC resource cited above. In fact, at least 28% of individuals who die from TBIs are elderly individuals belonging to this age group. At least 32% of all hospitalized victims are seniors 75 and over.
Children aged birth through 17 are also at significant risk for suffering an injury requiring admittance to the hospital for observation and further treatment or dying from this serious injury. CDC data shows that at least 16,000 children were admitted to hospitals requiring further care after receiving a TBI diagnosis in 2019. At least 2,774 children died from TBIs in 2020.
How Do Traumatic Brain Injuries Occur?
There are various ways in which someone may suffer traumatic brain or head injuries, including if a person:
- Receives a penetrating injury, such as from a knife or gunshot wound
- Suffers a whiplash injury as their head shifts forward and back during a car crash, resulting in a concussion
- Receives a blow, punch, slap, bump, or some other forceful contact to their head, such as during a violent assault
- Strikes their head on a dashboard, headliner, or windshield during a motor vehicle accident, suffering blunt force trauma in the process
- Has something that falls or gets dropped on their head, such as an awning at an office building, a tool while passing by a construction site, or a product at a grocery store
- Falls, whether on an icy sidewalk, wet lobby, store, or public restroom floor, after encountering a pothole in a parking lot, or as a result of nursing home negligence whereby a resident had to get up and take care of something oneself despite having mobility issues
The situations above are only a few examples of ways in which individuals may sustain debilitating head injuries.
Liability and Brain Injury Cases
When someone’s wrongful or negligent actions cause harm in the form of a traumatic brain injury, liability may then come into play. In these cases, the responsible party failed to exercise reasonable care, leading to injuries. Some of these examples may include:
- A driver running a red light, causing a collision that results in a TBI, may be responsible for the accident.
- Property owners may be liable if they fail to maintain safe premises.
- An individual who causes TBI through violence can be held liable.
- Healthcare professionals’ reckless actions during surgery or treatment can lead to brain injuries.
- Companies and employers may be liable if unsafe conditions cause injuries to employees.
Remember, in any personal injury case, you need to establish liability. These elements include:
- Duty of care: The responsible party owed a duty to prevent harm.
- Breach of duty: The party failed to meet that duty, meaning they were negligent in their actions.
- Causation: That breach directly caused the traumatic brain injury.
- Damages: Your brain injury resulted in physical, emotional, or financial harm.
If you have the basis for an injury case, you have the right to seek compensation. Reach out to our Lexington traumatic brain injury lawyer to learn more about your options.
TBI Symptoms
As mentioned above, while individuals who suffer mild TBIs may experience only temporary adverse effects, the following symptoms may be more lasting among victims with moderate to more severe cases of injuries:
Pain and Discomfort
Conditions TBI patients may have to deal with include headaches and chronic pain. That pain within the head and neck may radiate into other areas of the body.
Sleep Disturbances
Sleep challenges that individuals who have suffered head injuries may have to contend with include spending more time asleep than normal, having the inability to stay awake, and difficulties achieving a sound sleep.
Mental Health Issues
Emotional and behavioral health concerns are common among individuals who have suffered head injuries. Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are only a few of the many different mental health diagnoses a TBI patient may receive after suffering a moderate to severe injury.
Mood changes that evolve into angry outbursts, an inability to concentrate, and the development of addictions to drugs and alcohol resulting in a substance abuse disorder diagnosis are all commonplace among TBI victims. Children who suffer TBIs may experience developmental setbacks or learning disabilities following a serious brain injury.
Cognitive and Communication Setbacks
Someone who has sustained a severe or moderate injury may find it challenging to learn new things due to having difficulty processing what others say or may experience significant memory loss. Verbalization may also prove challenging for some TBI victims, depending on what part of their brain has been damaged.
While most individuals who suffer traumatic brain and head injuries expect to know what types of long-term impairments they are facing from the onset of their injury, this seldom happens. Signs and symptoms of a brain injury may initially seem non-existent. However, the severity of the brain damage may quickly become apparent within hours, days, and weeks after its onset.
You’ll often hear Lexington brain injury lawyers encourage you to see a doctor as soon as possible after a potential injury incident instead of waiting for symptoms to set in.
Lexington brain injury lawyers like the ones at our Kentucky law firm do this because they’ve seen what happens when injury victims fail to seek immediate medical care after they experience a personal injury accident or fall victim to a violent crime. Many individuals make the mistake of assuming their condition will go left unchanged without realizing they’re actually putting themselves at risk of life-altering injuries.
Therefore, take our experienced brain injury attorneys’ word for it. See a doctor after Lexington, KY car accidents, medical malpractice incidents, sports injuries, or any other type of accident that can result in a similar outcome. The peace of mind that you’ll derive by doing so is invaluable.
Care You May I Need After Sustaining Your Injury
Our Lexington brain injury lawyers’ specializations in practice areas like this have afforded them a wealth of knowledge about what clients go through after sustaining TBIs. They often find themselves needing to visit the doctor, take medications, and undergo surgeries to repair brain damage after getting injured.
Our attorneys also often see where many clients who suffer a moderate TBI end up needing to undergo speech, occupational, or physical therapy to regain some of the functionality lost when they got hurt. When our law firm’s attorneys develop an attorney-client relationship after a free consultation with a new client, they often find that those same clients might also need to see a mental health therapist to help them cope with the emotional, cognitive, or behavioral impacts associated with their brain damage.
No amount of any type of therapy is sufficient for some clients with head injuries. They end up being bound to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives.
Sometimes, those clients’ injuries are so profound that they must be taken care of at long-term care facilities where they can receive around-the-clock care. As you might imagine, this type of dedicated care and associated medical expenses can be costly. It can easily reach into the realm of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in medical bills across a lifetime.
Whether you file a personal injury lawsuit or wrongful death claim, you can seek compensation for:
- Medical costs, including current and future care
- Lost wages, such as past, present, and future income
- Pain and suffering related to the injury
- Loss of companionship and enjoyment of life
- Funeral and burial expenses if the TBI resulted in a loved one’s loss of life
We know that these injuries can significantly impact an individual and their loved ones. You have the right to hold negligent parties accountable for their actions and recover damages from the accident.
How a Lexington Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney Can Assist You
One of the reasons our lawyers fight so aggressively to recover damages in the form of full and fair compensation for our clients is to ensure they’re not financially devastated because a TBI occurred unexpectedly due to someone else’s negligence.
The loss of income an injury victim sustains if they are unable to work following a TBI can make covering this dedicated care seem impossible. This is often what motivates brain injury victims or their loved ones to solicit the services of us at Thomas Law Offices. In speaking with us, they understand that we’ll do whatever it takes to try and recover fair compensation on their behalf that they can use to pay off medical bills, reimburse lost wages, and cover long-term care.
When To Schedule a Free Brain Injury Case Evaluation With Thomas Law Offices
If a TBI claims the life of a loved one, your lawyer may advise you that you may be eligible to take legal action on your deceased family member’s behalf. It can be helpful to sit down for a free consultation with an attorney experienced in handling Kentucky brain injury cases and wrongful death claims to guide you through the entire process in situations like this.
There’s no risk in scheduling a free case evaluation with Thomas Law Offices to learn more information about your right to compensation, including punitive damages, when motor vehicle accidents and other incidents significantly impact your ability to live a fulfilling life. Know that injury lawyers like ours often take on cases like this on a contingency basis. This means you don’t owe anything for our legal representation unless we recover compensation for you.
Reach out to schedule a free consultation with a Lexington traumatic brain injury lawyer. It’s your first step in the right direction toward recovering compensation and getting your life back on track.
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