Brooklyn Brain Injury Lawyer

Any injury can make life challenging, but severe brain injuries can be especially devastating. With a serious brain injury, a victim’s life may never be the same. If someone else caused the accident that led to your brain injury, they could be financially liable for your bills, losses, and hardships.

You may have many questions, but our injury lawyers have the answers you need. At Shulman & Hill, our brain injury lawyers in Brooklyn, NY know how seriously these conditions can affect victims and their families and can seek the justice and compensation you deserve. You can have peace of mind from knowing that a tenacious legal advocate is on your side. Call or contact us online for a free consultation.

Understanding Traumatic Brain Injuries: Causes, Types, and Symptoms

If you recently suffered from a traumatic brain injury (TBI), you already understand that these injuries can cause damage to the brain and even affect the brain’s function.

However, TBIs can present differently from person to person. While some victims may face only minor symptoms, others could face major symptoms that go on to affect them for the rest of their lives. Serious brain damage can be long-lasting, significantly impairing, and costly to treat.

How Brain Injuries Happen

A variety of accidents or traumatic incidents can cause brain damage. In Brooklyn, where city life means busy streets, sidewalks, and traffic from subways, cars, and taxis, accidents can easily happen and lead to traumatic injury.

Common causes of brain injuries can include:

• Falls
• Bike and pedestrian accidents
• Construction accidents
• Vehicle accidents, especially accidents with big trucks
• Assault or firearm injuries
• Medical malpractice or birth injuries
• Nursing home abuse

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls cause about 50% of hospitalizations related to traumatic brain injury. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) notes that falls and car crashes are leading causes of TBI for New Yorkers.

Types of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries are categorized in several ways. A brain injury may be either primary or secondary. In a primary brain injury, all damage to the brain occurs immediately upon impact or during the initial accident. However, some injuries and symptoms take more time to develop. These are called secondary brain injuries.

Additionally, the injury may be either open or closed. In an open brain injury, brain damage occurs along with the cracking of the skull. In a closed brain injury, the brain is jolted or shaken inside the skull, causing bruising, bleeding, or even tissue shearing, but the skull remains intact.

A brain injury can also be categorized by its severity, including:

• Mild concussion: Those who lose consciousness for under 30 minutes, have a dazed sensation, or feel some confusion for less than a day may have a mild concussion.
• Moderate TBI: Those with moderate TBI may feel confusion or other symptoms for as long as a week.
• Severe TBI: With severe TBIs, brain damage is detectable through a brain MRI or head CT. Symptoms last longer than one day.

Symptoms and Effects of Brain Injuries

Because every person faces unique symptoms and challenges after a traumatic brain injury, these injuries can look different from person to person.

However, people with a TBI often experience one or more of the following symptoms after the injury:

• Dizziness
• Headache
• Sensitivity to light
• Changes with sleeping
• Fatigue
• Coordination problems
• Memory problems
• Speech problems
• Loss of consciousness
• Clear fluids draining from the ears or nose
• Seizures
• Agitation or other mood changes

If you have not yet been treated for a TBI but believe you may have these symptoms of injury, seek medical care immediately. Failing to promptly seek treatment can lead to additional complications and further damage.

For those with a serious injury, the effects can be long-lasting, altering their physical, emotional, and social function. They may:

• Struggle with physical challenges such as muscle spasticity, coordination issues, paralysis, or tremors
• Find communication challenging, such as choosing words or accessing vocabulary
• Face changes in sensory perception
• Have difficulty maintaining relationships or reading social cues

Because of these long-term impacts, victims may require several types of ongoing rehabilitative care. They may need to undergo physical, occupational, vocational, and other forms of therapy. They may also benefit from psychological therapy to cope with the emotional effects of the injury.

Recoverable Damages in a Brooklyn Brain Injury Case

A traumatic brain injury can change your life and leave you with mounting bills that show no sign of relenting. While you should get all the medical care and time off of work necessary to treat your injuries, doing so can quickly become expensive. You shouldn’t have to pay for all of these costs.

If someone else caused your accident or the incident that led to your brain injury, you could hold them liable for your damages via a personal injury claim or lawsuit. You could recover:

• Emergency care treatment: Including ambulance services, ER care, diagnostic tests, emergency surgery, and more
• Ongoing medical care: Some TBIs require hospitalization, rehabilitation, additional surgery, outpatient treatment, medical devices, medications, and further care over the long term
• Income losses: If you missed out on paychecks or other opportunities to earn income, or if you will not be able to earn your regular income over the long term
• Pain and suffering: If you have significant pain or other life challenges
• Scarring and disfigurement: If your appearance changed significantly because of the injury
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): If you face psychological trauma because of your injuries

Our Brooklyn brain injury attorneys can start by working to understand all the ways the injury affected your life. If you face psychological challenges, tell us how you’ve been impacted. If you’ll need lifelong medical care, we can review your medical records, speak with your doctors, and even seek expert testimony to demonstrate what your long-term costs may be.

Once we investigate your losses and damages, we can determine what a goal settlement or award amount in your case could be. Then, we’ll go after the compensation you deserve.

Benefits of Hiring a Brooklyn Personal Injury Lawyer for Your Brain Injury Case

When you hire a Brooklyn brain injury lawyer from Shulman & Hill, you can rest assured knowing that you have an advocate on your side through every step of the legal process, including:

Gathering Evidence

Our attorneys can conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of your case, including how your accident happened, who was responsible, and how you were affected. We can gather evidence from the scene of the accident and from third parties who can make your case stronger. Possible evidence could include:

• Your medical records
• Statements from your doctors, neurologists, or other expert witnesses
• Accident reports
• Security camera footage
• Eyewitness statements
• Accident reconstruction data
• Black box data
• Dashboard camera footage

Your brain injury attorney in Brooklyn, NY can also prepare and present your evidence to the insurance company or at trial.

Working With All Third Parties for You

Once we have evidence, we can work with any third parties involved in the case. This may include insurance company adjusters, other lawyers, or the liable party.

Your lawyer can handle all the phone calls and documents, file the court paperwork, and do everything else necessary to communicate with third parties in your case. You won’t have to deal with these everyday headaches in the legal process.

Negotiating on Your Behalf

Our injury lawyers understand the law and have experience negotiating for our clients. We know what to say to the insurance company or a jury to argue your side of the story and seek the highest possible compensation. Negotiating can be overwhelming if you’ve never handled a legal case before, but our Brooklyn brain injury attorneys are well prepared to do so.

Taking Your Case to Trial if Necessary

Our attorneys have experience at trial. We know how to cross-examine witnesses, represent you before a jury, and help you have the smoothest possible court process.

Advising You Through Every Step

Our attorneys know the law in New York State. You don’t have to look up deadlines, determine if you qualify for exceptions, or try to figure out what your personal pain and suffering could be worth. We can provide solid legal counsel on all of these matters.

Frequently Asked Questions in Brooklyn Brain Injury Cases

Our Brooklyn brain injury attorneys understand that you likely have many questions—and we’re here to answer them all.

Consider some of our answers to these common questions from brain injury victims.

How Much Compensation Could I Receive?

We first need to look at your case’s unique details to determine a goal settlement or award amount for your case. In general, victims’ compensation varies based on the following factors:

• The severity of the injury
• The costs of medical care, both now and over the long term
• How seriously the injury affected your life
• Who the liable party is

For instance, if you’re facing a serious TBI that will require years of rehabilitation and you were hit by a commercial truck driver, you could seek higher compensation.

How Could the Other Party Challenge My Case?

Unfortunately, there are several ways that the insurance company or opposing legal team may challenge your case. They may try to argue that your injuries aren’t significant, that you partially or fully caused the accident, or that you made your injuries worse, among other common challenges. They may use unfair tactics such as denying a valid claim or delaying the process of investigating your case.

We’ve seen it all. Our attorneys know how to ensure that you’re treated fairly.

Are Brain Injuries Common in Brooklyn and New York State?

In New York State, traumatic brain injury (TBI) led to 142,359 emergency department visits and 2,171 deaths in 2014 alone.

In New York City, TBIs are a significant form of injury for accident victims. In Kings County, 219 TBI accidents are fatal on an average yearly basis, and in NYC, an average of 763 people per year die from brain injuries. That’s just under half of all fatal brain injury cases in New York State per year.

Get a Free Case Review for Your Brooklyn Brain Injury Case from Shulman & Hill

The brain injury lawyers at our Brooklyn office are ready to get to work for you today. If you need justice and compensation after someone else’s carelessness caused your brain injury, Shulman & Hill will stand by your side and fight for your best possible results. Contact our team today for a free case review. We’ll explain your options in clear terms and help you start moving forward after your injury and accident today.