Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer in Atlanta

Name: Traumatic Brain Injury
Brand: Pendergrass Law

Traumatic brain injuries can sometimes cause lasting damage, a mountain of medical bills, and long-term side effects. When an injury changes your life, a traumatic brain injury attorney in Atlanta from The Pendergrass Law Firm can fight for fair compensation to meet your needs.

What is a traumatic brain injury case?

When you suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI), you might experience physical, cognitive, sensory, and emotional issues. Since brain cells regrow very slowly (sometimes not at all), severe brain damage can permanently affect your life. As a result, you might miss significant time from work. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you may even need to change jobs or quit working altogether. You will likely also face sizable bills for medical treatment, therapy, and caretakers. Georgia law allows you to seek compensation after you suffer a TBI due to someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. Pendergrass Law has extensive experience helping clients with brain injuries ranging from minor to catastrophic. When you work with us, we will get to know you to tailor a legal strategy for your needs.

What needs to be proven in a traumatic brain injury case?

To be successful in a traumatic brain injury case, an attorney must prove that the person who caused your injury met the following criteria:

They Owed You a Duty of Care: For example, drivers on the road must drive reasonably with consideration for others using the same roadways
They Breached That Duty: A driver who was speeding or drinking while driving is not exercising due caution
Their Actions Caused You Harm: A near miss with a drunk driver would not meet this criteria, but a collision likely would
The Harm They Caused Directly Led to Your Injury: In other words, the other driver should be held liable for your damages

These conditions are not always simple to prove, but an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer knows the best ways to gather evidence to support your claim.

Causes of brain injuries

Almost any kind of traumatic incident can harm the brain — you do not even need to experience direct head trauma to experience brain damage. Some types of trauma that can lead to a brain injury include:

Blunt Trauma: Blunt trauma happens when something hits your head without creating an open wound
Penetrating Trauma: Penetrating trauma happens when an object pierces your skull and damages your brain
Violent Shaking: This happens when you accelerate, decelerate, or change directions suddenly

Violent shaking is one of the most common causes of brain injuries. The brain rattles inside your skull, sustaining damage as it collides with the bones of the cranium. These injuries are often seen in car accidents when the victim’s head whips around during a collision.

Examples of TBIs

TBIs can take many forms, depending on the structures affected. Concussions sit on the mild end of the spectrum. They often result from violent shaking. Doctors classify concussions as mild injuries because the symptoms, although intense, usually clear up in around three months. More severe injuries include cerebral contusions, diffuse axonal injuries (DAIs), and subdural hematomas. Cerebral contusions occur when the brain collides with the inside of your skull. DAIs happen when trauma tears brain tissue, and a subdural hematoma is when a blood vessel inside the brain ruptures. Unlike concussions, these injuries almost always produce permanent brain damage. Tissue may die from a lack of oxygen or due to extensive physical damage. The outcomes of these injuries may include permanent disability, coma, or death. While these long-term effects can be devastating, an experienced TBI attorney can fight to help you recover the compensation you deserve.

Damages you can recover for a TBI

Under Georgia law, you can pursue special and general damages for a traumatic brain injury. Special damages include the financial costs associated with your injury, such as medical bills and lost income. Your future earning potential may also diminish due to permanent brain damage. General damages are meant to address the intangible effects your injuries have had on your quality of life. Examples of losses that general damages can address include pain, mental anguish, inconvenience, and loss of consortium.

You do not need to prove general damages — you only need to present evidence about how your injuries have impacted your life. You could incur significant losses after a TBI, including those associated with lifelong medical care and therapy. Even if you recover some of your abilities, you may experience lingering symptoms and disabilities. At Pendergrass Law, our goal is to understand your needs and fight for financial compensation to meet them.

Effects of TBIs

TBIs can cause a range of mental and physical symptoms. Some common physical symptoms include:

Paralysis
Headache
Loss of vision or hearing
Numbness or tingling
Clumsiness

Your brain is also responsible for cognition and emotion. Every thought you have and every memory you form occurs inside your brain. A TBI can disrupt your thinking, memory formation and recall, and emotional regulation. The mental symptoms of TBIs can include:

Confusion
Amnesia
Difficulty concentrating
Sleep disorders
Emotional outbursts
Personality changes

Fortunately, your brain has a special characteristic known as neuroplasticity. In other words, it can rewire itself around damaged areas to recover some functions. This rewiring effect often requires extensive physical and occupational therapy. An attorney can help you to account for therapy costs within your TBI claim.

Speak with a traumatic brain injury attorney in Atlanta

A TBI can threaten your health and finances, with symptoms that cause permanent disabilities that prevent you from working or caring for your needs. Even a minor TBI can cause confusion, amnesia, and other troubling cognitive symptoms. Our Atlanta traumatic brain injury lawyers will make an effort to understand your circumstances after you or a loved one suffers a traumatic brain injury. Our slogan is “Do right, win big.” We believe in getting to know our clients and taking them and their needs seriously. By treating every client like our first and only, we can win big for them. Contact us today for a free consultation to learn how we can help you recover fair compensation for a traumatic brain injury.