Some recent examples of brain injury claim results include:

• $16,200,000 settlement after a client sustained a mild brain injury in a slip and fall accident
• $13,500,000 jury award after a client sustained a brain injury in a car accident
• $12,300,000 jury award after a client experienced a mild traumatic brain injury
• $10,800,000 jury award after a client broke his neck and suffered a brain injury
• $2,750,000 settlement after a client sustained a traumatic brain injury in a truck accident
• $1,000,000 settlement after a client sustained a traumatic brain injury during a slip and fall accident

The verdicts and settlements above serve as examples of results we have achieved for clients in brain injury-related matters, but they do not guarantee a particular financial outcome in your particular case. However, brain injury victims represented by Gomez Trial Attorneys can rest easy knowing their lawyer has the resources and qualifications to build the strongest case possible for recovering compensation from anyone who caused the victim harm.

Functional Loss After a Long Beach Brain Injury

A brain injury occurs when a direct or indirect head trauma interrupts the normal function of the brain. Functional loss varies based on the location and extent of the brain injury. You’ve likely heard people refer to lobes in the brain, such as the ‘frontal lobe’ or the ‘temporal lobe.’ A lobe refers to one of the functional areas of the brain, which consists of four lobes, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. Each of these controls different human functions, from organization of thoughts to hearing to balance and much more.

Doctors further categorize brain injuries and functional areas by “side”—that is right-side and left-side functions. If you or your loved one has suffered a brain injury, you potentially face a lifetime of dealing with a range of functional loss.

Below we provide an overview of the long-term impact a brain injury survivor can experience on the left and right sides of their brain:

Consequences of Left-side Brain Injuries

• Struggles understanding speech and language
• Struggles speaking or putting thoughts into words
• Depression and anxiety
• Struggles with logical thinking, including ordering and sequencing of events, thoughts, and ideas
• Reduced control of movement on the right side of the body

Consequences of Right-side Brain Injuries

• Struggles with vision, especially processing distances, sizes, and other spatial relationships
• Difficulty with visual memory
• Reduced awareness of functional deficits
• Impaired creativity and music perception
• Inability to think in broad ways
• Reduced control of movement on the right side of the body

The Costly Progression of Brain Injury Treatment

Brain injuries constitute some of the most costly of all injuries a person can suffer. Depending on the extent of the brain damage, a survivor may start, stop, and re-start treatment any time between the initial emergency evaluation and their transition to long-term care or independent living. Brain injury survivors sometimes need continuous treatment and other times need intermittent treatment throughout their life, according to the Brain Injury Association of America. Each type of treatment and its frequency can drastically alter the economic situation for a brain injury survivor and his or her family.

The progression of costly brain injury treatment, which doesn’t always happen in the order listed, is as follows:

Emergency Department Evaluation and Visit

The initial acute treatment of a brain injury typically occurs at an emergency department nearest to the event where the injury occurred. The evaluation and treatment typically focus on stopping further damage and saving the injured person’s life. Brain injury victims and their families rarely receive much information or have any input into these life-saving decisions.

Hospitalization/Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/Long-term Care

The length of time that a brain injury survivor spends in the ICU varies based on the severity of the brain injury. The goal of intensive care is to ensure the injured person is stable and “out of the woods” so to speak. Treatment in the ICU and hospitalization can significantly increase the amount of a brain injury survivor’s medical treatment costs. Survivors can be unconscious or comatose and might fluctuate between different degrees of medical stability. The use of multiple types of medical equipment and medication also adds to the expense of staying in the ICU.

Long-term Hospitalization

Once a brain injury patient reaches a medically stable condition, doctors typically conduct further evaluations to determine what type of care the patient needs. In some cases, brain injury survivors have suffered multiple traumas. This is common in traffic accidents, where multiple body systems suffer injury. As a result, the injured person may need to remain hospitalized for weeks, sometimes months, to heal sufficiently to begin rehabilitation, return home, or transfer to another facility. Spending significant time in the hospital after leaving the ICU can greatly increase the medical expenses that brain injury survivors and their families face.

Rehabilitation

Healing from a brain injury frequently involves following a course of rehabilitation. The type, frequency, and length of a rehabilitation regimen differ from brain injury survivor-to-survivor. Survivors frequently need to learn or relearn how to perform their activities of daily living, which include getting dressed, eating, going to the restroom, walking, and speaking, before they can work on other rehabilitation goals or transition to living independently. You or your loved one’s doctors will advise you on the best rehabilitation program based on ability.

After a brain injury survivor gains enough strength and recovers to a certain point, more intensive therapy comes next. In some cases, this means you or your loved one must stay in a transitional rehab facility, sometimes called transitional living facilities. In these costly facilities, brain injury survivors work on becoming as independent as possible, spending as much as six hours per day participating in rehabilitation-related activities and exercises. Those who are not quite ready for intensive rehabilitation sometimes opt for less-intensive programs that take longer. In either case, medical expenses continue to rise for survivors and their families.

When brain injury survivors haven’t suffered a severe brain injury, or have found great success with intensive rehabilitation, they may have the option of participating in less expensive group therapy. These group sessions typically form part of a day-treatment program that allows the survivor to stay at home each night. The final type of rehabilitation is outpatient therapy. Brain injury survivors can often immediately begin attending outpatient therapy when they do not need hospitalization. In other cases, survivors sometimes need to participate in outpatient therapy to help their recovery.

Community Integration

For some brain injury survivors, community integration simply means returning home and engaging in normal activities with friends and family. In the best case scenarios, brain injury survivors can return to work and fall back into a routine like the one they had before their injury. In other cases, brain injury survivors must go to a supervised or assisted living facility to continue to learn how to live as independently as possible. Programs at these facilities often focus on safety, social interaction, goal-setting, and managing money, to prepare brain injury survivors to transition to living at home.

Taking Legal Action for a Brain Injury

Long Beach survivors of a brain injury may have legal rights to seek compensation to help them regain their health and rebuild their lives. In California, a victim of a preventable injury caused by someone else’s unreasonably dangerous decisions or actions or typically can take legal action against the person (or entity) for money damages. Of course, brain injuries happen in all kinds of ways, through all sorts of mechanisms, so a person’s ability to seek compensation through legal action, and the amount of money (if any) that person might recover, varies widely from injury-to-injury.

In general, however, legal action for money damages after a brain injury can seek compensation for:

• Medical expenses, such as those discussed above, including emergency treatment, hospitalization, diagnostics, surgery, long-term care, and medication
• Estimated future medical expenses when a brain injury survivor needs regular ongoing treatment indefinitely
• Acute and post-acute rehabilitation programs with physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other specialists
• Lost income and benefits from missing work due to the injury, hospitalization, and recovery
• Estimated lost future income when a traumatic brain injury prevents a survivor from returning to a job
• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional pain and suffering
• Reduced quality of life
• Loss of consortium with a spouse
• Other non-economic damages that apply to a particular case
• Punitive damages when the brain injury was caused by gross negligence or intentional harm

If you have lost a loved one as a result of a fatal brain injury, California law provides avenues for you to seek compensation for your loss. Eligible surviving family members can recover some damages listed above as well as funeral and burial costs. Our Long Beach brain injury attorneys can answer any questions you have about how to proceed after the tragic loss of your loved one.

Contact Our Long Beach Brain Injury Attorneys Today

Brain injuries can easily disrupt the lives of survivors and their families, who frequently must cope with the emotional stress of economic challenges on top of the pain of injury and recovery. California law, however, provides a way for brain injury survivors, or someone acting on their behalf and in their interest, to seek compensation for losses related to the injury. A settlement or jury award cannot undo the damage caused by a preventable brain injury, but it can help alleviate any financial burden and provide funding for costly ongoing treatment and care.

If you or one you love has been diagnosed with a brain injury, the coming months may well present a wide array of challenges and obstacles to overcome. The compassionate brain injury lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys understand that you are going through a difficult time. We have the experience and resources to help Long Beach brain injury survivors get the compensation they deserve from those who did them harm. You and your family should not have to shoulder the financial burden of a brain injury caused by someone else’s careless or reckless actions.

We take personal injury cases, including brain injury claims, on a contingency fee basis. Clients do not have to pay an up-front retainer fee to hire our firm to represent them. Instead, we collect attorney fees from any settlement or court-awarded damages our efforts achieve on our clients’ behalf. Contact a skilled Long Beach brain injury lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys today online or at (619) 237-3490 for a free case evaluation to determine your next steps after a brain injury.

Brain Injury Testimonial

Review: 5/5
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“I know firsthand that Gomez Trial Attorneys is a professional and compassionate law firm. The entire office is a family and they treat their clients like family as well – these people truly care. Not only that, but they strive to make a positive difference in the community through their outreach efforts. Highly recommend.”

Review by: Joshua S.