Louisville Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys

Louisville Brain Injury Lawyer

Any injury is scary and life-altering, but a traumatic brain injury can be cause severe effects and lasting consequences. A brain injury is caused by direct force to the head, which can break the skull and directly injure the brain. This can happen in a variety of ways: car accident, a fall, gun incident, sports injury or physical violence. If you or a loved one has been in an accident resulting in some form of brain injury, it is best you contact our experienced Louisville brain injury lawyers at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC to evaluate your case.

Brain injuries may not appear obvious to others, but they can cause lasting and detrimental effects to the victim. This can greatly hamper one’s professional and physical goals, not to mention taking an emotional and mental toll as well.. especially on the rest of the family. Our experienced Louisville personal injury lawyers at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC can help you get a settlement that will allow you to take care of your family and meet your needs as you continue healing and getting the medical assistance you require during this time in you and your family’s life.

Louisville Brain Injury Resources

Have you suffered a brain injury in Louisville, Kentucky? Contact our Louisville traumatic brain injury lawyers.

What are Mild Brain Injury Symptoms?

Even mild traumatic brain injury victims can suffer symptoms. If an individual hits their hard too hard, they can experience several symptoms related to brain injuries. These symptoms can include:

  • Headache
  • Sensitivity to noise or light
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Irritability
  • Fatigue
  • Decreased attention span or concentration
  • Slower thinking processes
  • Memory issues
  • Problems balancing
  • Depression and anxiety
  • Nausea
  • Mood swings

Mild injuries to the brain can become compounded after repetitive head impacts and collisions that are sustained. These injuries can be caused from sports injuries and are common for individuals that participate in contact sports that involve impact to the head. Overtime, minor head injuries can lead to more severe brain injuries. 

What are Moderate Brain Injury Symptoms?

Moderate brain injuries can include temporary cognitive and physical symptoms. These symptoms can include confusion, slurred speech and headaches. Some moderate symptoms of these injuries include:

  • Loss of consciousness lasting a few minutes to a few hours
  • Confusion lasting days to weeks
  • Persistent headaches
  • Vomiting and nausea 
  • Impairment physically, cognitively or behaviorally lasting months (or permanently)

If your injury began in this manner, it is possible to make a recovery with treatment. Despite a good recovery plan, our skilled Louisville brain injury attorneys at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC can help victims of brain injuries on their way to recovery by helping victims research the facts to begin the legal process. You are in good hands and can rest in the knowledge that your interests are being watched and handled appropriately.

What are Serious Brain Injury Symptoms?

Injuries suffered from serious brain injuries can cause life-altering and life-long impacts to an injured victim. Victims that have suffered serious brain injuries may need twenty-four hour assistance and expensive medical treatment, devices, caretakers and rehabilitation services. Severe brain injuries involve hospitalizations and can have life-long problems involving emotions, memory, cognitive ability, balance and coordination, communication abilities and emotions. When victims suffer through severe brain injuries nearly every aspect of their lives can change. Some of the most serious complications from severe head injuries can include:

  • Coma – The brain injury has left them unconsciousness and they cannot be awakened; may respond minimally to stimuli but does not initiate activity.
  • Vegetative state – Victims are aroused and have brain activity but cannot interact with the environment; can respond to pain and open eyes in response to stimuli.
  • Persistent vegetative state – The brain vegetative state has lasted more than a month.
  • Minimally responsive state – No longer in a coma or vegetative state, but cannot follow simple commands, have primitive reflexes. They are aware of environmental stimulation, however.
  • Akinetic mutism – Victim does not move or speak.
  • Brain Death – No brain activity.

If a loved one has suffered any of the above brain injury symptoms, you may wish to pursue compensation for brain damages through the legal symptoms.

During these times of upheaval in your family, there is bound to be uncertainty. You may be asking questions like:

  1. Which doctor is best?
  2. How do I work with my insurance company?
  3. How can I be sure I am getting what I deserve and not less?
  4. What papers do I need to sign?
  5. Where do I need to go to get all this taken care of?

Speaking to an experienced attorney that specializes in traumatic brain injuries can help you with all of these things and take some of the burden off your shoulders as you navigate this difficult road with your loved ones. As a reputable Louisville personal injury law firm, our legal team of experts at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC can handle all kinds of cases from workman’s comp, medical malpractice and traumatic brain injuries. Our law firm is here to help recoup what was lost from a personal injury and can help recoup compensation from medical bills, medical treatments and other burdens resulting from the accident.  Louisville Brain Injury Lawyers

Our Louisville Brain Injury Lawyers Can Help With A Kentucky Brain Damage Claim

Call today to speak with us at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC and find out your options for legal compensation. At our law offices, our goal is to give you the best service available and lend a legal helping hand and support as your family navigates through the difficult road of a traumatic brain injury. Our Louisville personal injury lawyers handle a wide range of Louisville personal injury and medical malpractice matters, which include brain injury litigation, either caused in a traumatic or non-traumatic fashion.

How Do Brain Injuries Occur?

Typically, brain injuries are sustained from trauma and impact to the head.  Traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, can occur from contact sports and are typically seen in high impact collisions. Some of the most common instances resulting in traumatic brain injuries include:

Car Accidents

Car accidents are incredibly common in and around the Louisville area. Unfortunately, vehicle impacts can lead to significant brain injuries for drivers and passengers. This is particularly true for those involved in higher-speed collisions. Additionally, vehicle accidents involving pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists are much more likely to lead to the victim sustaining a traumatic brain injury.

Truck Accidents

Large commercial trucks can weigh as much as 80,000 pounds when fully loaded, and this size and weight discrepancy often means that those riding in traditional passenger vehicles struck by a large truck sustain significant injuries. Commercial truck accident victims are much more likely to sustain traumatic brain injuries than those in accidents involving only traditional passenger cars.

Sports Injuries

There has been significant research conducted over the last few decades related to sports injuries and traumatic brain injuries. While much of the focus has been on football, the reality is that a number of sports place a person at a higher risk of sustaining a traumatic brain injury. This is particularly true for teenagers and young adults who play contact sports, including football, soccer, boxing, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and other high-impact or extreme sports.

Slip & Fall Injuries

Most people think of slip and fall injuries as being relatively minor, but the reality is that any blow to the head can lead to a significant traumatic brain injury. This is particularly true for falls from one level to another or down stairs. Falls from a bed, ladder, or out of the bath are also common causes of brain injuries, particularly for children and older adults. In many cases, property owners allow hazardous slip and fall conditions to arise on their property.

Domestic Violence & Aggravated Assault

Violence is a leading contributor to traumatic brain injuries, and this can occur in a number of ways. Often, this includes a person being assaulted by another individual, whether during the Commission of a separate crime or in an effort to simply perpetrate violence against the individual. Domestic violence is a rising concern across this country, and it often leads to a person sustaining blows to the head. Traumatic injuries to the brain can occur due to a sharp blow to the head with a fist, another object, or a gunshot.

Combat injuries

Explosive blasts and combat injuries are a leading cause of brain injuries amongst active-duty military personnel. Researchers have been well aware that explosions can affect military personnel for more than 100 years, but exactly how explosions damage the brain is not yet well understood. Researchers do believe that the pressure passing through the brain as a result of an explosion can significantly disrupt the brain’s function. Additionally, TBI’s can arise due to penetrating wounds caused by shrapnel as well as sharp blows to the head by objects thrown due to the force of the blast.

Other causes of TBIs

The causes of traumatic brain injuries we have listed here are by no means the only causes. Our Louisville traumatic brain injury attorneys understand that these injuries occur in a wide variety of ways, and we have also helped clients who have sustained injuries due to the following:

  • Workplace accidents
  • Construction accidents
  • Cerebral palsy and other birth injuries
  • Hypoxia
  • Drowning or near-drowning incidents
  • Boating accidents
  • Bus accidents
  • Train accidents
  • …and more

What Kind of Damages Can Be Recovered From a Traumatic Brain Injury?

There may be various types of damages recoverable by victims that have sustained damages if someone else caused their injury. We want to preface this section by saying that no two brain injury cases are exactly alike, and the types of damages recoverable will vary from case to case depending on the factors related to each particular situation. That said, our Louisville traumatic brain injury attorneys are regularly able to help clients recover the following types of compensation:

Special damages. These are also referred to as economic damages, and revolve around the types of damages that are relatively calculable in the aftermath of a brain injury. This includes the following:

  • The cost of all medical treatment related to the brain injury
  • Lost income if a victim cannot work while they recover
  • Lost future earning capacity if the victim is disabled
  • General household out-of-pocket expenses
  • The cost of repairing or replacing any damaged property
  • Funeral and burial expenses in cases of wrongful death

General damages. These are also referred to as non-economic damages, and they are more difficult to calculate than the economic damages mentioned above. That is because these damages are not as easily quantifiable, as they do not come with any bills or receipts to calculate. Some of the most common general damages in these cases include the following:

  • Pain and suffering damages
  • Shock and mental anguish damages
  • Loss of enjoyment of life damages
  • Emotional distress damages
  • Loss of consortium for a spouse

The total amount of compensation available in the aftermath of a Louisville traumatic brain injury will vary depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding each particular situation. Calculating economic damages will be done by gathering bills and receipts related to the brain injury case. However, calculating non-economic damages is more challenging, and an attorney will likely use a “multiplier method” to do so. To use the multiplier method, an attorney will add up all of the economic damages related to the case and then multiply that total by a set number (usually ranging from 1.5 to 5) to reach a total for the non-economic damages.

Can TBI Symptoms Improve Over Time?

It is very difficult to say whether or not traumatic brain injury symptoms can improve over time without knowing the specifics of each particular case we are dealing with. As we have mentioned, no two traumatic brain injury cases are exactly alike. The eventual outcome for a TBI victim will revolve around various aspects related to their particular injury. Some of the factors that can affect whether or not the symptoms improve over time include the:

  • Severity of the initial injury
  • How quickly the victim received medical care
  • The effectiveness of continued medical care
  • Pre-existing conditions the victim has that could affect recovery
  • The age of the traumatic brain injury victim

For less severe traumatic brain injuries, it is much more likely that a victim will be able to make as close to a full recovery as possible. However, for moderate to severe brain injuries, there is usually some type of lingering effects of the injury that could last for some time or even a lifetime. In these cases, it is not uncommon for a traumatic brain injury victim and their family members to adjust to a “new normal” in which they have understood what symptoms they have to deal with, and they adjust their lifestyle around them.

A major concern for traumatic brain injury victims is their mental and emotional well-being. TBI victims are often unable to go about doing the same activities that they could before the injury occurred, and this can lead to feelings of loss and depression. When a TBI victim is unable to return to work or participate in other meaningful activities, this dramatically affects their lifestyle. It is crucial for brain injury victims and their families to work with mental health professionals who can help develop coping mechanisms for these losses.

Contact our Louisville Brain Accident Lawyers

Suffering a traumatic brain injury can be absolutely life altering, and our law firm at Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC is here to help victims recover damages. If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury as a result of one of these causes or another, call the Law Offices of Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC today at (502) 589-2700 or contact us online for a free consultation.

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