If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident, it’s important to contact a brain injury attorney as soon as possible. A brain injury is extremely serious and can have a long-term impact on the victim’s quality of life. An experienced brain injury attorney can help you assess the victim’s current and future needs.

 

 

According to the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured (ARBI), over 56,000 Canadians received a brain injury in 2011. Twenty percent of those people died from their brain injury. Of the survivors, 9,000 people needed long-term rehabilitation after their brain injuries and 6,000 had permanent disabilities. ARBI groups disabilities in four categories: cognitive disabilities (thinking, reasoning, or memory problems); sensory disabilities (problems with one or more of the five senses); communication disabilities (both expressing or understanding); and behaviour or mental health disabilities (depression, severe personality changes, being easily distracted, or engaging in socially inappropriate behaviour).

 

Since the brain is such a complex organ, it can take a long time for a person with a brain injury to fully recover, and some never recover at all. Personality changes, wild mood swings, and other symptoms could be temporary or permanent. Brain injuries can also cause physical disabilities which can also be temporary or permanent in nature.

 

If the symptoms of a brain injury occur after an accident, it’s important to have the victim visit your family doctor or the nearest emergency room as soon as possible. Symptoms can include blurry or double vision, having floating spots in your vision, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, muscle weakness, fatigue, insomnia, inability to concentrate or focus,  unable to retain new information or perform new tasks, personality changes, or wild mood swings or out-of-character emotional outbursts.

 

 

During this stressful time, a brain injury attorney can be a big help to your family. The attorney can gather information about the accident, fill out legal paperwork, and even represent the victim in court. This lets you concentrate on healing. Not having to worry about the legal aspects of the injury removes a great deal of stress at a time when you may be worried about loss of income and paying for immediate out-of-pocket medical expenses, which aren’t covered by provincial health care or any work coverage from your family.

 

An experienced brain injury lawyer can help deal with your employer, the insurance company, the medical team, and anyone else involved in the accident. A lawyer will also help you put together a plan for the future, taking into consideration the potential costs involved with proper treatment and rehabilitation.

 

Given that so many brain injuries result in long-term rehabilitation or permanent physical disability, you may need housekeeping and childcare help, money to help cover ongoing rehabilitation, home-care costs, money to cover intensive hospital treatment and extended stays, or even home renovations to help the injured person deal with a physical disability.

 

A brain injury lawyer can help your family make the right choices after a serious injury, giving you the time and space to concentrate on healing.