What is the Cost of a Traumatic Brain Injury?

When someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), your world has been shattered. We can help you pick up the pieces. Let us start the work of securing your financial future, so you can attend to the other aspects of TBI.

A traumatic brain injury occurs when there has been damage to the brain. This occurs due to an object striking the head or even penetrating the skull. Typical causes of TBI are falls; car and motorcycle accidents; violent assaults; sports-related injuries; military combat injuries; and gunshot wounds. TBI also can be caused through industrial and work-related accidents.

TBI can cause all sorts of physical, cognitive and emotional impairments, including mobility issues; speech problems; headaches; weakness in the arms and legs; loss of memory and feelings of disorientation; depression; anxiety; dizziness; blurred vision; problems with regulating mood; erratic behavior; and judgment issues.

In addition to the physical and emotional strain that a traumatic injury imposes on a person, traumatic brain injury is incredibly costly. There are high medical and care costs, decreased earnings potential, and costs for related therapy and rehabilitation.

Cost of Care

The cost of care for a TBI can vary from under $100,000 to millions of dollars, depending on the severity of the injury and the potential for rehabilitation and recovery.

Among the costs we at Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys consider when assessing your case:

• Immediate medical costs: These are the medical costs that occurred immediately following the traumatic event, including hospitalization; doctor and nurses’ care; transportation to the hospital (ambulance/Medevac); intensive care costs; clinical testing; and prescription medication.
• Long-term costs: These are the costs after the patient has been released from the hospital, including rehabilitation center care; continued doctor visits; medication; and therapeutic intervention (speech therapy, physical therapy, cognitive therapy, occupational therapy). This can also include visiting home health nurses, respiratory therapists and other rehabilitation personnel.
• Many people with TBI suffer devastating emotional and psychological trauma. This necessitates extensive psychological and psychiatric counseling and therapy, including group therapy and social work intervention.
• Sitters and skilled care: The TBI patient may require extended periods of care to help them when they are confused or have mobility issues. This can last a few weeks, months … even indefinitely.
• Adaptive equipment: From walkers and wheelchairs to computers that help with speech, technology has been a godsend for the TBI community. This may be costly: Obtaining the highest-caliber equipment, designed specifically for your use, is incredibly important to the continued improvement and quality of your life.
• Home modification: This can include making a home handicapped accessible, with installation of ramps and widening of spaces to allow for walkers and wheelchairs.

Other Costs

In addition to all of the above costs — which are designed to help deal with medical issues and improve the physical and emotional health of the TBI patient — there are other costs TBI patients often incur.

The person with TBI may have experienced a loss of income. If the person cannot work at all, they are unable to earn any income at all. Or, they may be able to work sporadically, missing significant work due to medical appointments, therapies or inability to concentrate or work a full day, thus diminishing their earnings.

Another associated cost for TBI patients is loss of productivity. Perhaps the person with the traumatic brain injury can eventually return to their previous profession. But in many cases, they cannot fully return. They may require a job coach, job modification or a profession that pays less. All of these consequences of the initial TBI impact the patient’s lifetime earning potential.

Finally, there can be significant social costs of traumatic brain injury. TBI can be a tremendous strain on relationships and can impact marriages, ability to parent, intimacy, and social interactions with friends and family.

In many cases, our clients are also entitled to compensation for their pain and suffering. It takes an experienced attorney to know when a claim can include pain and suffering, which will result in a larger compensation package.

At Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys, we understand the complex natures of traumatic brain injuries. Our experience has taught us what possible costs you and your family are facing. Armed with our specified knowledge, we can help you get the compensation you deserve.

It is very important that you contact us soon if you or a loved one has been beset with a traumatic brain injury.

We need to begin the essential work on your case right away. TBI can have life-altering consequences and we need to file a claim for you immediately, just in case there is a statute of limitations on your case. When there is a statute of limitations, if we do not file a claim within the specified period of time, we cannot obtain any compensation for you.

It’s very important for somebody to be on your side, to be completely calm and organized, when your life may be shattered. We have to get the work done for you, making sure that every possible cost is accounted for, so you can live your life with the financial security you need. Only with financial security can you or your loved one with a traumatic brain injury fully focus on recovery, rehabilitation and getting to a place of feeling whole.

Traumatic brain injury can devastate not just the person who is affected, but his or her entire family in significant ways: physically, emotionally, socially and financially.

Let us begin to help you. Contact Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys today!