If your brain injuries are permanent, you will endure financial and physical losses for the rest of your life. You might never return to work. You will have ongoing medical bills from your primary care doctor, medical specialists, and ongoing rehabilitation treatments (such as speech therapy or occupational therapy). You will also endure pain and suffering for the rest of your life.

But you cannot wait to file a claim until you have actually incurred all of these losses. The statute of limitations on most injury claims is two years in Georgia, and you have to file your claim in court by this time or lose your right to sue forever. Some circumstances can shorten this deadline.

So, how will your injury lawyer ensure that you receive compensation for these future losses? Brain injury lawyers work with expert witnesses to make accurate estimates of the future costs and losses associated with your injuries. An economist can take the wages you earned before the accident to calculate the wages you would have earned after the accident. They can adjust these numbers for inflation to get the total value of the wages you would have earned between the time of the accident and your expected retirement.

The economist will also calculate the value of employment benefits, such as an employer’s contributions to your health insurance premiums or retirement accounts. All of these figures allow the economist to make an educated projection about the value of your future lost wages.

Similarly, a life care planner or medical expert can testify about the projected cost of the medical care you will require for the rest of your life. The defense can counter these estimates with their own experts, but these professionals have experience making defensible estimates that you can prove in court.

According to the CDC, symptoms of TBIs generally fall into one of four categories:

• Emotional and moods (irritability, sadness, anxiety)
• Physical (headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, changes in vision, balance problems)
• Sleep (sleeping more or less than usual, difficulty falling asleep)
• Thinking and remembering (difficulty concentrating or remembering new information, feeling slowed down)

Of course, some of these symptoms can indicate a more serious brain injury and should receive treatment right away. The CDC recommends that you see a doctor right away if you experience a headache that gets worse and does not go away, decreased coordination, continued nausea or vomiting, slurred speech, drowsiness, difficulty waking up, mismatched pupil sizes, convulsions, seizures, or any other unusual behavior. Losing consciousness is also a sign that the victim needs immediate medical attention.

It is wise to seek medical treatment after any head trauma.

Children can also experience serious brain injuries. You must monitor children even more carefully after an accident because children might not understand and describe their symptoms the way adults do.

In addition to the symptoms listed above, parents and caregivers should monitor children for changes in behavior. Infants who will not stop crying and are inconsolable might be suffering from a brain injury. Changes in eating patterns, such as refusing to nurse or eat, can also be danger signs.

It is always best to err on the side of caution when evaluating a child with a potential brain injury. Only a qualified medical professional can determine the extent of your child’s injuries after an accident.

To prove a brain injury claim, you and your attorney must establish that:

• The breach caused your injuries and
• The defendant breached that duty of care (i.e., was negligent);
• The defendant owed you a duty of care;
• The value of your tangible and intangible losses (your “damages”).

There are different methods of proving each element. Different cases will also require different strategies to prove all the elements of a claim.

For example, the defendant’s insurance company might accept liability and admit that they should pay for your injuries. But they are likely to dispute the value of your injuries and offer you less than is fair in your particular case. An attorney approaches this type of case very differently from one in which the defense denies liability altogether. A good brain injury lawyer knows how to prove all of the required elements in any accident case.

The person or company who is legally responsible for causing your injury (“liable”) also has a legal obligation to compensate you for all losses you suffer due to that injury. You need an experienced brain injury lawyer who can find all potential defendants and prove their liability in court if necessary.

The person who is liable for your injury will depend on the facts of the accident. For example, an auto accident often happens due to a negligent driver. In this case, that negligent driver would have to compensate you for your brain injury.

But a car crash could also happen due to defective brakes or other malfunctions. In this case, the company that manufactured the defective vehicle could also be liable for brain injuries suffered in the auto accident.

In other cases, a brain injury can occur at a medical institution that you expect to protect the patient from injury. This could constitute malpractice if the doctor failed to properly diagnose a blood clot that eventually went to the brain and caused a stroke. In such a case, both the negligent doctor and the hospital that hired him might be held liable for the patient’s injuries.

A brain injury could also occur in transport if the orderlies do not use proper techniques to move the patient or allow a patient to move without assistance when needed. Here, too, the hospital that hires these workers might be liable for their negligence in completing their work.

There are many, many potential defendants in a brain injury case. If you do not have legal advice from an experienced injury lawyer, you could miss out on the compensation you need and deserve. You could also end up filing a claim against the wrong defendant or even missing the statute of limitations against the proper defendant. This is why it is important to have an experienced lawyer handling your case from the start.

Many accidents can lead to serious brain injuries.

Some cases our lawyers commonly see involve:

• Auto Accidents
• Construction Accidents
• Medical Malpractice
• Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
• Sports Injuries
• Workplace Accidents

These are not, of course, the only ways that a brain injury can occur. Ask a qualified injury lawyer about your particular case to determine who is legally responsible for causing your injury.