Handling a Brain Injury Case

Handling a Brain Injury Case

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The most complicated case a plaintiff's lawyer can face is one where his client suffers a brain injury as a succeed of an accident. It is difficult because 9 out of 10 traumatic brain injury cases involve injuries that are not descriptive to lowly people. So how will a jury believe that your client suffered a brain injury? What I said. It shouldn't be in conclusion that the actual about Accident Attorney Long Island. You see this article for information on a person wish to know is Accident Attorney Long Island. Accident Attorney Long Island Obviously there are the simple brain injury cases where the plaintiff suffered a fracture to his or her skull and all experts agree that there was organic damage which is causing the plaintiff's symptoms. The problems lie in the case where the corporal damage does not show up on Ct scans or Mri's. The plaintiff often looks normal, and this appearance can be terribly deceptive. He or she may speak well, and this is an even greater question to overcome. But the brain, like an atom if broken or split, causes an explosion of misery and pain that is horrendous. When the brain is damaged, there is no tool available for the surgeon to come and fix it. We depend on nature and foster and the potential to compensate. Family and friends of the man who suffered a brain injury will feel the devastation sometimes as much or more than the injured party. The uncut objective for a lawyer in a brain injury case is to convince a jury that an organic injury has occurred, that it is permanent, and that it is the main theorize for your client's impairment. As much has been written with respect to proving liability, economic loss and family loss related to a negligence case, this paper is only intended to cover aspects of preparing a brain injury case for trial. Taking the Case Agreeing to take a brain injury case is a dramatic investment for a lawyer in many ways. Consider the following case: Your client, Mrs. Reynolds, was a driver in a car urgency that occurred on a relatively busy road. The urgency occurred at night. Mrs. Reynolds was proceeding on a road when a van pulled out from a side road to make a left turn. Mrs. Reynolds slammed into the right front projection of the van as the driver of the van made his turn. Both drivers were seriously injured. When the ambulance arrived, Mrs. Reynolds was dazed but able to riposte to verbal and corporal stimuli. She scored 11 out of 15 on the Glascow Coma Scale for her loss of awareness. She was lucky to survive the accident. The preliminary Visit When the client visits the lawyer for the first time, the lawyer normally has petite or no information about the case. These first meetings are very important. Both the client and the lawyer have to like each other right away. Clients, for the most part, are not customary with the intricacies of the legal principles and don't know the lawyer, so they are normally a petite apprehensive and uneasy. The lawyer, being customary with the principles and cases like this one, should help put the client at ease. During the interview, the lawyer thinks of two main issues in an urgency case: liability and damages; whereas a client may be mental of any amount of things and is anxious just to tell the entire story. Therefore, the lawyer in an preliminary interview must be a good listener as well as a persuasive speaker. Once mutual trust is established, the client and lawyer can work well together. The client should get information from the lawyer such as: "Have you handled cases like this before?" ... "How many?" "Are you customary with the curative aspects of a case in which there is a brain injury?" "Have you written any articles?" "What references can be supplied?" Finally, the lawyer should satisfy himself or herself that the client has a genuine injury by examining the most trustworthy evidence. It is necessary to speak to the family members and friends closest to your client in order to find out how your client was before the accident. In brain injury cases, you will often hear that your client was high functioning before the collision and now is unable to combine in a busy environment. They may also tell you that your client is no longer the same person, lacks motivation and fatigues easily. Finally, you are told that your client's personality has changed, gets frustrated admittedly and lacks confidence, traits rarely displayed before this accident. Clients Dissatisfied with Prior Counsel Many plaintiffs who have suffered traumatic brain injuries have unrealistic expectations about how their lawsuits should be handled or how they should eventually turn out. Most lawyers are contacted by brain injured plaintiffs who are dissatisfied with the legal counsel they have previously employed. The most base complaint heard is that the present lawyer doesn't understand the client's brain injury and the problems that flow from such an injury. Lawyers should be guarded in taking on these cases. The lawyer should, in most cases, get the client's consent to discuss the case with the former lawyer before agreeing to deal with the case. Acquiring Documentation In construction your case for trial, you must derive all relevant records relating to your client's accident. In brain injury cases, a lawyer will have to assemble huge amounts of documentation. Medical, employment, school and urgency benefits documentation will consist of the bulk of such evidence. From the outset, the lawyer must completely study the facts surrounding the case. Obtaining a copy of the Motor car urgency description and police field notes will contribute a basic insight of the factual circumstances surrounding the accident. If liability is an issue, an interpreter will need to be retained to interview any witnesses, police and visit the urgency scene to aid in urgency reconstruction. Evidence of Vehicular Damage Whenever your client's car or the defendant's car is obviously damaged, photographs of the vehicle's damage are powerful. Photos may have been taken by witnesses, newspapers, the client, family members, police or the insurance firm for asset loss insurance. Any obvious damage to the interior of the car caused by your client's head should be demonstrated visually and discussed by every gawk who can do so. If there is no vehicular damage, a biomechanical engineer, supported by a reconstruction engineer's estimation of speeds, can construe how the force of the collision can cause a brain injury notwithstanding minimal damage. Photos of Injuries Not surprisingly, jurors find it easier to believe the brain is injured if the head or face is injured. Not infrequently, there are very early photos available which description black eyes and cuts to the head. These photographs are leading corroborative evidence which are especially sufficient when enlarged or when projected. Later, when an expert is explaining the area of the brain which has been affected, it is persuasive to refer to the picture and have the expert confirm that the affected part of the brain is in the normal area to the laceration or bruising. Ambulance Call Report The first description to present is the Ambulance Call Report. If the Ambulance Call description contains any evidence which demonstrates a brain injury, it presents demonstrative evidence which is objective. This evidence, once shared with a Court, will be leading for describing your client's health shortly after the accident. You may feature a reference to disorientation or recording of a period of unconsciousness. Secondly, there may be a description of bruising or lacerations to the head. Finally, you will want to emphasize the Glasgow Coma Scale that supports your case. Every expert who comments on your client's injuries will refer to the Ambulance Call description and this is why this document may be one of the most leading pieces of evidence in the case. Hospital Records Next, the urgency records of the hospital where the client was taken must be considered reviewed. The records will consist of the preliminary history taken and nurses' notes and assessments while at the hospital. Records that indicate a low Glasgow Coma Scale score or disorientation will help demonstrate the continuation of the injury at the hospital. frequently a sick person with an acquired brain injury may come to be violent or aggressive to the hospital staff, which can demonstrate a frontal lobe injury. Hospital records can also be used to demonstrate the consistency of symptoms of your client. For example, if your client complains of headaches and the nurses' notes present the same complaint, this can be compared to your client's later complaints to other specialists. Radiographic Evidence From the time of a patient's arrival at the Er straight through follow-up treatment, a wide range of complicated testing can be done to help demonstrate the brain injury. There are two types of neurological tests: those that gawk the buildings of the brain and those that gawk the function of the brain. The Ct scan and Mri look at the buildings of the brain. The electroencephalogram (Eeg), Spect scan, Pet scan and evoked studies gawk the function of the brain. Mri and Ct Scans The Mri and Ct scan slice the brain radiographically into slabs. The Mri does this with magnetic fields while the Ct scan uses x-rays. The Mri provides more information than the Ct scan. Hence, brain damage as seen on an Mri, as small as 1-2 mm in size, may leave detection by a Ct scan. The Ct scan is superior to the Mri in detecting fresh blood in and colse to the brain, while the Mri is good at detecting the remnants of old hemorrhaged blood, called hemosiderin. Ct scans are often repeated to ensure that a brain injury is not becoming more extensive, normally in the early stages of Er treatment. Being so very sensitive, the Mri commonly detects clinically silent (asymptomatic) "brain damage" in the normal population. For example, as we age it is base for myelin in the white matter to degenerate (myelin is a jacket of insulation colse to axons to help them show the way their electrical discharges quickly down the axon). An Mri can detect this myelin degeneration as white matter hyperintensities. The Mri is also sensitive to cerebral atrophy (shrinkage), other normal phenomenon as we age. inordinate numbers of white matter hyperintensities or inordinate atrophy signal a potential neurologic illness or injury. Pet Scan (Positron Emission Tomography) Pet scanning is based on the fact that the brain uses glucose for energy. By labeling a glucose molecule with a radioactive "tag" and then inhaling radioactive glucose and placing the patient's head under a large geiger counter, one can identify abnormal areas of the brain that are underutilizing glucose. Because cyclotrons are needed to originate the radioactive gas, Pet scanning is not widely available. Spect Scan (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) Spect scanning is similar to Pet scanning in that a radioactive chemical is administered intravenously to the patient, but the radioactive chemical remains in the bloodstream and does not enter the brain. As a result, the Spect scan maps the brain's vascular supply. Because damaged brain tissue normally shuts down its own blood supply, focal vascular defects on a Spect scan are circumstantial evidence of brain damage. The benefit of a Spect scan over a Pet scan is it is readily available and is relatively cheap. new studies have demonstrated abnormal Spect scans after head trauma when the Ct and Mri were normal, suggesting that the Spect scan is more sensitive to brain injury then whether Ct or Mri scans. Because the radioactive chemicals used in Spect and Pet scans are carried to all parts of the body by vascular tree, Spect scans and Pet scans are used judiciously in patients of reproductive age. Obviously there are great limitations to curative science in revealing the intricacies of brain injury. As advocates we must not forget that most jurors will be relying on the evidence of the experts in manufacture their decisions about the case. Most jurors will be studying about brain injury for the first time. The lawyer must remind the jurors straight through expert testimony that although science has come a long way, it is still in its primitive stages. Thus, more belief can be located on the lay witnesses who present how the plaintiff has changed. Referral to an expert for an Evaluation While the plaintiff has probably seen a amount of experts since his or her accident, there are often occasions where the plaintiff has not seen the thorough curative care provider. For this theorize it may come to be necessary for solicitors to refer their clients to additional experts for additional clinical evaluation. Oftentimes while proving that your client's injuries are caused from an acquired brain injury, a lawyer will maintain a neuropsychologist. Test results are open to interpretation and debate. If the client moves about normally, speaks articulately and looks perfectly salutary in the structured environment of the courtroom you can expect the defence experts to disagree with your experts. Other experts will be retained who are not part of the curative medicine team, some of which may consist of vocational experts, life care planners and even economists. Discovery Before a case goes to trial, the lawyers for both parties know not only the case but also the other side's position on all the issues. The principles is designed to prevent surprises. In the discovery phase, a lawyer will ask questions under oath of the adverse party. This form of oral testimony provides both the plaintiff and defendant with the clearest view of staggering trial evidence. The views of the deponents come to be "locked down" and difficult to alter later during trial. With a brain injured client is leading to remind them that all examine put to them are assumed answered as if they have a perfect and correct recollection of the evidence. Often the opposite is true. The lawyer representing a brain injured client must take ample time in improve to get ready their client for this test so that the evidence is not misconstrued. Keep in mind that the defence will endeavor to use the test to undermine your client's credibility by obtaining admissions, which are contrary to your case or commit your client's evidence so that it can later be contradicted straight through expert opinions or surveillance. Lay Witnesses Lay witnesses are habitancy who have known the plaintiff both before and after the date of injury. These consist of family members, friends, neighbours and co-workers of the plaintiff who help to validate the testimony of the plaintiff and the experts during a trial. These witnesses can be very persuasive because their testimony is admittedly understood and can often present the plaintiff's subtle injuries vividly. Developing a Theme The theme is the word or phrase that permanently reappears in the litigation to focus the jury's attentiveness upon what the case is admittedly about. choosing one or more themes is of crucial importance. Themes are like magnets, which permanently attract notice. They must be designed to trigger both rational and emotional responses in jurors. In formulating trial themes, lawyers should focus upon facts, which may be expressed using high impact language, and descriptive by high potential demonstrative evidence. Themes that emphasize "quality of life" issues tend to dominate the brain injury cases because of the severe impact a brain injury may have upon the lives of private plaintiffs. There is nothing more sufficient in persuading any jury of organic injury than evidence that demonstrates that the plaintiff was having a successful and satisfying life before the accident. A timeline can often be persuasive in demonstrating an absence of curative medicine and consistent employment before the injury. Settlement before Trial Most times cases conclude prior to trial. After a suit is filed and the case proceeds, but before the trial begins, the parties can agree to settle. If that occurs, then one side agrees to pay a sum of money to the other, and the other side agrees to accept it as cost in full for the injuries suffered. normally a settlement is a good thing. In a settlement, no one loses. The insurance firm pays something, maybe a petite less than staggering by the plaintiff, but the risk of a trial is avoided. In all trials there are big risks for both sides. The uncut Challenge in a Mild Brain Injury Case Most insurance adjusters and defence lawyers take a jaundiced view of mild traumatic brain injuries. Some have commented that it represents the "whiplash of the new millennium". Despite this cynical approach, the lawyer taking on a brain injury case must look for proof of an organic injury in order to defeat the following thorough defences: No loss of consciousness: Plaintiffs who maintain mild brain injuries often do not taste true loss of consciousness. expert witnesses will help present evidence that loss of awareness, confusion or dizziness as a succeed of trauma can cause necessary neurological problems. The impairment was pre-existing from long standing pre-accident emotional problems. The injury, if there is one, is only an emotional one that can be cured straight through treatment. Negative neuro-imaging results: The absence of obvious findings by examinations such as a Ct scan or Mri should not be treated as evidence of a lack of injury. The client is malingering: Defence counsel will insist that the plaintiff is intentionally producing false or exaggerated symptoms motivated by the desire to derive financial compensation straight through litigation. normally malingering can be detected in psychological testing. Trial If the sum of money offered by the insurance firm in not thorough by the plaintiff, then the matter will march to trial. A trial is a risky venture: one side may win a lot of money or get nothing. In any event, the costs of a trial can be very high-priced for the loser. Trials can be decided by judge alone or by judge and jury. While negligence cases are brought against the private who caused the accident, there is always the nearnessy of the insurance firm behind the scenes as they are responsible for protecting the defendant up to the limits of their policy. If you are to persuade the jury that an injury has occurred, you must find a way to overcome the appearance of normalcy as the plaintiff gives evidence. One way to do so is to graphically construe the mechanism of injury so that the jury can appreciate that the brain can be permanently injured without any permanent change to the appearance of the head or face. There is no more sufficient way to construe the mechanism of injury than to show it, whether straight through the use of medical-legal illustrations, animations or other artwork. Conclusion In conclusion, the presentation of a brain injury case is very challenging. The lawyer undertaking such cases should be customary with the long-term consequences of brain injury. If the lawyer does not cover all facets of the case with thorough witnesses and other evidence, he will do himself and his client a great disservice. I hope you receive new knowledge about Accident Attorney Long Island. 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