Brain
Injuries

Representing Brain Injury Victims as a Miami Brain Injury Attorney

A serious blow to the head always requires immediate medical attention. Increasingly, medical researchers are learning more and more about the devastating long-term impacts of concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). These injuries can have a major physical and psychological impact on victims, sometimes with life-altering consequences. Sometimes, brain injuries can occur without a direct impact to the head.  For example, severe whiplash can also cause a brain injury.

If you or a loved one sustained a serious brain injury due to the negligence of another party in a car accident, slip and fall, or others, you should take legal action to protect your legal rights and your best interests. At Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein, LLP, our experienced Miami brain injury lawyer is standing by, ready to help you bring a claim. We will review your case as a free consultation and help you explore your legal options so that you can obtain the full compensation you deserve for your head injuries.

We Handle All Types of Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

Serious brain injuries happen and can occur in many different ways. Indeed, almost any type of accident could potentially result in a mild traumatic brain injury or a severe brain injury. Regardless of how any accident happens, the negligent party should be held liable for their careless conduct. To do this, brain injury victims should always work with an attorney who has experience handling claims that are similar to their individual case. Our Miami brain injury lawyers experience handling a wide array of different head injury cases in South Florida, including cases involving:

• Motor Vehicle Accidents;
• Commercial truck accidents;
• Drunk driving accidents;
• Medical Malpractice;
• Motorcycle crashes;
• Pedestrian and bike accidents;
• Slip and fall accidents;
• Negligent security claims; and
• Other premises liability cases.

Symptoms of Brain Injury

It is important to document any symptoms you experience after sustaining a brain injury. Keeping a journal of your symptoms, and how they are impacting your life, can also prove your case. Family members of the victim may notice symptoms that an injury has occurred, but attribute the cause to medication or pain from the accident. Unfortunately, the symptoms may not go away.

Doctors treating accident victims may not look for signs of brain injury and may not even be qualified to diagnose that an injury has occurred. In many cases, family members are the first to notice that their loved one is not the same after an accident.  According to the Mayo Clinic, the most common symptoms of a brain injury are as follows:

• Loss of short-term memory
• Difficulty in following instructions
• Getting lost, even when driving a familiar route
• Personality changes, such as irritability
• Sensitivity to light
• Sensitivity to sounds
• Dizziness and headaches
• Nausea, with or without vomiting
• Drowsiness
• Language issues
• Mood swings, particularly if you did not experience them before the injury
• Loss of consciousness, even for just a few moments
• Incoordination
• Periods of confusion
• Numbness or loss of strength
• Convulsions or seizures

Brain injury victims and their families may put off seeking treatment, hoping that the symptoms will go away. Unfortunately, the damage may be permanent. Our goal as attorneys is to help your loved one obtain the treatment and compensation he or she deserves. Our lawyers have the negotiation and litigation skills to effectively pursue these complex personal injury cases.

How to Prove You Suffered a Brain Injury

Brain injuries are not like other injuries. They are some of the worst types of injury you could sustain and they will have a lasting impact on your life. Unlike other types of injuries such as broken bones and road rash, a brain injury cannot be seen by liable parties and insurance companies. This can make them more difficult to prove. If you have suffered a brain injury, it is important to speak to a Miami personal injury lawyer who can prove your case so you can claim the full damages you deserve.

Proving a Brain Injury

It is important to seek medical attention after any accident so you can receive a diagnosis and treatment for any brain injury you suffered. This is important for your overall safety and well-being, but medical documentation can also help you prove your injury. According to the National Institute of Health, the diagnostic methods used for a brain injury include:

• CT scan: A computerized tomography (CT) scan takes images of the brain from different angles to form a complete picture. CT scans are useful in identifying brain bleeding, bruises, and other injuries.
• MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging uses radio waves and magnets to draft a detailed map of the brain. When a CT scan cannot accurately pinpoint an injury, an MRI is often used because it is a more in-depth imaging method.
• Glasgow coma scale: The Glasgow coma scale is actually a test administered by a doctor in a healthcare setting. The test measures a person’s functionality in areas of eye movement, speech, and agility.
• Intracranial pressure: When the brain has swollen, an intracranial pressure test might be done. This test is fairly invasive, as a probe is inserted through the skull so any swelling can be monitored.

Proving Liability in a Florida Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Case

To hold another party legally liable in your Florida brain injury case, and to gain the compensation you need for your medical bills and more, you must be able to prove that they were at fault for your injuries. Under Chapter 768.81 of the Florida statutes, fault in a personal injury case is determined using the negligence standard. In other words, you must prove that the defendant’s negligence contributed to your brain injury to be eligible to obtain compensation from them or from their insurance company. Our Miami TBI attorneys can help you in proving the defendant was acting in a negligent manner.

Negligence in a Brain Injury Case

Negligence is simply the failure to take due care. Still, while negligence is a relatively straightforward concept in the abstract, it can be very difficult to apply to real-world cases. In fact, what constitutes negligent conduct will vary widely depending on the specific facts of a traumatic brain injury case.

The first issue that needs to be considered in these claims centers around what duty of care was owed to the victim. Different defendants owe different duties to different people. For example, Florida motorists are held to a very high standard of care, as are property owners and medical professionals. In other cases, the standard of care might be a little lower. To prove negligence, the victim will always need to be able to establish the defendant did something unsafe (or failed to act to remove a danger) and as a result the victim suffered an injury as a result.

Florida’s Comparative Negligence Rules

Like many other U.S. states, Florida is a comparative fault jurisdiction. This means that multiple parties can share the legal liability for the same injury claim. In split liability cases, each party will be held liable in direct proportion to their fault for the accident. For example, if you suffered a head injury in a three-car pile up, and the other two drivers were equally at fault for the crash, each of those drivers would be responsible for 50 percent of your damages.

Notably, in some cases, a brain injury victim can be held partially liable for their own injuries. When this happens, their compensation will be reduced. As such, brain injury victims should work with an attorney who can protect them from an unfair assignment of the blame for the accident.

Miami Brain Injury Victims are Entitled to Compensation

Under Florida law, concussion/TBI victims can seek compensation for the full value of their damages from the negligent party. To recover full compensation, victims must properly document their damages. Unfortunately, the defendants and their large insurance companies are rarely willing to pay victims the compensation they truly deserve. This is where our legal team can help. We have the skills and experience needed to help you fight for every dollar that you deserve. Depending on the facts of your head injury claim, we may be able to help you recover compensation for:

• Emergency medical expenses;
• Other hospital bills;
• Required medication and medical equipment;
• Physical therapy costs;
• Incidental economic costs;
• Lost wages, including loss of earning capacity;
• Pain and suffering;
• Emotional distress;
• Long-term disability;
• Loss of life enjoyment; and
• Wrongful death damages.

You Can Always Afford Our Top-Quality Brain Injury Attorneys

Our Miami personal injury attorneys are committed to helping head injury victims fight for justice. We do not care about your financial circumstances. Indeed, no matter how much money you have in the bank, you can afford to hire our firm to represent you. This is because we take on all brain injury claims using contingency fee agreements. For you, this means no out-of-pocket expenses and no upfront fees. We do not want to take any more money out of your wallet. We will collect our legal fee as a percentage of your successful settlement offer or court verdict. If we do not win your case, then we do not get paid.

If your loved one’s injury was caused by the negligence of another, you have the right to seek compensation for the harm done. We offer a free initial consultation to discuss your case. We represent accident victims and their families throughout South and Central Florida.

Contact Our Miami Personal Injury Lawyers Today

At Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein, LLP, we have helped many brain injury victims recover the full and fair compensation that they rightfully deserve. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious brain injury in an accident, we can help. To request a free consultation of your claim, please call us today toll free at . From our offices in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, we represent brain injury victims and their families throughout South Florida.

Trial-Tested Attorneys

We are a firm that is made up of trial-tested personal injury lawyers. We have members of the Best Lawyers in America, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and the Florida Legal Elite. Our legal team is ready to do whatever is necessary to fight for your legal rights and financial interests. If your case goes to trial, you can rest easy knowing that you have a top-rated legal representative fighting aggressively on your behalf.