TBI After A Car Accident? Concussions & Head Trauma
Whether you’re a driver, passenger, or pedestrian, car accidents can cause serious head injuries that impact your quality of life. It’s crucial to get help right away if you suffer a brain injury or a TBI after a car accident.
But while you know you need help, paying for your medical bills can feel impossible on your own, especially if a brain injury keeps you from going back to work. But getting a TBI car accident settlement can help you get the funds you need to manage your injury and get your life back on the right track.
Below, learn more about TBIs and car accidents, how they happen, and how to get a settlement, courtesy of a Rhode Island car accident lawyer.
What Is A TBI After A Car Accident?
A TBI, or traumatic brain injury, is a type of head injury caused by blunt-force impact. An estimated 280,000 people get TBIs every year, with about 50% of all TBIs resulting directly from car accidents.
Why Do People Get A TBI After A Car Accident?
Normally, your brain floats inside the cerebrospinal fluid in your skull. Sudden impacts from a car accident can make the brain smash into the skull and cause brain bleeding or bruising. These injuries can make you pass out and cause the symptoms associated with TBIs, like headaches, confusion, or issues with balance and motor control.
Common causes of concussions and TBIs in car accidents include:
- Hitting your head against the steering wheel, windows, or dashboard
- Making contact with the pavement
- Whiplash-type injuries, such as sudden back and forth movement.
What happens when you get a TBI? Treatment & Outlook
There are three main types of TBIs, each with their own symptoms and prognosis.
- Mild TBIs: Also called concussions, these TBIs cause symptoms like headaches, confusion, light sensitivity, and sleepiness. A mild concussion from a car accident often clears up within a few days or a week.
- Moderate TBIs: A step above a concussion, these TBIs can leave you unconscious for a few minutes to a day or longer. The healing process can take several months to a year, with ongoing symptoms like headaches, motor issues, fatigue, or behavioral changes.
- Severe TBIs: The most extreme form of TBI. These head injuries can be life-threatening and cause comas or extensive hospital stays. People with severe TBIs can have lifelong impacts from the injury, like a loss of motor function or intellectual disabilities that leave them care-dependent or prevent them from returning to work.
Can You File A Personal Injury Claim if You Get A TBI After A Car Accident?
Absolutely! If another driver caused the crash, you can file a personal injury claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company.
If the driver doesn’t have insurance, or their insurance doesn’t cover their bills, your own insurance company’s underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage could keep you from paying out of pocket. You also have the option to file a personal injury lawsuit directly against the at-fault driver themselves.
How Much Compensation Do You Get for Traumatic Brain Injuries?
In a personal injury case, it’s usually possible to recover costs for all your economic damages caused directly by the accident. These can include:
- Medical bills, such as doctor’s visits, ambulance rides, or hospital stays
- Lost wages from time spent off work due to recovery and treatment.
- Other out-of-pocket expenses, like paying for rideshares to doctors’ appointments.
If your TBI has more lasting consequences, you can also seek pain and suffering damages. Every case is different, but most insurance companies calculate pain and suffering by adding all of your economic damages together, then multiplying the sum by a number between 1.5 and 5.
For example, if your economic damages are $2,000, and you multiply that total by 1.5, your pain and suffering damages would be an additional $1,000, for a $3,000 total settlement.
How to Maximize Your Chances of TBI After A Car Accident Settlement
Unfortunately, most insurance companies will underestimate the value of a TBI claim, especially in their first offer. Their goal isn’t to get you the funds you need to live, but to minimize what they have to pay.
If you want to maximize your chances of a TBI car accident settlement, you’ll need to build a strong case from the very beginning. You can prepare for that by keeping the following factors in mind.
Get Medical Help ASAP
NEVER refuse medical treatment at the scene. Allow first responders to examine you, and go to the hospital if they advise you to. You’ll be able to detect TBIs right away and get the treatments you need faster. Plus, you’ll have the paper trail you need to file a personal injury claim.
Document Everything
While everything can feel like a whirlwind immediately after an accident, start gathering evidence and documentation for your claim as soon as you can. Gather info like medical bills, images from your CT scans/MRIs, your police report, dashcam or security footage, and statements from witnesses or your medical team.
The more information you can provide to bolster your claim, the better your chances of a TBI car accident settlement.
File within The Statute of Limitations
All personal injury claims have a statute of limitations. Most insurance companies have filing windows specified in their policies, which you should always follow.
If you’re filing a lawsuit, the statute of limitations in Rhode Island is three years after the date of the accident, OR three years after you should’ve reasonably known about your injury. If you don’t file your claim before the statute expires, the court will immediately toss your TBI car accident claim.
Be Willing to Negotiate
It often takes a few rounds of back-and-forth with an insurance company to reach a TBI car accident settlement that you feel is fair. Check out our guide to negotiating with insurance companies for pointers on how to send demand letters and counter lowball offers.
Work with A Car Accident Lawyer In Providence RI
When you’re recovering from a head injury, the last thing you want to do is deal with mountains of paperwork or fighting an insurance company. But you don’t need to do it all alone.
At Petrarca Law, we fight to help car accident victims get the TBI settlements they deserve. As an experienced Rhode Island car accident attorney, we’ll gladly stand up to large insurance companies, negotiate for you, and even escalate into a lawsuit if that’s the best path to a settlement. You can leave it all to us and focus on healing and finding your way forward.
Contact us today for a free evaluation of your TBI car accident claim.