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Briefly Describe Your Injuries

FLORIDA BRAIN INJURY CLAIMS
CALL (888) 446-1999 TOLL FREE

CALL FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION WITH FLORIDA BAR BOARD CERTIFIED CIVIL TRIAL LAWYER, MARK J. LEEDS.

IF THERE IS NO RECOVERY, WE DO NOT CHARGE YOU ATTORNEY’S FEES OR COSTS. NOTE: The Florida Bar has no specific categories of lawyer for individual types of cases within the area of personal injury.

Among the most catastrophic of injuries, with potentially some of the most difficult and long lasting effect, the devastation of a brain injury affects not only the person who has the injury but everyone in his or her life as well. Some areas of exploration into the total overall effects of these devastating injuries include perhaps:

• Work up with a neuropsychologist
• MRI and CT scans
• Psychiatric care plan
• Home health and hygiene plan
• Future life care plan including costs and factoring in inflation, cost of living, the interest rate and the expense of future care, special needs, home modification, car or van modification speech therapy

Not all brain injury cases come about as a result of having some sort of impact, trauma, concussion or because of being hit or hitting something. Each area of the brain serves a special function. Injury to the hippocampus is different than injury to the entire frontal lobe, for example. The place in the brain that stores our memory for names is different than the place we store our memory of faces we have seen. We are just at the stage of medicine when we are beginning to target and treat stroke, memory loss, emotional disorders in a more aggressive fashion with the advent of the Positron Emission Topography scan (a/k/a the “PET”scan). Your Florida Brain Injury Attorney will likely be up to date on these modern modalities and will possess more than a simple knowledge of the workings of the brain. Consult your Florida Personal Injury lawyer to get legal advice about your possible claim.

Brain injury cases also can come from medical malpractice, failure to timely recognize or treat a stroke, dehydration due to poor patient monitoring, infection, undetected or untimely diagnosed and delayed treatment of cancer and for many other reasons. Contact your Florida brain injury lawyer for a free consultation.

Brain injury conditions can include:

• Concussion (does not have to be a major blow, and repeated concussions
require even less force to do damage)
• Skull Fracture
• Brain Hemorrhage
• Subdural or Epidural Hematoma
• Epilepsy Seizures
• Oxygen Supply Cut-Off (Hypoxia)

Some frequently seen reasons for a brain injury aside from the obvious
blow to the head from a accident include:

• Electrical Contact (Electrocution)
• Drug Reaction
• Drowning
• Being Shaken as an infant
• Alcohol and Alcoholism related conditions
• Crystal Meth and other narcotic abuse
• Toxic Substance Exposure
• Undetected/Late detected Disease Process

Ask yourself, did you have any of the following:

Loss of consciousness, regardless of the length of time, e.g."I woke up, I don't know how long I was out cold".

Amnesia- loss of recall about what happened, which is either permanent or transient

Did you feel as if you were in shock, or that you were in a daze, and perhaps you did not understand that you were injured immediately, or you do not recall who was present when the accident happened. It is possible that only moments immediately before, or immediately after the event are impossible to recall. Perhaps the event itself is unclear to your recall.

Have you noticed:

Any change in speech, hearing, concentration, ability to recall names,
dates, people, difficulty with lists, directions, crossword puzzles that
you could previously complete without a problem?

Are you having emotional mood swings without reason?
Are you having trouble making decisions?

The ranking of how these injuries come about tend to be:
• Car accidents
• Falls and Sports Injuries
• Fights and On the Job Injuries
• Other categories are not ranked at this time.

Children and Young Adults:

Note: Children and young adults are especially affected by seemingly minor trauma which adults may shrug off. The brain of a child does not grow in step with their chronological age as you may think. Speech and language difficulties as well as learning disabilities need to be long term evaluated. It is not unusual for your Florida Brain Injury Lawyers to file the claim and then wait for some time, perhaps years, until the child reaches an age where the repeat testing of cognitive functions can be determinative. Sometimes, in the case of a minor or severely brain injured and therefore disabled adult there is a "structured settlement" paying over time for the anticipated medical care and loss of wages through an annuity.

YOUR FIRST CONSULTATION:

Florida Brain Injury Lawyers want to know the smallest of details about how you or your loved one sustained the brain injury.

• Were you involved in a motor vehicle accident?
• Did you hit your head on something during a slip and fall?
• Did you suffer a stroke or some other medical condition that caused your brain injury?
• Did you have any previous injuries or medical conditions?
• What doctors have you been treated by?

If the brain injury was a result of an automobile accident, these additional factors should be addressed:

• Did the other driver say anything? Was the other driver alone or did he/she have passengers?
• If the police were called, did they issue a ticket? If so, who was issued the ticket?
• Do you have the police report? If not, do you have a police report case number?
• What was the extent of damage to your car, and where is the car now? Have any pictures been taken of the car? How about the other driver’s car?
• Did you report this accident to your insurance company? Have your policy information handy.
• Have you talked to an insurance company representative for either or both your own company and the other driver’s insurance company? Most Florida Brain Injury Lawyers will tell you not to discuss your case with these insurance company representatives unless your lawyer is present, and that if the insurance representatives call you, simply ask them to call your Florida Brain Injury Lawyer.
• Was your seat belt fastened?
• Were you offered fire rescue or other medical transport assistance at the scene, and have you been to an emergency room or doctor since the accident?
• Have you made a claim before for injuries, even if it is long ago, or merely under your employment workers compensation?
• Did you lose time from work? If so, how much and who do you work for?
• Do you have any photographs of your vehicle or the scene of the accident?
• Do you have an estimate for the repair of your automobile?
• Were you driving; were you a passenger; or were you a pedestrian or riding a bicycle at the time of the accident?
• Were you driving your own motor vehicle or was it owned by someone else?
• What were the road conditions at the time of the accident?
• What was the weather like at the time of the accident?
• What time of day did the accident occur?
• Were there any witnesses to the accident? If so, do you have their names and addresses.

MATERIALS YOU SHOULD GATHER:

• Medical bills and records, if you have them
• Health insurance information
• Medicare information
• Medicaid information, if applicable
• List of all health care providers for the past five years
• Your employment history for the past five years

If your injuries were a result of a motor vehicle accident, the following additional materials are necessary:

• Automobile Insurance information
• Photographs of your injuries, the scene of the accident, and of your vehicle, if you have any
• Names and addresses of witnesses, if any
• Your driver’s license
• Florida Automobile Accident Report

DEADLINE FOR FILING A LAWSUIT:

Generally, there is a no-extension time limit of 4 years against all possible negligent defendants if your brain injury was as a result of a slip and fall or motor vehicle accident. If your brain injury was as a result of medical negligence, it is two years from the date of the medical malpractice, but can be up to four years from the date of the medical malpractice depending upon when a reasonable person would have discovered the negligence, which perhaps may be tolled for a limited amount of time by filing a certain notice.

There are numerous exceptions to this time limit. Be careful, consult your lawyer early. It is possible that a much shorter statute of limitations may apply.

Your Florida Brain Injury Lawyer will review this deadline during your free consultation.

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