Brain Injury Lawyers Serving Hialeah

Suffering from a brain injury of any kind can be extremely detrimental. If the injury was caused negligently, it’s time to take legal action immediately for your damages.

If you or someone you know has recently suffered a brain injury because of someone else inflicting harm in Hialeah, Florida, you should consult with a brain injury lawyer. These types of incidents can cause lifelong adaptations you might not be ready for mentally or financially, but the help of an attorney can help you seek justice and extra compensation.

Here is everything you need to know about brain injuries and how to find the best lawyer for your case in Hialeah.

In short, a brain injury is any hard force that impacts brain tissue in any matter. These injuries can be mild or severe and can cause severe impacts. Brain injuries are known as TBIs, traumatic brain injuries, with the most common being concussions. If you’ve ever experienced a mild concussion, then you’re likely aware of all the ramifications and difficulties that accompany them.

There are approximately 3.8 concussions suffered annually just from sports-related incidents alone. That’s not considering car accidents or any other harsh blows a person can experience.

Concussions can range from mild to severe, as other TBIs. These injuries occur when the nerve cells in a person’s brain are disrupted from the force or blow of the incident they are experiencing and blackout. Minor TBIs typically experience a blackout from a few seconds to a few minutes, while more severe TBIs have blackouts over a 24-hour span.

A person who experiences a minor TBI can expect to make a full recovery within two weeks with the help of possible minor interventions. More severe TBIs can be more expensive in their healing process, which can require one or more of the following:

• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Surgery
• Life-long medical interventions

The main cause of brain injuries comes from harsh force. This force can come from a variety of incidents such as:

• Car accidents
• A person’s body being shaken
• Falls
• Military Blasts
• Gunshot wounds
• Violence

Negligence that leads to a brain injury of any kind should be consulted about with an attorney to distinguish what legal measures can be taken.

Concussions are not the only forms of brain injuries that can come from certain instances. Car accidents, violence, and other force can lead to other forms of brain injuries, which can include:

• Edema - swelling of the brain
• Hematoma - a ruptured blood vessel that produces a pool of blood in the brain
• Skull Fracture - leaking fluid in the brain
• Diffuse Axonal - damage to brain cells causing them to not function properly

There could be other brain injuries a person has sustained that is not in this list. If you think you have suffered from a brain injury, it’s important to have your symptoms checked out as soon as possible.

Severe brain injuries have immediate symptoms that are clear to notice, whereas mild brain injuries can take time to see in a person. Knowing the possible symptoms of brain injuries is important so the adult or child can receive medical care as soon as possible.

Common symptoms found in mild brain injuries include:

• Headaches
• Nausea/vomiting
• Sleepiness or trouble sleeping
• Slurred speech
• Blurred vision
• Migraine/sensitivity to light or sound
• Unconsciousness or blackout for a short period of time
• Confusion

Common symptoms of severe brain injuries include:

• Unconsciousness or blackout for 24 hours or more
• Migraine
• Nausea or vomiting
• Seizures
• Dilated pupils
• Numb fingers or toes
• Extreme confusion
• Easily agitated
• Slurred speech
• Blurry vision
• Odd behavior
• Coma-like sleepiness or trouble waking up

If you begin to notice any symptoms of a brain injury, it’s important to take action immediately. Untreated brain injuries can lead to more extensive injuries and treatments if gone unnoticed for a certain period of time.

Brain injuries in an adult will be less dramatic than brain injuries in babies and children due to the fragile brain babies have that is majorly underdeveloped.

Many of the symptoms in adults and babies will be similar, but babies can show differences such as:

• Consistent crying
• Inability to eat
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Irritability
• Loss of interest in favorite activities

Adults can still be majorly impacted by severe brain injuries that require them to relearn bodily functions, but children and babies can also be severely impacted by future learning developments. Since adults have a fully developed brain, they are expected to make better recoveries than young children and babies.

This impact can be very detrimental to a child’s development with their motor, social, and mental skills. Older children and teens who experience brain injuries can take a major setback in development and lose all the life progress they’ve made in their skills.

The type of treatment a person will undergo depends on the severity of the brain injury. Mild injuries typically do not require interventions unless there’s a medicine that is prescribed for a short period of time.

Complex and severe brain injuries are what require more medical intervention to help reduce bleeding and swelling in the injury and to prevent other issues from arising. Severe injuries such as hemorrhaging or a skull fracture can require surgery to help heal the damage that’s been done from the accident.

Surgery isn’t the only treatment for brain injuries. Since severe injuries can alter a person’s way of life and memory function, here are other forms of treatment for brain injury patients can be prescribed:

• Rehabilitation for motor or physical skills
• Occupational therapy
• Verbal therapy
• Counseling
• Medications

Patients that are prescribed medications may use the medicine along with the surgery and other interventions. Treatments for brain injuries can be very costly since they are invasive and deal with one of the most delicate parts of the body.

Families might not be prepared for the cost, and financial impact brain injuries have, which is another reason to consult with an attorney about the next steps.

If you are not the person who has experienced the injury, then it’s important for you to carefully watch your loved one in the hours and day to come if they are not already in the hospital. The most important step to take after a brain injury is to be seen by medical professionals to prevent future issues and begin treating the current ones.

The next thing to do is to consult with an experienced brain injury lawyer if the injury is a result of violence or negligence. It can be very devastating to deal with a brain injury, and consulting with an attorney might be the last thing on your mind. Florida’s State of Limitations allows victims of violence to file a claim up to two years from the date of the crash.

Two years is a good amount of time to put your case to the side while working on healing, but the longer your case is prolonged, the more it could lose credibility and become difficult to fight.

There are many costs associated with brain injuries. Not only are they very expensive to treat, but the costs of the impact on life can also be significant.

Due to the extent of the costs associated with brain injuries, those who suffer from these injuries should keep their medical bills, medication expenses, and other records related to the incident for an attorney to review.

If you have medical insurance, you can receive some compensation to help with the medical costs and benefits associated with the injury, but if your coverage doesn’t cover as much as you need, there are other ways to seek compensation.

An attorney can help you with your claim against the person responsible for the injury for extra monetary assistance to cover medical expenses throughout life while treating this injury.

Here are avenues people typically take to seek assistance for brain injuries:

• Insurance
• Filing a brain injury lawsuit
• Filing for disability

Your attorney can assist you with all of these options. Disability can be very particular, and applicants will need to meet requirements that your attorney can review with you to see if you match. It is not uncommon for victims of severe brain injuries to be placed out of work for a period of time or for the rest of their life. If this happens, it’s important to make sure you’re approved for disability to have a monthly income.

Filing for disability has certain steps that can be a lengthy process to go through, so the sooner you start filing, the sooner you can be approved. You will have to go through the Social Security Administration, which can take a few months itself during the application process.

It is also worth having an attorney present for this part of the process since the information that is asked of victims through the application is sensitive and needs to be filed correctly. 70% of applications are turned down for various reasons, so to reduce this risk it’s worth it to have a professional who knows the system and understands the process.

There is no specific timeline as to when you should hire a brain injury lawyer for your injuries in Hialeah, Florida, but the sooner the better. If you are the person who is experiencing the injury, then it’s important to have a family or friend advocate that can look for an attorney on your behalf.

You can have an attorney hired while you are still in the hospital as long as your attorney is able to have access to medical records and information specifically about your case. If your brain injury is milder but there are still complications, you should hire an attorney as soon as you are released from the hospital.

An experienced brain injury lawyer can help you build a case against the responsible party, including medical organizations if the injury was sustained from medical malpractice. These professionals are the best to work with for these injuries since they have in-depth knowledge of medical and state laws that regulate your case.

When you work with a brain injury lawyer, you will be giving them evidence your case needs to prove fault for this severe injury. Sometimes proving fault in brain injury cases can be difficult since the injury can occur from a pure accident. But, with the right attorney, they will be able to look through all evidence to deem whose fault it is and how to use evidence when it’s the fault of the defendant.

Here are some other ways your brain injury lawyer can help in your case:

• Collect and review evidence
• Speak on your behalf in court and mediations
• Assist you in filing for disability or other assistance programs
• Work closely to meet your needs for monetary assistance and other benefits

It is worth it to take your time and invest in the right attorney for these sensitive cases. There are a lot of law firms in Hialeah, Florida, but you want to make sure you choose the right one that has a track record of experience with successful outcomes for similar cases, so you have the best chance of seeking the compensation you deserve.

As you start to look for firms, if you don’t already have a lawyer to call, it’s important to find more than one you can consult with. Most law firms have free consultations that you should take advantage of since this is complimentary time to ask any questions you may have and get to know the lawyer you choose to work with.

Having the right questions ready to ask attorneys in your consultation is important so you can determine which firm is right for you. You will be working closely with your attorney throughout the duration of your case, so feeling confident in the attorney you’ve chosen is very important.

Here are some questions and topics to consult with each attorney about:

• Overall legal experience
• Experience with brain injury cases
• Success in outcomes with these cases
• Communication practices
• How they preferred to be paid

There is no cut-and-dry answer as to how to choose which attorney to go with. You will know which one fits your needs based on your consultation and which one feels right to you. Do not let the budget of an attorney steer you away if it’s the one you want to work with. Most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis.

There is no timeline or settlement amount you should expect in your lawsuit. It all depends on who you are going up against and how complex your case is. Since brain injuries are very serious, your case can take up to a year or more since you need to have specific information about your injuries and the defendant's fault.

Not all brain injuries require a court date. Your attorney can help you seek compensation in a shorter timeframe through a settlement in mediation where you and the defendant come to an agreement on how much you deserve.

This doesn’t always work if either side cannot agree or does not want to cooperate. If an agreement cannot be reached, then your case will go to trial, where it will be left to the jury to determine who wins the case and receives how much.

If you have been harmed because of someone else’s carelessness, there is no substitute for having dedicated legal representation on your side. At Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers, we are committed to helping injured victims. Our firm has over 40 years of combined experience handling accident and injury cases, and we know what it takes to try and prove a negligence claim. You can expect the utmost respect and professionalism from our licensed attorneys and legal staff.

Our Injury Lawyers offer a Free Consultation by calling 855-800-8000 or contact us online. Let us help you through this stressful time, our office is available 24/7 and we speak Spanish and Creole.