Brain Injury FAQ
1. How can I get help when recovering from a brain injury?
As the victim of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), you have unique medical, legal, and financial needs. The experienced North Carolina traumatic brain injury lawyers at Henson Fuerst understand that your needs often extend beyond those of other types of personal injury cases.
We’re here to assist and guide you in coordinating the appropriate resources you need, such as:
- attendant or daily life care,
- financial management and planning,
- Medicaid, Medicare, or TriCare health insurance benefits,
- Social Security Disability benefits,
- structured settlements or annuities,
- Veterans Disability benefits,
- vocational rehabilitation,
- and work assistance or job coaching programs.
It’s our goal to evaluate your needs and determine how to best help you meet them.
2. What are the signs of a brain injury?
Symptoms vary widely depending on the type, severity, and location of an injury to the brain and may include, but are not limited to:
- blurred or double vision,
- difficulty concentrating or speaking,
- difficulty walking or coordinating fine movements,
- dizziness,
- excessive fatigue,
- excessive sleepiness,
- immediate and persistent headache,
- loss of consciousness,
- memory loss,
- seizures,
- tremors,
- and vomiting or feeling nauseated.
If you or someone you love has experienced or is experiencing any of these symptoms and suffered a head injury, our North Carolina brain injury attorneys are here to help.
3. What should I do if I suffer a head injury?
Even a mild brain injury—or concussion—can have both immediate and long-lasting effects. No matter how minor or severe you think your brain injury is, the first thing you should do is seek medical attention. For years, many physicians considered concussions minor injuries. Now, neurologists have found that people who suffer concussions face a number of brain and thinking problems and have an increased risk of early dementia.
4. How is my brain affected by a brain injury?
Your brain is affected differently depending on the location of your brain injury.
- Injury to the frontal lobe may affect your ability to focus, organize, and plan. It may also cause mood or personality changes.
- Injury to the temporal lobe may impact your memory.
- Injury to the cerebellum may impact your balance and equilibrium. It may also affect your motor skills.
- Injury to the occipital lobe may impact your vision.
- Injury to the parietal lobe may affect your visual attention, perception, and sense of touch.
It’s rare that the effects of an injury will be limited to a single, focused part of the brain or to a single type of symptom.
5. What happens if my brain injury case goes to trial?
Should your case go to trial:
- We will give the jury a full picture of how your brain has been damaged by presenting descriptions from your medical providers. These descriptions provide an objective analysis of your injury and can clearly explain why and how a trauma directly caused your brain injury.
- Our North Carolina brain injury attorneys will ask family and friends to talk about the changes they have seen in your behavior. These before-and-after descriptions allow the jury to see how you and your family have suffered.
- We will use exhibits, charts, diagrams, videos, and other visual aids to illustrate your injury and how the injury caused a specific deficit in your ability to think, remember, move, work, or function. Exhibits that are easy to understand are the most persuasive, so we often use diagrams of the brain to explain how the different parts of the brain function.
Enlargements of actual CT or MRI scans of your injured brain can show the specific locations of injury, and 3D exhibits can be used to overlay the areas of injury with the affected lobes of the brain, showing the impact on your brain function.
