Riverside Brain Injury Attorney

Brain injuries are very serious and deserve attention from experienced Riverside brain injury attorneys. Bentley & More LLP can help you by exploring your rights and representing your family during insurance claim negotiations. Our injury lawyers in Riverside can help you seek financial compensation if this is the case regarding your or a loved one’s brain injury. Call (949) 870-3800 to speak with our experienced Riverside brain injury lawyers today.

Riverside Brain Injury Resources

• Common Types of Brain Injuries In Riverside
• How Will a Brain Injury Affect My Life?
• Symptoms Of A Brain Injury
• Brain Injury Treatment Process
• Causes of Brain Injuries In Riverside
• Who Is Liable for a Brain Injury?
• Proving Negligence In A Brain Injury Case
• What Damages Can Be Recovered from a Brain Injury Claim In Riverside?

Common Types of Brain Injuries

Two general classes of brain injuries exist: traumatic and acquired. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) comes from an outside force, such as aggressive shaking or blunt force trauma. An acquired brain injury (ABI) results from internal issues such as loss of oxygen to the brain. Both are extremely dangerous and can cause permanent brain damage, coma, and death. Some of the most common types of brain injuries include concussions, diffuse axonal injuries, hematomas, contusions, and coup/contrecoup injuries. All brain injuries are serious and require emergency medical attention. If you or a loved one has suffered, our Riverside brain injury lawyers will provide the help you need to overcome financial struggles after an accident.

How Will a Brain Injury Affect My Life?

Living with a brain injury can make every day a struggle. Many brain injury survivors have to relearn everything, from simple math to how to eat. Brain injuries can impact memory, sensation, cognitive function, motor skills, balance, and abilities. Virtually every aspect of life can change after a serious brain injury. You might not be able to return to your previous job or any occupation. The medical expenses, lost wages, physical pain, and psychological trauma from a brain injury can be devastating. Caring for a loved one with a brain injury can also be difficult, expensive, and emotionally draining.

Symptoms Following A Brain Injury

The symptoms of a brain injury are wide-ranging, and they often revolve around the severity of the initial injury as well as the availability of quality medical treatment. Brain injury symptoms can typically be divided into symptoms for mild injuries as well as symptoms for moderate to severe brain injuries.

Mild traumatic brain injury symptoms

Symptoms for a mild traumatic brain injury, which may often be referred to as a concussion, often appear right away and in the hours after the incident occurs. The main physical symptoms include:

• Headache
• Vomiting and nausea
• Temporary issues with speech
• Fatigue
• Loss of balance

Individuals may also experience sensory issues, such as ringing in the ears, blurred vision, and a bad taste in their mouth. Mild traumatic brain injury victims may have sensitivity to light. In some circumstances, individuals may experience a brief loss of consciousness, concentration or memory problems, mood swings, and difficulty sleeping.

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury symptoms

Those who sustained moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries will typically have all of the same symptoms as those who sustain mild traumatic brain injuries, along with other symptoms. Some of the physical symptoms associated with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries include:

• Longer periods of loss of consciousness
• Headaches that worsen over time
• Continued nausea or vomiting
• Seizures or convulsions
• Pupil dilation
• Loss of coordination
• Numbness or weakness in the toes and fingers

Individuals may also experience significant confusion, combativeness, agitation, or other unusual behavior. Severe traumatic brain injury victims may suffer from slurred speech, and they could even sustain permanent brain damage.

Treatment Process For A Brain Injury 

Any individual who has sustained a suspected blow to the head or a jolt to the body must seek medical care for an evaluation. Often, brain injury signs and symptoms are not noticed right away, but the damage can begin right away after the impact. Waiting to seek medical care could lead to a person sustaining irreparable damage.

Traumatic brain injuries can be diagnosed by a CT scan or an MRI (or both). A doctor will typically order these scans if they suspect a brain injury has occurred, but they will also rely on their own observations of a patient. For more severe brain injuries, doctors may need to monitor intracranial pressure because this pressure may need to be relieved at some point.

The treatment for a mild traumatic brain injury usually requires nothing more than rest and over-the-counter pain medications. Some concussion victims may need to take time off from work, school, or other activities, and it will likely be recommended that they limit their physical activity along with cognitive activities, such as watching any type of screen.

Those who sustain moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries may need hospitalization for observation. There are various types of medications individuals may be prescribed, including anti-seizure medications or diuretics. In some cases, medical professionals may need to induce a coma so they can more closely evaluate a patient over a longer period of time. Severe brain injury victims may need surgery. This surgery could be used to help relieve pressure caused by a swelling brain, alleviate bleeding on the brain, repair skull fractures, and remove clotted blood.

The Rehabilitation Process

Most individuals who have had a significant brain injury will need physical therapy and rehabilitation. Often, this includes relearning skills such as walking, talking, eating, and performing other basic activities. Physical therapy and rehabilitation usually start at the hospital and continue to an inpatient rehabilitation center. In-home rehabilitation and physical therapy may be an option for many people.

Individual brain injury victims may work with a psychiatrist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, and a physical therapist for a specific amount of time. The overall recovery process will revolve around the severity of the injury and the effectiveness of medical treatment.

Causes of Brain Injuries

Human error is one of the most common reasons brain injuries happen. Distracted drivers striking other vehicles, criminals assaulting innocent victims, construction site debris falling onto workers below…all of these incidents can result in permanent, debilitating brain injuries in Riverside. The most common causes of brain injuries in the U.S. are:

• Falls
• Auto accidents
• Sports incidents
• Violent attacks
• Struck-by objects
• Drowning
• Poisoning
• Birth injuries
• Surgical errors

The Riverside brain injury lawyers at Bentley & More LLP can help you fight back against the negligence of other drivers, product manufacturers, sports coaches, doctors, and property owners. If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury as a result of a car crash in Southern California, contact our Riverside accident lawyers. We understand the civil justice system in California and recognize the most frequent reasons brain injuries occur. Let us help you if you believe someone else caused your brain injury in the Inland Empire.

If your brain injury was the result of a trucking collision, reach out to our Riverside truck accident lawyers today.

Who Is Liable for a Brain Injury in Riverside, CA?

The party that’s liable for the brain injury will be the one responsible for causing the damage. It may be a driver, a government agency, a business, a property owner, a doctor, an employer, or multiple parties. Proving liability takes collecting evidence from the scene of the incident, interviewing eyewitnesses, and analyzing the laws involved in the case. Our Riverside brain injury attorneys have decades of experience with sensitive cases. You can trust the personal injury lawyers at Bentley & More to handle your specific lawsuit.

If you experienced a head injury while on the job, please reach out to a workers’ compensation lawyer in Riverside to learn more about your potential case.

Proving Negligence In Brain Injury Cases

Determining negligence after a brain injury occurs can be challenging. A skilled Riverside brain injury lawyer will use their resources to gather as much evidence as possible to show the insurance carriers for a personal injury jury what happened. This evidence can include eyewitness statements, photographs or video surveillance, medical records, and other proof surrounding the incident. The ultimate goal is to establish that the four elements of negligence were present, which means the at-fault party should be liable for paying compensation.

1. Duty of Care. It must first be shown that the injury victim (the plaintiff) was owed a duty of care by the alleged negligent party (the defendant). A duty of care will look different depending on the cause of the injury. For example, truck drivers owe a duty of care to those around them, which means drivers are responsible for the safe operation of their vehicles. However, if we are talking about a slip and fall injury that caused brain damage, we would closely examine the duty of care owed by the property owner to the injury victim.
2. Breach of Duty. After establishing that there was a duty of care in place between the plaintiff and defendant, it needs to be shown that the defendant breached their duty of care. This breach will look different, again, depending on the situation at hand. For example, a truck driver could breach their duty of care if they fail to properly secure their cargo and this causes an accident. A property owner can breach their duty of care if they fail to clean up a known slip and fall hazard.
3. Causation. After establishing that a breach of duty occurred, it must be shown that the breach directly caused the brain injury in question. 
4. Damages. Finally, it needs to be established that the brain injury victim sustained some sort of monetary loss as a result of the breach of duty and the injury. This can include medical bills, lost wages, in-home medical needs, and more.

What Damages Can Be Recovered from a Riverside Brain Injury Claim?

The damages one might receive for a brain injury claim in California can make up for the costs of sustaining and living with a brain injury. The costs of a brain injury can vary significantly depending on the extent the injury impacted the victim and his/her family. Catastrophic brain injury claims could be worth millions according to the circumstances and may even need a skilled Riverside spinal cord injury attorney depending on the injury. The types of damages available in California are as follows:

• Lifelong medical expenses
• Live-in care
• Lost wages and earning capacity
• Property losses
• Diminished quality of life
• Loss of consortium
• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish
• Psychological trauma

Family members can fight for additional awards if a brain injury resulted in a coma, a vegetative state, or wrongful death. The compensation you’re eligible to receive depends on the age of the victim, the severity of the injury, and the financial burden a traumatic brain injury will have on the family. Talk to our Riverside wrongful death attorneys to find out what your case could be worth.

Get Help with Your Riverside Brain Injury Claim Today

Bentley & More LLP is Riverside’s trusted legal team for serious brain injury lawsuits. Find out how we might be able to help your family during this difficult time. Call (949) 870-3800 or visit us online for a free consultation.