Southfield Brain Injury Attorney

Experienced Southfield Brain Injury Lawyers Fight for Compensation After a Catastrophic Injury

The human brain controls every detail of our existence, overseeing all our automatic life-support systems and conscious thoughts. Injuries to the brain can radically alter our physical abilities, emotional well-being, and personality.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can permanently change life for both the injured person and their loved ones. After the injury, uncertainty, fear, and doubt may replace your hopes, dreams, and plans. Recovery may involve weeks or years of relearning basic skills, developing coping strategies, and learning to accept permanent changes.

Common causes of traumatic brain injuries include vehicle accidents, falls, and medical malpractice. If a person or company’s negligent, reckless, or intentional behavior caused your injuries, you may be able to pursue compensation. Recovering what you deserve can provide you with the resources you need to live with the effects of TBI.

The dedicated Southfield brain injury lawyers at Sommers Schwartz P.C. can help you understand your legal rights and choose a path forward.

Michigan Brain Injury Statistics

A traumatic brain injury occurs when an outside force impacts the brain hard enough to cause damage. Sources of this force might include an object striking the head, the head hitting something else, an object penetrating the brain, or the brain hitting the inside of the skull as the body is shaken or thrown.

The CDC estimates that about 2.8 million U.S. residents suffer a traumatic brain injury each year. According to the Brain Injury Association of Michigan, Michigan residents account for 58,500 of these annual injuries.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 1,923 Michigan residents died of TBI in 2022. Vehicle accidents, falls, and medical negligence are the most common causes of both fatal and non-fatal brain injuries in Michigan.

Nationwide, about 214,000 people are hospitalized with a brain injury each year, according to the CDC. Brain injuries affect people of all age groups, although very young and very old individuals are more likely to need inpatient hospital care after a brain injury.

Common Causes of Brain Injuries

Medical professionals typically separate brain injuries into two different categories: blunt force injuries and penetrating injuries.

• Blunt force injuries can occur when the head hits something (like the frame of a car or the ground) or an object strikes the head. They can also happen if the body is thrown or shaken violently, causing the brain to slam against the skull. Blunt force injuries are also known as “closed head injuries.”
• Penetrating injuries occur when an object pierces the skull, entering and damaging the brain tissue. Since foreign objects often carry germs, penetrating injuries also increase the risk of developing a dangerous infection.

Both blunt force and penetrating injuries can occur as a result of someone else’s negligent, reckless, or intentional conduct. When this happens, the injured person can file a lawsuit seeking compensation.

Common scenarios that lead to brain injuries include:

Car Accidents

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) identifies vehicle accidents as one of the top five causes of brain injuries nationwide. About 30% of TBIs in Michigan occur in car accidents.

Car accidents can cause both blunt force and penetrating injuries. Blunt force brain injuries can occur when the head hits the car frame, steering wheel, dashboard, or another object or an object hits the head. They can also occur when the body is subjected to the powerful impact forces of a collision. Debris, broken glass, or other objects can pierce the skull and cause penetrating injuries.

Falls

Falls are also one of the NIH’s top five causes of traumatic brain injuries. In 2022, more than 700 Michigan residents died from fall-related brain injuries. These falls occur in the home, workplace, and other public places. Workplace accidents frequently involve falls from ladders and scaffolding, construction sites, bridges, and other structures. Children can fall into empty pools or wells, down staircases, or off furniture.

People of all ages are susceptible to TBI during a fall, although young children and elderly persons are the most vulnerable. The CDC estimates that fall-related brain injuries kill nearly 8,000 U.S. residents over age 65 each year. Another 56,000 seniors require hospitalization after a fall causes a TBI.

Most falls are preventable. Agencies like the CDC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) work to provide information about how to prevent falls, especially in workplaces and public places. When a business or property owner doesn’t take care to prevent fall hazards or warn visitors, serious injuries can result – and the business or property owner may be liable.

Sports Injuries

Michigan became the 38th state to enact a youth sports concussion law in 2013. The law assigns several responsibilities to coaches, teachers, school employees, volunteers, and other adults who work with young athletes. These responsibilities include:

• Taking concussion awareness training at least once every three years.
• Being aware of situations in which a young athlete may suffer a concussion.
• Removing a young athlete from play if a concussion may have occurred.
• Preventing a young athlete from returning to play until a doctor clears the athlete.

Talk to an attorney if you suspect your child’s coach or other adults failed to fulfill their responsibilities under this law and caused your child harm.

Medical Malpractice and Birth Injuries

Brain injuries can result from medical malpractice. Medical malpractice occurs when a provider fails to meet the standard of care when treating a patient and causes injury.

Examples of medical malpractice that could lead to a TBI include:

• A hospital or clinic doesn’t follow fall prevention protocols, allowing an unsupervised elderly patient with a history of dizziness to fall and hit her head.
• A physician performs a surgical procedure incorrectly, cutting off the flow of blood to the brain and depriving it of oxygen.
• A patient’s care team negligently prescribes and administers medication that adversely reacts with another drug, causing the patient to experience seizures.
• Labor and delivery personnel use forceps, vacuum extractors, or other tools improperly, causing injuries to the infant’s brain.
• Lack of proper fetal monitoring causes a medical team to overlook an infant’s distress due to lack of oxygen during the birth process, which causes brain injuries.

Birth injuries are especially devastating because the damage to the brain is permanent and often requires decades of specialized care. Speak to an experienced Southfield medical malpractice lawyer right away if you suspect medical negligence caused brain injuries to your child.

Brain Injury Lawsuit Basics

Like other states, Michigan has specific rules regarding when, where, and how to file a lawsuit to recover damages for brain injuries. Additional regulations apply to medical malpractice cases. If a plaintiff doesn’t comply with these requirements fully and correctly, they may lose their right to recover damages.

Time Limits

Michigan law allows an injured person or their representative to file a claim within three years of the date of their injury. Medical malpractice actions not involving death must be filed within two years of the date of malpractice or 6 months from the date the existence of a claim is discovered, whichever date is later. Malpractice claims involving death have different limitations.

However, as stated, a few exceptions may lengthen the time you have to pursue a claim. In TBI cases, a representative may need to be appointed to pursue the victim’s claims. There may be a delay in discovering someone else’s negligence caused the injury. These complications can affect the statute of limitations.

Talk to an experienced lawyer as soon as possible after an injury occurs. A Sterling Heights brain injury attorney can explain how the time limits apply in your case and what options you have moving forward.

If you don’t file your lawsuit before the applicable statute of limitations expires (or “tolls”), you may lose your right to recover damages. If you suspect someone else’s negligence may have led to a TBI, you should speak to a lawyer as soon as possible.

Compensation in Southfield Brain Injury Claims

A civil lawsuit seeks to compensate the injured person for their losses and the costs they will suffer in the future due to their injuries. A plaintiff can recover both “economic” and “non-economic” damages.

• Economic damages focus on financial losses caused by the injury. Medical bills, lost wages, and the cost of repairing or replacing damaged property are all common examples of economic damages in Michigan brain injury cases.
• Non-economic damages focus on intangible losses like pain and suffering, emotional anguish, scarring, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. They attempt to quantify the value of the destructive, permanent effects of a TBI.

Non-economic damages are limited in Michigan medical malpractice claims. Michigan sets two different “caps” for these claims. One cap applies to the most severe cases of brain injury and other catastrophic injuries, while a lower cap applies to all other medical malpractice cases. The exact amount of these caps changes yearly and is announced by the Michigan Department of Treasury.

An attorney can help you understand which cap might apply to your case and what it means for your total compensation. There is no cap for brain injury cases that do not involve medical malpractice.

Reach Out to an Experienced Southfield Brain Injury Lawyer Today

A traumatic brain injury can pose many challenges. Some of these are personal struggles, but others are practical and financial. Affording ongoing medical care, housing, and the cost of living can seem impossible, especially if a TBI has impacted your ability to work.

An experienced Southfield brain injury attorney can help you recover the compensation you and your loved ones need to move forward after a severe injury. They can also connect you with treatment providers, support professionals, and other resources.

To learn more, contact the Sommers Schwartz P.C. team today. Call us or use our online contact form to schedule a consultation with one of our dedicated, compassionate Southfield brain injury attorneys.