Brain Injury Compensation: How Much Can You Get?

Accident injuries are frustrating, but when you suffer a traumatic brain injury, the results can be devastating. A traumatic brain injury can reduce your quality of life, possibly for the rest of your life, and place an undue burden on loved ones who may have to take care of you. A brain injury can impact your cognitive function, motor skills, verbal ability, and more, skills you once took for granted.

If the brain injury was caused by someone else’s negligence or carelessness, you may be entitled to significant compensation. However, there are several factors that will determine how much your brain injury settlement may be.

Severity of the Injury

Like any injury, brain injuries can vary in severity. You may have suffered a concussion that kept you from working for several weeks and healed on its own. Although that may qualify you for compensation, it will be a lower amount than if you suffered an injury that caused permanent damage. The more severe your brain injury is, the higher the compensation you may receive.

Ability to Work

Your ability to work will also impact how much you will be offered in a settlement. You may be entitled to all the wages you lost while out with your injury. With your concussion injury, for example, if you miss three weeks of work and you make $500 per week, you may be entitled to $1,500 in lost wages. However, you may also be entitled to lost future wages.

If your brain injury is severe enough that you can no longer work or must take a job at lower pay due to your injury, you may be entitled to the amount of wages you will lose in the future. This may also depend on your age, as someone closer to retirement may receive less in future wages than someone who has just entered the workforce.

Around the Clock Care

Another factor in lost wages is that it does not just apply to you. If you require around the clock care and a loved one has to either quit a job or reduce their hours significantly to care for you, they may also qualify for lost future wages. In addition, your relationship with loved ones may change as a traumatic brain injury can have an impact on personality. This may also qualify you for additional compensation.

Pain and Suffering

Along with the changes in relationships with loved ones, a traumatic brain injury can cause other issues as well. You may now suffer from chronic headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, or other permanent damage that can make life difficult. You may no longer be able to do things you once enjoyed or you may no longer have the same relationship with your spouse. These factors will also have an impact on your compensation.

Types of Damages You Can Recover

New York personal injury attorneys Dansker & Aspromonte got $50 million for a four-year-old brain injury patient, so they know what it takes to win this kind of case. According to the attorneys, some of the damages you can claim include:

• Lost wages
• Medical bills
• Future medical bills
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• The cost of rehab
• Home adaptations
• Funeral and burial expenses when the injured party dies

In addition, you may be eligible for miscellaneous costs such as paying someone to clean your house or do yard work that you can no longer do yourself.

When you or a loved one is struggling to recover from a brain injury, your main focus will naturally be on your health. But still, it’s impossible to ignore those bills that are piling up, especially if you’re missing work either to heal or to act as a caretaker. If the accident that caused the brain injury was the fault of another party, they need to cover your damages.