How is a TBI Defined by Massachusetts Law?

To definitively hold a negligent party liable for a traumatic brain injury (TBI), victims must present evidence of their injuries and the cause, which our attorneys can help with after accidents in Massachusetts.

Traumatic brain injuries vary in severity, occurring when there is a substantial blow or impact to the head. TBIs often occur during serious auto accidents and falls, though they might also happen due to medical malpractice in certain situations. To prove your injury is a TBI, you need medical evidence, so seek immediate attention from emergency room doctors. Continue getting care, most likely from neurologists, so our attorneys can show a clear timeline of your injuries and treatment. When you file a lawsuit for a TBI, you may recover economic and non-economic damages. The former can cover expenses and bills from the injury, and the latter can cover your pain and suffering, which, for a TBI, may be great.

Call (617) 925-6407 for a free case review from the Massachusetts brain injury lawyers of the Law Office of John J. Sheehan.

How Does Massachusetts Define a TBI?

Rather than being a legal term and having a definition written into law, a traumatic brain injury is a medical phrase used to describe specific skull and brain damage.

TBIs typically happen because of a serious blow to the head, which might happen during a car accident or fall. Traumatic brain injuries in children might happen during birth when delivering doctors use excessive force or otherwise act negligently. TBIs can cause brain bleeds, bruises, and other issues, and victims should seek immediate medical attention after hitting their heads during any accident.

Whether or not TBIs meet Massachusetts’s definition of serious injury matters after auto accidents. In Massachusetts, victims may only sue for economic and non-economic damages after meeting the criteria under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 231, § 6D. Victims may either incur more than $2,000 in hospital and other medical expenses or sustain a serious injury. Such injuries include any that cause death, hearing or sight loss, loss of a body member, permanent and serious disfigurement, or fractures. Skull fractures might accompany TBIs, especially those sustained during auto accidents, enabling victims to pass the serious injury threshold. Otherwise, your medical damages may put you over the threshold for suing and recovering non-economic damages since the rehabilitative care you need alone could be very expensive.

If you sustained a TBI during another accident, like a fall, you would not have to meet the serious injury threshold to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party.

Proving Your Injury is Defined as a TBI in a Massachusetts Compensation Claim

When suing for a TBI caused by negligence, you must prove that your injury exists and that you have incurred actual damages because of it. Therefore, victims should prioritize their physical recoveries above all else while we prepare their compensation claims.

Because a blow to the head precedes TBIs, victims may immediately go to the hospital. If hurt during a serious car crash, you might have sustained other injuries in addition to a TBI, like facial fractures or lacerations, so seeking medical attention is also important for those reasons.

Doctors may perform imaging tests like MRIs and CT scans to diagnose your TBI and determine its severity. They may keep you in the hospital in case you develop more concerning symptoms, such as clear fluid draining from your nose. Diagnosing traumatic brain injuries may require both physical assessments and imaging tests. Your test results and doctors’ ultimate diagnoses will be vital evidence in your claim, proving that you suffered a traumatic brain injury and need certain treatment to recover.

Our Massachusetts brain injury lawyers can continue to collect your medical records and monitor hospital expenses throughout your physical recovery, including treatments from neurologists, physical therapists, or other specialists. If a defendant challenges the severity of your injuries and need for compensation, we can get medical experts and treating physicians to give supporting statements. Expert witnesses can be especially helpful in clarifying victims’ injuries and required care for juries when cases go to court.

Defining Economic and Non-Economic Damages in Massachusetts TBI Cases

Because TBIs can be so serious, sometimes preventing victims from returning to a similar earning capacity and forcing them to relearn daily tasks, victims’ financial recoveries must be fair. To ensure this, victims should know the value of their claims, which starts with understanding the definitions of economic and non-economic damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the concrete expenses you have incurred from an accident. This primarily includes medical expenses. Any hospital costs should be covered, including urgent trauma care and long-term rehabilitative therapy. Economic damages also include victims’ lost wages, which might continue over many years or, perhaps, the rest of their lives.

Having a TBI might mean needing in-house medical assistance or transportation to and from hospital appointments, and a lawsuit can cover these economic damages as well.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages have a totally separate purpose. Instead of compensating victims for their actual financial losses, non-economic damages attempt to cover their emotional distress. Those who suffer from traumatic brain injuries might see their lives alter overnight. They may no longer be able to go to work, perform daily household tasks, or participate in hobbies they once enjoyed. Because non-economic damages are intangible, quantifying them can be difficult, and our lawyers can handle this aspect of your compensation case, as well as tracking your economic damages. Massachusetts does not cap non-economic damages for regular personal injury claims, but it does for medical malpractice lawsuits for TBIs and other injuries, often limiting compensation for pain and suffering to $500,000.

Call Our Massachusetts Lawyers Today to Discuss Your TBI Claim

Call (617) 925-6407 for a free case analysis from the Boston brain injury lawyers of the Law Office of John J. Sheehan.