Head and Brain Injury Compensation Claims
When you suffer a serious injury such as acquired brain injury, your life is going to change enormously. Mooneerams head and brain injury lawyers are fully aware of this. They will help you to get access to the best care possible, as well as obtaining a substantial compensation award for the pain and suffering and all other losses and expenses that your injury causes.
What is the difference between a head injury claim and a brain injury claim?
You will often see these two different terms used together, as in ‘head and brain injuries’. This is because when someone suffers a serious head injury, the likelihood is that a blow to the head will cause some injury to the brain, even it is fairly minor in nature e.g. mild concussion. That having been said, in the immediate aftermath of a blow to the head, it’s important to seek medical attention because what sometimes appears to be very mild concussion could, in fact, be something more serious.
What are the types of accident-related head injuries?
- Cuts and bruising
- Deep lacerations
- Concussion – in varying degrees of severity
- Fractured skull
- Brain injury other than concussion
When someone suffers a traumatic head injury the effects of this serious injury on the injured person and their family can be devastating.
Mooneerams specialist brain injury solicitors have extensive experience of helping those who have suffered brain injury, to claim compensation following a head injury.
What type of accidents cause head or brain injuries?
- Road traffic accidents – car accidents, motorcycle accidents, cycling accidents and pedestrian accidents. Head injuries from car accidents can be caused by the sudden whiplash effect of a head being jolted backward and forward or from side to side, as well as by the head striking part of the vehicle
- Accidents at work – falls from height are a particularly common cause of head and brain injuries at work
- Accidents in public places – falls from height, tripping accidents
- Medical negligence
- Sports Injuries
- Criminal Injuries – it’s still possible to claim compensation for head and brain injuries that are the cause of a criminal assault. Our criminal injuries compensation page has more information about how Mooneerams solicitors can help you to make a CICA claim.
What is a traumatic brain injury?
A traumatic brain injury is often referred to as TBI for short. It is a brain injury that has been caused by the head coming into collision with another object e.g. a head hitting the interior of a car, when the vehicle has been involved in a collision, or the head hitting the floor after a person falls from a ladder or scaffolding. A TBI can even be the result of a slip or trip accident on the street when the head hits the pavement.
Are all brain injuries serious?
Head injuries should always be taken seriously immediately after they happen and that includes those thought to be minor in their nature. A visit to A&E or to a GP is always advised and should be done as soon as possible after the injury has taken place so that the injury can be properly checked out. The medical experts will carry out appropriate tests to assess the severity of the injury and to ensure that they treat it accordingly.
According to the National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE), between 700,000 and 1.2 million people attend A&E departments each year with a recent head injury. The head and brain injury charity Headway has estimated that up to 80% of head injuries can be defined as mild injuries such as a bump, bruise or cut to the head. Symptoms of mild head injury include:
- Dizziness,
- Nausea
- Headache
- A brief period of unconsciousness of no more than 15 minutes
Moderate head injuries are ones that cause:
- unconsciousness for between 15 minutes up to 6 hours, or
- amnesia for up to 24 hours
- A brief period of hospitalisation is usually required (sometimes just overnight).
Severe head injuries are classed to be those where the injured person suffers:
- Unconsciousness for over 6 hours, or
- Amnesia for more than 24 hours
Severe TBIs (or in some instances even moderate TBIs) can have long-lasting or even permanent effects. Physical and mental abilities are likely to be impaired, sometimes permanently.
If a person suffers a severe traumatic brain injury, their everyday life will change dramatically. Work will provide a challenge or may not be possible to do at all. Likewise, challenges may be faced in carrying out simple everyday routines.
Rehabilitation and therapy will help but may be required on an ongoing basis.
In some cases, brain injury case managers will need to be appointed to oversee the overall care and management of the patient and their needs. It may be necessary to adapt the injured persons home.
Why should I instruct Mooneerams to deal with my brain injury compensation claim?
We are experts in helping those who have suffered head or brain injuries of whatever severity to recover compensation.
The compensation claim will not only cover the pain and suffering that you have suffered but also take into account all your current and possible future needs including past and future loss of earnings. It will include a claim to cover the cost (past and future) of employing all the necessary medical, care and rehabilitation costs that you will require. If your accommodation needs adapting, the cost of this will become part of your claim too.
We will be instrumental in organising the appointment of expert brain injury case managers, rehabilitation providers and therapists that you need or are likely to need in the future.
Your claim is likely to take some time to settle in full. An important aspect of the work we do for you is to get interim payments for you along the way, to pay for the cost of treatment and rehabilitation and to ensure that you have enough money to live on and so that you do not suffer financial hardship, whilst waiting for the claim to settle in full.
Mooneerams brain injury solicitors will be there for you and your family, throughout what will often be a challenging and often long journey. Once we’ve recovered compensation, we’ll still be there for you. We won’t just walk away!
Mooneerams Head and Brain Injury claims solicitors service – South Wales and nationwide
With a head office in Tongwynlais, just north of Cardiff and meeting facilities throughout South Wales, our head or brain injury claims specialists are on hand to visit clients and their families wherever is most convenient to them.
We regularly visit clients at home and in hospital.
Clients come to us from further afield, too. We still go out to visit them, wherever they are in Wales and England. We aim to make our clients’ lives just that little bit easier at what is a very difficult time for them.
I’m not happy with the way my brain injury case is being dealt with by my current solicitors – can I switch solicitors to Mooneerams?
It’s important that head and brain injury compensation claims are dealt with by expert brain injury lawyers. It isn’t simply a case of handing your case over to a personal injury lawyer to deal with. The solicitor must be experienced in, and have the expertise of, handling head and brain injury claims too.
If you’re currently claiming head or brain injury compensation with another solicitor and are unhappy with how it’s being handled, please call us in confidence on 029 2048 3615, for a free consultation with one of our brain injury solicitors.
If after talking to us, you still feel that you would like to change solicitors, and feel that you’d like us to take over your head or brain injury claim, we’ll arrange to take the case over for you – whatever stage the claim is at or even after it’s completed if you feel your claim was undervalued and that the settlement reached was insufficient.
In most cases, you have a time limit of three years, from the date of the accident, within which to make a claim. However, in the case of head or brain injuries in particular this may not always be the case.
So even if the accident that caused your personal injury took place more than three years ago, please still call us. You might still be able to make a personal injury claim. We can speak to a family member if you aren’t in a position to call us yourself.
No Win No Fee Head and Brain Injury Claims Solicitors
You’ve probably heard the term No Win, No Fee many times before. In a nutshell, it means that by taking out a No Win, No Fee agreement, (called a conditional Fee Agreement) with us, you won’t have to pay a penny if your claim doesn’t succeed.
If you’d like to talk in confidence, to our Head of Serious and Complex Injury Claims, Angus Fergusson now on 029 2048 3615. Alternatively, please fill in your details on this page and Angus or one of the team will call you back.
