St. Louis TBI Attorneys

If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury in St. Louis because of carelessness, recklessness, or even an intentional act, you can seek compensation for the expenses and impacts of your injury.

An experienced St. Louis traumatic brain injury lawyer at the Bruning Law Firm can provide the experience and knowledge to navigate the process. The Bruning Law Firm has helped the injured of St. Louis for more than 35 years, gaining regional and national honors for the quality of services we provide for our clients. We’re ready to help you today.

What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

As great a city as St. Louis is, it has its dangers. Hundreds of people experience serious injuries in St Louis traffic accidents each year, including accidents that injure motor vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Its highrises, the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch, the City Museum, and many apartment complexes, office buildings, and stores with multiple stories, present plenty of opportunities for falls. The city was recently ranked fourth-most dangerous in the U.S. for violent crimes.

What is the common factor between these unique dangers in St. Louis? They represent the three most common causes of traumatic brain injuries: motor vehicle accidents, falls, and acts of violence.

As explained by Barnes-Jewish Hospital of St. Louis—currently ranked the 17th best hospital in the nation—a traumatic brain injury, also known as an intracranial injury or TBI, occurs when an individual hits their head hard enough to disrupt the brain’s normal functions. Unfortunately, because the brain only has a limited ability to heal from injury, TBI often results in permanent deficits that impact the sufferer’s ability to live and function independently in their personal and professional lives.

The deficits acquired in a TBI depend on the severity of the injury and the part of the brain that sustained the damage. The brain itself controls the functions and involuntary responses of the entire body.

The lobes of the brain, and the deficits commonly associated with injuries to each lobe, are:

• Frontal lobe: Located at the front of the brain, in the forehead, the frontal lobe is responsible for attention, concentration, self-monitoring, speech, personality, awareness of limitations or abilities, judgment, planning, and emotions. Injuries to this part of the brain will often result in difficulties with memory, controlling behaviors or emotions, or communicating.
• Temporal lobe: On either side of the brain, along the temples, are the temporal lobes. The responsibilities of these lobes include memory, the ability to understand spoken language, sequencing, hearing, and organization. Sufferers of injuries to the temporal lobe often experience difficulty remembering or communicating.
• Occipital lobe: Located in the back of the brain, just above the cerebellum, the occipital lobe is mainly responsible for vision. Occipital lobe injuries will generally impact the ability to see or perceive the size and shape of objects.
• Parietal lobe: The top rear portion of the brain is the parietal lobe, which is responsible for depth perception, the identification of sizes, shapes, and colors, and the body’s sense of touch. Parietal lobe injuries may impact the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
• Cerebellum: Located in the rear portion of the brain, just below the occipital lobe and above the brainstem is the cerebellum, which controls balance, coordination, and skilled motor activities. An injury to this part of the brain can impact how well a person can move in a balanced and coordinated manner.
• Brainstem: At the base of the skull, where it meets the spinal cord, is the brainstem. The brain stem controls the body’s involuntary responses, such as heart rate, pulse, and consciousness. Injuries to this part of the brain often result in brain death. The body can’t live without mechanical assistance.

Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries in St. Louis

The most common causes of TBI include:

• Falls are a common cause of brain injuries occurring in the workplace, particularly in the construction industry. In addition to being the overall leading cause of brain injuries for all age groups, falls are also the most common cause of TBI in elderly individuals and young children. For the elderly, weakness, vision loss, and other age-related medical conditions can leave the person unsteady when walking or standing. For children, inexperience with walking and an inability to register danger are often the cause.
• Motor vehicle accidents. Any motor vehicle accident can result in TBI, including accidents between passenger cars, tractor-trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Violence, such as domestic abuse, child abuse, or assault.
• Sports injuries. Sports, including football and soccer, may increase TBI risks.

The Many Complications Associated with Traumatic Brain Injuries

TBI is associated with long-term complications and—besides stabilizing a patient and ensuring they can breathe—addressing such long-term complications is a treatment priority.

Some TBI complications include:

• Consciousness disorders. Brain injuries can disrupt the sleep/wake cycle, resulting in a coma, vegetative state, or minimally conscious state.
• Seizures. This common complication generally occurs shortly after the injury and can further damage the brain. For some people, seizures called post-traumatic epilepsy will recur months or even years after the injury.
• Hydrocephalus, which is a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid on the brain. This can place dangerous pressure on the brain. Doctors may relieve it through the surgical placement of a shunt that drains fluid away from the brain.
• Blood vessel damage. Often the blow to the head that a TBI sufferer experienced did not just cause damage to the brain, but also the blood vessels that feed the brain. Damaged blood vessels to the brain increase the individual’s risk of a stroke or a life-threatening blood clot.
• Infections. Individuals with penetrating head injuries—which occur when an object breaks through the skull and penetrates the protective tissue that surrounds the brain—can suffer an infection from the introduction of bacteria to the tissue. Additionally, individuals unconscious for days or weeks after the injury can sustain infections in other parts of the body—such as the urinary tract—that can go undetected as the individual can’t express discomfort that would generally lead to the discovery of an infection.

The Injury Affects Your Entire Life

Cost of medical expenses associated with a brain injury range between $85,000 to $3 million throughout the sufferer’s lifetime, making it one of the most expensive injuries to treat. More than half of the country’s homeless population lives with the cognitive and physical impacts of TBI. While the violence experienced during homelessness may cause some of those injuries, for many individuals, the expenses and impacts of the injury caused their homelessness.

Unfortunately, the expenses associated with treating TBI are not limited to medical bills. TBI is incredibly costly from a psychological standpoint, too, affecting an individual’s ability to work and their relationships with family members, their ability to attend school, and their ability to actively participate in society.

Seeking Compensation for a St. Louis Traumatic Brain Injury

If you have suffered TBI in St. Louis due to another’s wrongdoing, you can seek compensation for the consequential expenses and losses by bringing a personal injury claim. Because TBI often results in permanent damage to all areas of the sufferer’s life, when seeking compensation, you need a lawyer who can account for all of the expenses you will face in the coming years. An experienced St. Louis TBI lawyer understands the costs associated with this type of injury and can help ensure that you know the value of your case and claim enough compensation to meet your needs now and in the future.

After determining the sources of liability and the insurance resources that can pay your compensation, your attorney can begin the claims process by submitting a demand package to an at-fault party’s insurance provider. This package outlines the details of the accident and your injuries and the amount of compensation you are demanding.

The package might provide documentation to support your claims about the severity of the injury and your prognosis. The insurance provider can accept the claim as submitted, deny the claim and submit a reason for the denial, or offer a settlement.

You might enter into a period of investigation and settlement negotiation with the insurance company. If the parties can’t agree to settle, you might need to file a lawsuit in court.

Proving Who Caused Your TBI Accident

For a successful outcome in your St. Louis TBI accident claim, you must show legal liability.

You establish liability in a TBI case with evidence and witness testimony to show:

• The at-fault party had a duty to behave in the manner that a reasonable person would in the given circumstances of your accident to prevent injury to others.
• The at-fault party breached their duty through their actions.
• The carelessness or recklessness of the at-fault party caused the accident and your injuries.

The Expenses and Impacts You Can Seek Compensation For

In St. Louis, individuals who have suffered TBI because of negligence or even an intentional act can seek compensation for the impacts and expenses of their injuries.

Some common expenses and impacts in TBI accident claims include:

• Past, present, and future medical expenses related to the injury and its associated complications.
• Lost wages, for the time in which you are unable to work due to your injury.
• Loss of future earning capacity, if you can’t earn what you did before your injury.
• Property damage, for any personal property damaged in the TBI accident.
• Physical pain and suffering related to the injury or the complications.
• Emotional distress.
• Loss of consortium, for the loss of physical intimacy and companionship that individuals with brain injuries commonly suffer from physical, emotional, or mental changes.
• Loss of the enjoyment of life, for the hobbies and activities you can no longer participate in due to your injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury in St. Louis? Bruning Law Firm Can Help You

We don’t need to tell you that there is nothing mild about an injury that at any level can leave lasting damage and prevent you from communicating, controlling emotions and behaviors, remembering events or instructions, or moving in a coordinated manner.

A St. Louis TBI claim requires professional and dedicated legal assistance to obtain enough compensation to adequately cover a lifetime of expenses and impact for the sufferer. Let us help you understand the process of pursuing compensation for your injury. For a free case evaluation, contact us online or by calling (314) 735-8100.

The Bruning Law Firm
555 Washington Ave Ste 600A,
St. Louis, MO 63101
(314) 735-8100

Client Testimonial

“They are so professional. Ryan and Anisa took all the stress away where all I had to do was focus on recovery from my accident they handled everything else and I’m truly thankful.” – Teria H.

Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
February 2020
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