Sometimes the result of a personal injury is catastrophic. The Law Firm of Jaray & Webster specializes in representing brain-injured survivors and their families. For over 30 years, Ken Jaray has been at the forefront of the fight to ensure that people suffering from brain injuries get treated fairly. Ken and Dave, and our paralegals, Cindy and Carrie, are dedicated to providing both legal and emotional support during this difficult time. The first step is to identify symptoms such as memory problems, lack of concentration, headaches, fatigue, and low motivation, which may be an indication that someone has sustained a traumatic brain injury. If necessary, appropriate medical referrals and evaluations can be arranged to assist with the recovery process.

Throughout your treatment, our staff will be gathering all documents and records necessary to present your case at either a mediation or trial. The Law Firm of Jaray & Webster has significant experience in handling brain injury cases which have been resolved through both mediation and trials. Our firm's philosophy is to prepare each case thoroughly and completely for both the settlement phase and for trial.  We will use the latest technology and presentation material to convey the seriousness of your injury and its long-term impact on you and your family.

When appropriate we will also prepare a “day in the life video” showing how the injury has had a major impact on your life. Because of our experience in dealing with brain injury survivors, we are very capable of presenting the critical information to a jury to both educate and persuade them to provide fair and reasonable compensation to our clients. In one trial, we presented animated slides to demonstrate how a brain injury generally occurs in a rear-end collision, as well as graphic information about the impact a brain injury can have on a person’s daily functions. As a result of this presentation, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of our client for fifteen times the amount offered by the insurance company. Our firm was also one of the first in El Paso County to present the BEAM technology of demonstrating brain injury to a jury, and received a substantial verdict for our client as a result of this presentation. We are also remaining at the forefront of the technology as it develops and continue to constantly watch for new ways in which medical science can help to explain to juries the significant impact brain injuries have on individuals.

Mild traumatic brain injuries are often very hard to detect. Oftentimes these injuries may not appear in the first minutes, hours, or even days after an accident. It is not unusual for symptoms to present slowly and get worse as time goes by. If  you or a loved one are experiencing these symptoms following an injury, see your doctor immediately.

 

 

Typical brain injury symptoms:

• memory loss
• lack of concentration
• feeling dazed or confused
• insomnia
• slurred speech
• difficulty with balance and coordination
• headaches
• fatigue
• low motivation

 

In some cases you may not realize that you or someone you know has sustained a traumatic brain injury. The symptoms are sometimes difficult to identify unless you know what you are looking for and ask the right questions. Typical symptoms of TBI such as memory loss or difficulty concentrating may be mistaken for old age or side effects from medication. Some of these symptoms may also be very subtle. In some cases, an emergency room physician may suspect a brain injury and order an MRI or CT Scan. Unfortunately, these tests may not show subtle changes in function due to traumatic brain injury. The patient is then left to wonder about what is causing the symptoms but has already been told that they did not suffer a brain injury. The fact that these tests are normal would not preclude a finding of traumatic brain injury. In these situations, a neuropsychological evaluation may be helpful in identifying functional problems such as memory loss, difficulty concentrating or other cognitive functions.

There are many resources available for people suffering from traumatic brain injury. Most states have a brain injury association which can be found by visiting the national brain injury association at www.biausa.org. For information from the Brain Injury Association of Colorado, visit www.biacolorado.org. There may also be a local support group in your area which can provide personal support and helpful information from brain injured suvivors and their families. Sharing information with other survivors and learning what has worked for them may be very helpful. You should be able to find out about a local support group through your state brain injury association. Our office would also be glad to provide information for survivors and their families to help them through this difficult time.

Cases involving a traumatic brain injury are very complicated. Due to the nature of a brain injury, it is difficult to diagnose a brain injury and to predict future losses. The symptoms of a brain injury may take years to develop, long after your case has closed. Proving a brain injury to a judge and a jury requires an experienced attorney with the aid of a qualified medical professional.

The most common types of damages in a traumatic brain injury case are:

• Loss of wages and earning potential: many people don’t know that you can be compensated for potential lost wages in addition to your current lost wages due to an accident. Determining the compensation you deserve for lost wages requires an attorney with intimate knowledge of traumatic brain injury cases.
• Loss of quality of life: gaining back your quality of life following a traumatic brain injury can be impossible. As such, you may be entitled to damages for losing your quality of life due to a traumatic brain injury. These damages are also some of the hardest to collect due to the difficulty of placing a value on a quality of life.
• Costs for medical care: medical costs include any costs related to your brain injury that you have incurred up until the trial and any future medical costs you may incur. Predicting future medical costs can be difficult, especially in complex cases where a prognosis is not certain.
• Protracted care costs: in addition to medical costs, you may be entitled to damages related to any time and money spent on the brain injury patient by friends and family.
• Pain and suffering: similar to loss of quality of life, a brain injury patient is often times entitled to damages dues to their pain and suffering. These compensatory damages are difficult to calculate because it is impossible to put a value on someone’s pain. These damages are decided upon by the jury and we will make sure that your pain and suffering is compensated for.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, please contact us today.

Developing brains in children are more susceptible to traumatic brain injuries than brains that are already fully developed. A commonly held belief is that children can often recover from brain injuries better than adults because a developing brain can rewire itself and adapt to the injury. Study shows, however, that this is not the case and that brain damage sustained at an early age can be more damaging than a similar injury that might occur when a brain is fully developed.

What makes a traumatic brain injury in a child so devastating is the fact that the ramifications of an injury may not become apparent until years later. Judging the cognitive ability and social behaviors of a child is different than testing the ability of an adult. Adults will have prior tests to reference along with employment history and school performance to judge in order to assess an adult’s aptitude level before and after a brain injury. Children do not have the same amount of materials to reference in order to judge their aptitude before and after a serious brain injury.

This is especially true when a child sustains a brain injury at a very young age. This is mainly due to the fact that the frontal lobe is the part of the brain, which develops last. The frontal lobe controls our social behaviors. If this part of the brain is damaged at a young age, it is hard to determine whether or not a brain injury causes certain types of anxieties later in life or if that sort of behavior is normal. This makes assessing what damage occurred and how severe this damage may be a huge challenge.

A brain injury in a child can create hardship for not only the child for the entire family. It is important to hire an experienced brain injury attorney if your child has suffered from a traumatic brain injury. Contact the experienced brain injury lawyers at Jaray & Webster if your child has sustained a traumatic brain injury in the Colorado Springs area.