The difficulties that arise when you try to prove a traumatic brain injury are inherent in traumatic brain injuries themselves—they are difficult to diagnose and may take time to develop after a personal injury accident. In fact, they are often misdiagnosed. Furthermore, those not familiar with the effects of a brain injury will have difficulty understanding what that person is going through and why.
There are 5 main difficulties that arise when you try to prove a traumatic brain injury:
1. Time
Traumatic brain injuries can take weeks, months or years to develop—and even longer to be recognized. They first must be recognized and successfully diagnosed by a medical professional, which takes time to document. Then, they must be legally documented in order to meet a legal burden of proof. It is no surprise then that claimants find difficulty in filing a claim before the 2-year limitation period in a personal injury action.
2. Competence
The biggest problem in trying to prove a traumatic brain injury is having the victim defend themselves under oath. Depending on the type of traumatic brain injury the survivor went through, there may be issues with their ability to make decisions — which increases the difficulty of proving the damages of said traumatic brain injury on your own. Conte & Associates can help you with that.
3. Health
Personal injury legal battles are difficult enough for those in relatively good health. Survivors of a traumatic brain injury however become easily frustrated, have difficulties with focus and concentration, have short term memory loss, tire easier, become easily confused and distracted, and a myriad of other cognitive impairments due to their brain injury. This makes surviving through the legal battle difficult for many to bare without the assistance of an experienced legal team. Call Conte & Associates in Whitby and Oshawa to help guide you with their experience in dealing with traumatic brain injury cases.
4. Financial Viability
Proving a traumatic brain injury can be a prohibitively expensive process—and this is before you even go to court. Hiring expert witnesses, filing paperwork, getting advice from legal counsel and the like all costs money—something that personal injury victims often can’t afford given the state of their injuries and the resulting loss of work and increased expenses their injury caused. Conte & Associates will assist you with all these expenses.
5. Speed of Recovery
Traumatic brain injuries take time to recover from. Rehabilitation takes even longer, while providing no guarantee you will return to your pre-accident abilities. Despite this lengthy process personal injury claims still need to be filed in order to meet Ontario’s Limitations Act. This means your claim may be settled or judged on before you have completed your healing process and know the full extent of your injuries and their long-term costs.
When it comes to the difficulties that arise when you try to prove a traumatic brain injury in a personal injury case you need two things on your side—good timing, and a personal injury lawyer in Ontario with a solid track record of success, like those at Conte & Associates. Call us today and we can begin to walk you through the process of filing a personal injury claim, while ensuring all documentation is noted and legal cut-off times abided by.
