How is a brain injury diagnosed after an accident?

Doctors diagnose brain injuries using neurological exams and imaging tests like CT scans or MRIs. These tests help identify bleeding, swelling, or structural damage inside the brain. Early diagnosis is important, especially if the injury was caused by an accident or fall.

What kind of evidence is needed to prove a brain injury case?

Proving a brain injury case often requires medical records, imaging results, accident reports, witness statements, and expert testimony. A qualified brain injury lawyer will help gather the right documentation to support your claim and show how the injury has impacted your life.

What qualifies as medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice happens when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, and that failure causes serious harm. This includes situations like surgical errors, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, medication mistakes, or failure to properly monitor a patient. The key factor is whether another competent medical professional would have made a different decision under the same circumstances. Not every bad outcome is malpractice. The law focuses on preventable mistakes that lead to significant injury or death.

How do I know if I have a medical malpractice case?

A valid medical malpractice case requires more than just a bad medical result. The law asks whether a healthcare provider failed to meet the standard of care and whether that failure caused serious harm. To move forward with a claim, there must be evidence of a doctor-patient relationship, proof that the provider was negligent, and a clear connection between that negligence and the injury. Cases involving catastrophic injuries—like brain damage, paralysis, amputation, or wrongful death—often meet this threshold because the consequences of the mistake are so severe. If you suspect that medical care made things worse instead of better, the next step is to have an experienced attorney review your medical records. A skilled lawyer will consult medical experts to determine whether the outcome could have been prevented if proper care had been given.

How long do I have to file a medical malpractice lawsuit?

In Georgia, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two years from the date the injury occurred. There are some exceptions, like cases involving a foreign object left in the body or when the injury could not have been discovered right away. However, there is also a hard deadline called the statute of repose, which bars any claim filed more than five years after the date of the negligent act, no matter when the harm was discovered. Because these time limits are strict, it’s important to consult an attorney as soon as possible.

How much does it cost to hire a medical malpractice attorney?

Most medical malpractice attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. This means you pay nothing upfront. The attorney only collects a fee if they successfully recover compensation on your behalf. The fee is typically a percentage of the settlement or verdict. During your first consultation, the attorney should explain exactly how the fee structure works and what percentage they charge.

What kind of compensation can I recover in a medical malpractice case?

Medical malpractice compensation is meant to address both the financial losses and the human suffering caused by serious medical errors. This can include payment for medical expenses, lost income, and the cost of future care. It also accounts for non-economic harm like pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life. In wrongful death cases, the law allows families to recover damages for the full value of the life lost. The amount of compensation depends on how severely the injury has impacted your life. Georgia law does not place a cap on these damages, allowing juries to decide what is fair based on the facts of each case. The more devastating and permanent the injury, the higher the potential recovery.

How long does a medical malpractice case take?

Medical malpractice cases are complex and often take longer than other types of injury claims. It’s common for a case to take one to three years from start to finish, depending on the severity of the injury, the amount of medical evidence involved, and whether the case goes to trial or settles out of court. Building a strong case requires expert reviews, depositions, and sometimes lengthy negotiations with hospitals or insurance companies.

Do I need expert witnesses for a medical malpractice case?

Yes. Under Georgia law, medical malpractice claims require an affidavit of expert from a qualified healthcare professional who can explain how the standard of care was violated. These expert witnesses help establish what should have been done differently and how that failure caused harm. Without expert testimony, courts will often dismiss malpractice claims before they reach a jury.

What is the difference between a bad outcome and medical malpractice?

Not every negative result from medical care is malpractice. Even when doctors follow proper procedures, some treatments carry risks, and some conditions worsen despite correct care. Medical malpractice happens when a provider makes a preventable mistake that another qualified professional would not have made under the same circumstances. The difference comes down to whether the harm was avoidable if proper standards had been followed.

North Georgia Traumatic Brain InjurY Attorney

Your North Georgia Traumatic Brain Injury Legal Experts

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when some type of trauma causes damage to the brain. When a brain injury occurs because of the negligence, carelessness, recklessness, or neglect of another, the victim may sue the person responsible for their brain injury for damages.

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What is Traumatic Brain Injury?

According to the Mayo Clinic, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a force to the head that typically results from a violent blow, bump or jolt to one’s head that would cause the brain to no longer function properly. While a direct blow to the head does not mean there would automatically be an injury to the brain, an object that penetrates through brain tissue, like a bullet or shattered piece of skull, can cause traumatic brain injury.

The severity of a brain injury can range from mild to severe, depending on the nature of the injury and force of its impact on the head. When it comes to mild traumatic brain injury, this degree of brain injury might affect your brain cells. Minor or micro injuries to the brain cells can be permanent and can mean the victim will suffer long-term deficits. However, some victims can have temporary effects. More severe traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. Unfortunately, these injuries are more likely to result in long-term complications or even death.

Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury can occur in almost every type of accident. From birth injuries, to slip and falls, to car and truck, and bicycle accidents, the potential for a traumatic brain injury may exist.

Common incidents causing traumatic brain injury include the following:

Falls

Falls from a bed or a ladder, down stairs, in the bath, and other falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injury, especially in older adults and young children.

Physical Violence

Gunshot wounds, domestic violence cases, child abuse and other physical assaults are common causes in adults and children. Shaken baby syndrome is a traumatic brain injury in infants caused by violent shaking.

Explosives & Combat Injuries

Explosive blasts are a common cause of traumatic brain injury in active-duty military personnel. Researchers believe the pressure wave may significantly disrupt brain function, though the exact mechanism is still unclear.

Vehicle-related Collisions

Collisions that involve cars, motorcycles or bicycles and pedestrians involved in these types of accidents are a common cause of traumatic brain injury.

Sports Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries may also be caused by injuries from several types of sports, including soccer, boxing, football, baseball, lacrosse, skateboarding, hockey, and other high-impact or extreme sports. These are especially common in youth.

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Brain Injuries at Birth

Children can also receive a brain injury during gestation and while being delivered at birth.

An anoxic brain injury is an injury caused by a child not receiving enough oxygen to get to the brain. This injury can happen due to the umbilical cord wrapping around the infant’s neck or due to another complication during childbirth.

Unfortunately, it only takes minutes without sufficient oxygen to cause a traumatic brain injury. The effects of an anoxic injury can affect the normal development of a child. When anoxia occurs in a baby during labor, it can destroy brain tissue, and can lead to HIE (Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy). Babies with HIE are at risk for cerebral palsy and severe neurologic impairment, including cognitive impairment and neurodevelopmental delay.

Steven Leibel and his team are equipped to handle pediatric issues involving birth injuries of which pediatric brain injuries can also occur from accidents caused by the negligence of others.

Children can be severely injured as a result of an auto accident, a fall, rough play at school, school bus accidents and even falling from bunk beds at camp. Oftentimes these injuries can result in a traumatic brain injury.

Steven Leibel has represented children injured from the negligence of others throughout his career. He has retained well respected experts to assist parents with children who have brain injuries. In fact, he has helped his clients develop individualized educational plans, and recommended other therapies provided by the schools.

Traumatic Brain Injuries from Auto and Other Accidents

Headache, confusion, vomiting, slurred speech, or coma may appear immediately or weeks after a head injury occurs.

Acceleration deceleration events are a common cause of traumatic brain injury. This makes sense because when the brain is moved inside the head, it hits the hard surface of the skull. The force of the accident may cause bruising and other damage. A CT scan often is unable to pick up this type of bruising. Other testing outside of the emergency department is often necessary to find out the severity of the injury.

Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury can have a wide range of physical and psychological effects on the body of the victim. There are some symptoms that may appear immediately after the traumatic event, while others may not appear until days or weeks after the incident.

Mild traumatic brain injury symptoms may include, but are not limited to:

Physical symptoms

Headache
Nausea or vomiting
Fatigue or drowsiness
Problems with speech
Dizziness or loss of balance

Cognitive, behavioral or mental symptoms

Loss of consciousness for a few seconds to a few minutes
No loss of consciousness, but a state of being dazed, confused or disoriented
Memory or concentration problems
Mood swings
Feeling depressed or anxious
Difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than usual

Sensory symptoms

Sensory issues, such as blurred vision, ringing in the ears, a bad taste in the mouth or changes in the ability to smell
Sensitivity to light and/or sound

Moderate to Severe Brain Injuries

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries can include any of the signs and symptoms of mild injury, as well as these symptoms that may appear within the first hours to days after a head injury:

Physical symptoms

Loss of consciousness from several minutes to hours
Persistent headache or headache that worsens
Repeated vomiting or nausea
Convulsions or seizures
Dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes
Clear fluids draining from the nose or ears
Inability to awaken from sleep
Weakness or numbness in fingers and toes
Loss of coordination

Cognitive or mental symptoms

Profound confusion
Agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior
Slurred speech
Coma and other disorders of consciousness

Children’s symptoms

Infants and young children with brain injuries might not be able to communicate headaches, sensory problems, confusion and other similar symptoms. In a child with traumatic brain injury, you may observe the following:

Change in eating or nursing habits
Unusual or easy irritability
Persistent crying and being inconsolable
Change in ability to pay attention
Change in sleeping habits
Seizures
Sad or depressed mood
Drowsiness
Loss of interest in favorite toys or activities

Subdural Hematomas and Other Brain Bleeds

Intracranial hemorrhage encompasses four broad types of hemorrhage: epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and intraparenchymal hemorrhage. Each type of hemorrhage results from different etiologies and the clinical findings, prognosis, and outcomes vary.

Sometimes the force of the accident can cause a brain bleed that can be imaged on a CT scan. A subdural (hemorrhage) hematoma occurs when a blood vessel in the space between the skull and the brain (the subdural space) is damaged. Blood escapes from the blood vessel, leading to the formation of a blood clot (hematoma) that places pressure on the brain and damages it.

Small or symptomless subdural hematomas may not need treatment and only need to be watched over time. For severe cases, surgery is often needed.

If you have a severe subdural hematoma, your prognosis depends on your age, the severity of your head injury and how quickly you received treatment. About 50% of people with large acute hematomas survive, though permanent brain damage may occur because of the injury.

Think you have traumatic brain injury a case?

Traumatic brain injuries can occur as the result of many circumstances, including auto accidents, medical malpractice, slip and falls, product defects, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, swimming pool injuries, nursing home neglect, sports injuries, birth injuries, and more. When the brain suffers a traumatic injury, it can lead to many adverse health effects, including seizures, coma, behavioral/personality changes, mood swings, cognitive impairment, impaired motor skills, trouble speaking or conveying thoughts and ideas, trouble concentrating, memory loss, hearing loss, blindness or vision problems, and death.

What do I need to know?

If you have sustained trauma and suspect traumatic brain injury, you should first get immediate medical attention from a qualified doctor or physician. After they have diagnosed your injuries, contact a legal professional.

How can you help me?

At Leibel Law, we have extensive experience with traumatic brain injury cases. In fact, our founding attorney, Steven Leibel, has served as a commission member of the Georgia Brain and Spinal Trust Fund Commission. We can help you decide whether you have a case, and if you do, we’ll go to bat for you! We can help you receive damages for medical care, medication, rehabilitative services, necessary adaptive equipment, long-term care, lost wages, pain and suffering, and decreased quality of life.

Investigating the Claim

There are certain steps we take to investigate your claim. If it’s an auto accident, we look to the police report to determine preliminary liability. If it involves a roadway accident, we may look at the danger associated with that area of highway.

Regardless of the type of accident one is in, the faster a lawyer is retained, the faster that lawyer can act on your behalf. Many times, we will send letters to responsible parties to not destroy evidence like videos, and other types of evidence. When not retained in a timely manner, we may lose that opportunity to have evidence in the case.

Auto Accident and Other Reconstruction Experts

In serious accidents, we may want to retain road experts to reconstruct the events of an accident. If evidence is lost, those opinions have less value.

Building a Case

Building a case is like solving a puzzle. The facts of the accident, the medicals and the types of injuries all combine to solve the puzzle of an accident.

Insurance

We need to know what type of insurance you have. This means we need to review health insurance, disability insurance, and other types of insurance that can help you while you recover. We also find out about the responsible party’s insurance coverage so we can advise you on how to proceed against them.

What should I do now?

If you or one of your loved ones has been a victim of someone’s negligence and is experiencing any of the symptoms discussed above due to a brain injury, we recommend that you contact Leibel Law today to speak with Steven so he can help you with your case.

Questions We Commonly Answer About Traumatic Brain Injuries

“What are the different types of traumatic brain injuries?”

Traumatic brain injuries are usually classified as mild, moderate, or severe. The most common types include concussions, contusions, penetrating brain injuries, and diffuse axonal injuries. Each type can cause different levels of damage depending on the force and location of the impact.

“How can I tell if a brain injury is serious?”

Brain injuries can be serious even when there are no visible signs of trauma. Watch for symptoms like confusion, memory loss, headaches, dizziness, or changes in behavior. A North Georgia Brain Injury Attorney can help if the injury was caused by someone else’s negligence.

“How do I know if I have a valid legal claim after a brain injury?”

A valid legal claim exists when the brain injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, such as in a car crash, fall, or workplace accident. A North Georgia Brain Injury Attorney can review the details of the incident, gather evidence, and help determine if you have grounds to file a claim.

To Learn more read our comprehensive guide: How to Determine if You Have a Viable Medical Malpractice Case

“Who can be held legally responsible for causing a traumatic brain injury?”

Responsibility for a brain injury may fall on a driver, property owner, employer, or healthcare provider, depending on how the injury occurred. An experienced North Georgia Brain Injury Attorney can help identify all possible sources of liability in your case.

“Is there a time limit for filing a brain injury lawsuit in Georgia?”

Yes. In Georgia, most brain injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of the accident. Some exceptions apply, but waiting too long can prevent you from recovering compensation. A North Georgia Brain Injury Attorney can help ensure your case is filed on time.

“What should I do if the insurance company denies my brain injury claim?”

If an insurance company denies your claim, you still have legal options. A brain injury attorney can review the denial, gather additional evidence, and fight to recover the compensation you deserve. Don’t accept a denial without understanding your rights.

Can a brain injury lawsuit help cover the cost of long-term care and rehabilitation?

Yes. A successful brain injury lawsuit can help pay for ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, therapy, and other long-term needs. A North Georgia Brain Injury Attorney will work to secure compensation that accounts for the full impact of the injury on your life.

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