Brain Injury Claims

Brain injury is among the leading cause of mortality around the globe today. In Canada alone, 452 individuals suffer brain injuries every day. The rate in Canada is 500 out of a hundred thousand persons annually according to the Northern Brain Injury Association. This explains the higher quantity of brain injury claims in the country.

This illness has 2 categories — the traumatic and non-traumatic. The traumatic brain injury is a brain damage resulting from an accident. It is when a person is violently hit in the head by a hard object. In some instances, the object punctures the skull and destructs brain tissues. Having brain injury is depressing, catastrophic and tragic. These are just the emotional trauma the patient suffers! The healing starts by comforting the victim. Family’s care and support is a necessity in a disheartening moment like this. Unfortunately, pecuniary considerations are also important to cope up brain injuries. Hence, the Canadian law provides the regulation to govern this.

Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms

First, we will know if the person is suffering from traumatic brain injury. Here are the common signs for mild, moderate and severe TBI patients:

• The neck pains and headaches do not go away.
• There is difficulty to remember, concentrate and make decisions.
• The patient is slow in acting, reading, thinking and speaking.
• He is Confuse and gets lost easily.
• He lacks the energy.
• The sleeping patterns are abnormal (either has a lot of it or difficulty to sleep).
• He losses balance and always dizzy.
• The vision is blurry and has tiring eyes.
• Patient’s senses like hearing (ringing in the ear), smelling and tasting are lost.
• The victim is experiencing nausea and vomiting.
• The occurrence of seizures and convulsions.
• There is the presence of fluid from nose or ears and a pupil dilates

The Rights of a Brain Injury Patient Under the Canadian Law

Court system differs from province to province. Generally, the law permits victims to file a lawsuit against the erring person. In order to avail for a compensation, the complainant must prove that there is a total, or partial, misconduct. The following are the rights of the brain injury patients under the law:

• The right to seek the help of a personal injury lawyer as your legal representative;
• To file for long-term disability claims as your right; and
• To negotiate and entertain out-of-court settlement.

However, you must observe certain responsibilities in order to exercise these rights, as well. They are as follows:

• Filing of the claim must follow the provision on the statute of limitations. In a province like Ontario, filing must be within 2 years of the accident because failure to do so bars the claim.
• Burden of proof lies to the claimant rather than the defendant. With this, the complainant takes responsibility to collect documents to substantiate the case.
• For unhappy complainant, there is an option to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court in order to avail higher award.

The Possible Compensations for Brain Injury Claims

Compensations for brain injury claims in Canada include on-going medical expenses. It also embraces the loss of past, current and future incomes, too. The loss of chance and competitive edge as a human being, personal out-of-pocket expenditures, and trifling anguish are also taken into account, as well. Nonetheless, there is a limit in compensating pain and suffering. At present, the cap is set at $340,000, and must not go beyond that.

Furthermore, the law also provides regulations for insurance claims of patients with brain injury. The same must not go beyond the insurance policy’s value. To claim the insurance, you must establish that there’s no fault from your end and all safety measures are considered, too.

There is structured settlement for brain injury compensations in Canada. Therefore, it makes sure that you are financially stable for the long-term. Consequently, the claimant receives the compensation and it is given tax-free.

If you have suffered a brain injury and want to speak to one of our Ottawa personal injury lawyers to find out if you have cause to sue.