A traumatic brain injury victim received a significant car accident settlement today in a hotly disputed lawsuit.  Our client suffered significant injuries, including a mild traumatic brain injury, in a rollover car accident in Macomb County, Michigan.  Other injuries included herniated discs, a compression spine fracture, and nerve damage.

Our client missed substantial time from work and suffered cognitive deficits as a result of the accident.  She treated with a number of medical specialists, including a neurologist, neuropsychologist, physical medicine doctor, and orthopedic surgeron.  When she did return to work, it was at a significantly less physically demanding job.

As always, the insurance company for the negligent driver disputed that our client suffered a brain injury, despite the overwhelming evidence and the support of her treating doctors.  The defendant hired the “usual suspects” of hired gun insurance company doctors to testify that the client did not suffer a brain injury and was exaggering her symptoms.  These tactics did not work and the insurance company paid a sizable settlement before trial.

We are excited to again be a sponsor at the annual Brain Injury Conference in Lansing, Michigan on September 24-25.  The event is organized by the Michigan Brain Injury Association and features a number of great speakers and seminars for brain injury providers, brain injury survivors, and families of brain injury victims.

Our Michigan brain injury lawyers look forward to the conference every years.  If you are attending the event, please stop by our table and say hello.  We have our famous No-Fault Order of Priority Charts available to attendees for free.  We also have our books, “The Ultimate Michigan Car Accident Handbook” available and we are raffling off a DVD player to visitors.  We look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

A closed head injury victim in a Michigan car accident recieved justice today in a Lenawee County courtoom.  A  jury returned a verdict in a car accident case in favor of the accident vicitm for approximately $2,000,000.00.  This is a great victory for traumatic brain injury victims throughout the State of Michigan.

This is a substantial verdict in for Lenawee County where jurors are considered conservative when awarding compensation to injury victims.  Great credit should be given to the jury for their public duty on this important case and for understanding the complex medicine behind brain injuries.

The negligent driver had insurance company with Farm Bureau Insurance Company.  Incredibly, the insurance adjuster offered only $100,000 before the trial to settle this serious injury case.  Well, the jury clearly understood the magnitude of a closed head injury more than the insurance adjuster.  There will most likely be significant penalties awarded against the Defendant in this case and the insurance company will be probably be required to foot the bill, as it should.

A victim of a traumatic brain injury or closed head injury often has a team of medical specialists to assist  in the recovery and rehabilitation.  Each member of the team has a different background, specialty, and purpose and it is the teamwork between them all that works best for the patient.

A neuropsychologist is not a physician in the strictest sense, considering that he is essentially a psychologist specializing in treating functional disorders of the brain as well as behavioral malfunctioning.

You cannot expect a neuropsychologist to order for the routine tests often demanded by other physicians like EEGs, MRIs, or CT scans. On the contrary a neuropsychologist prefers to conduct a series of written examinations followed by personal interviews with the brain-injured victim. This series of tests is often referred to as a testing ‘battery’.

What is the purpose of such a testing battery?   The tests are done with the sole purpose of identifying some of the critical functional aspects of the brain. This includes memory capacity both short and long term, abstract reasoning skills, attention span, ability to focus, executive functioning capacity, motor skills and other emotional and cognitive traits. Based on the results of such tests along with other medical information, the neuropsychologist is then in a position to comment regarding the severity of the brain injury, its most viable treatment procedure and also predict what the future holds for the patient.

Opinions and viewpoints of the neuropsychologist are given serious cognizance by the jury in case there is a lawsuit filed by the victim of a traumatic brain injury or his family. He is treated as an authority when it is a matter of establishing the severity of the brain injury. The test results often go a long way to ratify the permanence of the injury and confirm the victim’s inability to work ever in his life.

A neuropsychologist often doubles up as a counselor and a therapist to bring back the brain-injured patient as close  to his pre-injury state.  They often also often provide group counseling sessions and recommend other forms of important rehabilitation.  They are an essential part of the brain injury treatment and recovery team.

Importance of the neurologist in the management of traumatic brain injuries

Doctors who treat a victim of closed brain injury usually comprise of several specialties, each one contributing his own perspectives and evaluations to the overall treatment regimen. Among others, the neurologist plays a key role in the treatment of traumatic brain injuries.

Who is a neurologist and what role does he play in the treating a brain-injured patient? A neurologist is a physician (MD or DO) specializing in treating ailments affecting the brain and the central nervous system. A neurological problem can have various physical manifestations including structural abnormalities or malfunctioning of specific zones within the entire nervous system of the body.

The neurologists’ job is to diagnose and treat such conditions, while physicians like psychiatrists and neuropsychologists concentrate on rectifying other injury-related problems like cognitive and mental disorders. However none of these specialties work in isolation. They work as a team.

After a traumatic brain injury, no treatment can start without the knowledge of the precise state of the victim’s nervous system. This is where a neurologist plays a critical role. He performs a comprehensive test to provide important information. The scope of his examination include the 12 important nerves of the head and neck, reflex action, sense of balance and muscle coordination, muscle strength and of course his mental and emotional state.

From his test results the treating doctors can access vital information about the victim’s state of consciousness, response to surroundings, general behavioral traits, orientation, attention span and memory.

There are a number of diagnostic tests which the neurologist performs including lumbar puncture, electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography/nerve conduction velocity (EMG/NCV) to identify the precise nature and severity of the brain injury.

A neurologist may at times refer  the victim of a traumatic brain injury to a neuropsychologist depending on the results of diagnostic tests like EEG, EMG, CT and MRI. He does this mainly to seek the opinion of the neuropsychologist as to which areas of the brain are damaged and which is still untouched by the trauma. This critical assessment of the situation would allow him to conclude how the trauma has impacted the victim’s thought procedure and outward behavior.

Diagnosis, treatment and recovery of victims of other types of problems related to brain injuries including seizures are also undertaken by a neurologist.