Brain Injury from Car Accident?

Columbus Brain Injury Attorney

Video Transcript:

Michelle Martin: 

We understand, we hear you, and we're gonna make sure that you get the proper professionals that can give you the proper guidance so that you're not feeling left out and alone.

Molly Hendrickson: 

How can an attorney help if you have a brain injury caused by a vehicle crash? We're gonna talk to attorney Michelle Martin about that on today's Ask The Lawyer. Michelle, thanks for joining us.

Michelle Martin: 

Hey, Molly, thanks for the opportunity.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So first up, what is your experience representing injured clients that have been diagnosed with a brain injury after a car or a truck accident?

Michelle Martin: 

Well, I have a lot of experience in this area, Molly. I've been working with TBIs or Traumatic Brain Injuries in car and trucking accidents, first as a paralegal before I became an attorney over 10 years ago, and then a paralegal over 15 years ago. Traumatic Brain Injuries are as particular and specialized personal injury in that, a lot of the injuries do not present themselves for the first few months, and you have to recognize what the symptoms are, you have to make sure that your clients are treating appropriately, and you want to make sure that you get the information upfront because Traumatic Brain Injuries can affect the entire life as well as the family.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So tell us some of the challenges your clients with brain injuries experience that people maybe might not realize, you mentioned they can take a while before they present themselves, what other challenges might they present?

Michelle Martin: 

Well, a lot of times, folks suffer from dizziness, lack of sleep, depression, alcoholism, they experience family issues, and they need to get in to see a neurologist to see what's going on within their head. Traumatic Brain Injuries, like I said before, the symptoms don't even present for months at a time, additionally, there's no diagnostic that can pinpoint exactly where the brain injury occurred, but more so knowing what the symptoms are and knowing how the injury occurred and having the experience to give that information to the medical professionals and the specialists to make sure that they're checking for everything and that the clients are getting treated by the neurologist or the psychologist or whomever their primary care physician or diagnostics lead them to.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And obviously, these can be very devastating injuries, but they don't only affect the person directly injured, they also affect people in the household. Can you expand on that a little bit?

Michelle Martin: 

Yes, you're absolutely correct. Traumatic brain injuries because in and of their name they affect the brain, correct. And because they are a trauma, trauma of course stems over into the family. Some of the things that I mentioned before, which include alcoholism, depression, those are the things that people in your household are going to be experienced to or exposed to as well, and they're gonna go through that process with you. Your family, of course, is gonna notice the behavioral changes, the additional changes, and they're gonna notice the way in which you respond to different variables that maybe you hadn't responded this way before. So it's gonna be important that your family is paying attention to your behavior and mannerisms as well. Because they have to document and be a... Provide witness testimony about what... How your life has changed and how this injury has affected the entire family.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And how can a lawyer be beneficial in helping somebody or a family who has somebody who suffered from a brain injury?

Michelle Martin: 

In a myriad of ways. One of the ways is that you wanna make sure that you... We're counselors, right? So one of the things that we have to do is not only counsel our clients because they don't know what's going on, they just experience these traumatic brain injuries, they know that something's not right, they know that they're experiencing the dizziness, the depression, the alcoholism, they know that they're unable to sleep, and so... But they can't quite pinpoint what's going on because it's not something that you can see, it has to be something that's manifested in the way in which you're expressing it, and then we of course are talking to the client because we want to let them know we understand, we hear you and we're gonna make sure that you get the proper professionals that can give you the proper guidance.

Michelle Martin: 

So that you're not feeling left out and alone. Additionally, we're, of course, gonna make sure that the medical professionals are in place to provide you with those diagnostics and to help guide you while you go through your treatment plan to get you back on track. And then you also, of course, we wanna talk to the family because it's something that you have to make the family aware of, and you have to let them know, hey, these are some things that you're gonna wanna look out for, here are some symptoms that you're gonna wanna look for and we wanna make sure that we're a part of that whole piece of the puzzle so that the client isn't just left out and alone.

Molly Hendrickson: 

There are so many lawyers out there. When a family is trying to find the right lawyer, what should they look for? What kind of questions should they ask?

Michelle Martin: 

So that's a great question. One of the things that you wanna do, of courses, is do your research, right? You want to look at the lawyer's website, see if they mention Traumatic Brain Injury, see if they've talk about the type of injury that your loved one or that you have experienced. Then you of course want to set up consultations, but you don't have to make the first... The first person that you pick doesn't have to be the person that you go with, you want to ask questions about their experience, if they have any experts that have dealt with the type of injury that you're experiencing. You want to make sure that you jot down all the information so that you're knowledgeable about whether or not this lawyer is gonna be able to address a lot of different issues.

Michelle Martin: 

One of the issues that my clients commonly have is that they're changing their employment status, you can't. After experiencing a traumatic brain injury, you're not always able to go back to the high-functioning level that you were before, and of course, employers know that, and so sometimes you have to make job, employment modifications and you want to get an attorney who's able to speak with your employer as well, on your behalf or with you, to help guide you through the process and make sure that you don't lose your job and your life isn't just change drastically. But unfortunately, because traumatic brain injuries are so drastic and dramatic, they're going to change your life.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Michelle, thank you for sharing that really important information today. Always nice to talk to you.

Michelle Martin: 

Absolutely. Thank you as well, Molly.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And that's gonna do it for this episode of Ask The Lawyer. My guest has been Michelle Martin. If you wanna ask her about your situation, you can call the number on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.