Long-Term Costs of Traumatic Brain Injuries in Indiana

• Thousands of Hoosiers every year suffer traumatic brain injuries, and the medical bills they might face in the immediate aftermath could pale in comparison to the long-term costs that are often associated with TBIs.
• A serious traumatic brain injury can be devastating to your bank account, and you might even require a lifetime of care at profound expense, but compensation may be available when somebody else is at fault.
• To increase the amount you obtain for your TBI, reach out to Hensley Legal Group, PC, which has a proven history of success with major injury cases, such as a $25 million verdict* for a collision with an ambulance.

*SPECIFIC CASE RESULTS. NO TWO CASES ARE EXACTLY ALIKE.

Traumatic brain injuries or TBIs are significant sources of accidental injury in Indiana, resulting in 17,846 emergency room visits and 4,442 hospitalizations across the state in 2023 alone, and the bills generated from the first wave of treatment might only be the tip of the financial iceberg. Depending upon the nature of a traumatic brain injury, a patient might have to endure months, years, or possibly a lifetime of care.

Fortunately, compensation may be available when somebody else is liable for a TBI inflicted in Indiana, and you can increase the amount you obtain by partnering with the seasoned traumatic brain injury lawyers at Hensley Legal Group, PC, a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998.

HLG has a proven history of success with major injury cases, including:

• A $25 million verdict for a collision with an ambulance.
• An $8 million claim resolution for a delivery truck crash.
• A $4.25 million settlement for a pedestrian accident.

In recognition of achievements like these, Hensley has been named one of the Best Law Firms in the United States by Best Lawyers®, while its attorneys have been honored with inclusion in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, America’s Top 100 Attorneys, and the National Trial Lawyers’ lists of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers and the Top 40 Under 40.

To discover what a skilled Indiana traumatic brain injury attorney can do for you and your loved ones at this difficult time, schedule a free consultation by calling us at (317) 472-3333, chatting with us online, or filling out our contact form now.

Not All TBIs Are Created Equal

Before we delve into the short- and long-term costs of traumatic brain injuries, it’s important to point out that not all TBIs are created equal.

The truth is that traumatic brain injuries can be placed on a spectrum of intensity ranging from mild to moderate to severe, and your own TBI’s position on this spectrum could heavily influence the bite that it takes out of your wallet.

On one end of the TBI spectrum are concussions. Caused by “a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth,” concussions are the mildest TBIs as well as the most common, accounting for more than 75 percent of traumatic brain injuries.

Other TBIs are less common than concussions but more likely to be moderate or severe, such as:

• Contusions, in which the brain bleeds.
• Diffuse axonal injuries, in which brain connections are torn.
• Penetrations, in which the brain is punctured by a sharp object.

These kinds of traumatic brain injuries are similarly more likely to have dire consequences, including death in the most tragic cases. and the medical treatment required for a TBI can be more elaborate, and more expensive, the worse the TBI is.

Different Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Treated Differently

As a rule of thumb, different traumatic brain injuries are treated differently, and the course of treatment that would be most appropriate for your TBI may be a function of where it lies on the spectrum.

For example, if you have a mild concussion, you might only have to go to the ER or a local clinic for observation, neurological examination, and diagnostic imaging to confirm that you don’t have bleeding on the brain or some other grievous injury.

In the absence of something life-threatening, you’ll probably be sent home to rest for about 24 to 48 hours, after which you may be released to return to work or school, though you may have to delay engaging in more strenuous activities for at least a week.

But if you have a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury, your treatment could be much more extensive and may include:

• Detailed diagnostic imaging (like CT scans and MRIs)
• Intracranial pressure monitoring in an intensive care unit
• Anti-seizure and diuretic drugs
• Ventilation and airway support

Extreme TBIs usually demand surgical interventions and a host of therapy regimens too, and the overall fiscal hit should be expected to grow with every additional treatment method prescribed.

Whereas a brief trip to the emergency room for a concussion might just produce a bill as low as $800.10, a stay in a TBI rehabilitation facility for a cerebral penetration could cost as much as $46,000.00. That’s obviously a wide gap, and it will continue to widen until a TBI patient stops treating, not that every patient does.

Many Traumatic Brain Injuries Lead to Long-Term Disability

Sadly, some traumatic brain injuries heal more slowly, and others might not ever heal, a crushing disappointment that many TBI patients will have to face. The probability of long-term disability after a traumatic brain injury largely corresponds with the injury’s seriousness, although disability might strike no matter where an injury lies on the TBI spectrum.

For instance, about 90 percent of concussions resolve on their own, with symptoms going away within an average of 10 to 14 days, but that’s cold comfort for the ten percent or so of patients whose concussions aren’t as cooperative. In light of how frequently concussions occur, that ten percent can translate into thousands of concussion patients every year who develop post-concussion syndrome, a condition in which their symptoms could linger for much longer, sometimes permanently.

The stats are less promising for moderate-to-severe TBI patients, about 57 percent of whom remain moderately to severely disabled five years from the date of injury and only about 45 percent of whom are able to hold jobs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Patients with contusion injuries tend to fare the best in this category, but only relatively so. Around 60 percent of “moderate” head injuries involving contusions are resolved positively, but recovery drops down to between 25 to 33 percent for severe contusions, and approximately one-quarter of these sorts of TBIs lead to long-term disability.

The chances of recovery plummet further when looking at more consistently severe TBIs like diffuse axonal injuries, with anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of patients exhibiting persistent disabilities, including:

• Impaired memory and concentration
  Prolonged fatigue
  Emotional instability

Nonetheless, the poorest outcomes by far are for cerebral penetrations. Aside from having greater mortality rates in the early stages than any other TBI, penetration injury patients also have the greatest rates of permanent disability.

A study of hospitalized U.S. service members calculated the odds of long-term disability within a year of discharge at 56.2 percent, but other research suggests that the odds may be much higher, and survivors of penetration injuries regularly have to cope with debilitating complications like:

• Paralysis
• Cognitive and neurological deficiencies
• Recurring seizures
• Changes in mood and personality

Issues like these could call for a considerable amount of medical care, maybe for the rest of a patient’s life, easily exceeding whatever costs might have already been incurred during the initial treatment period, and these might only represent a fraction of the total long-term costs for a TBI.

Biggest Long-Term Costs Associated with TBIs

While every traumatic brain injury is unique, TBI patients generally have to deal with many of the same costs when their injuries are long-lasting or permanent. Some of the biggest long-term costs associated with TBIs include:

• Hospitalizations, procedures, and doctor appointments
• Psychological counseling
• Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation
• In-home nursing care
• Medications
• Assistive devices and equipment
• Renovations to accommodate disabilities
• Assisted living facility expenses (when applicable)
• Lost wages
• Diminished earning capacity

Any of these costs could be detrimental to a family’s well-being, but the loss of income often hits the hardest, especially when a TBI prevents the primary breadwinner from working, thereby making it tougher to simply make ends meet, much less meet the new TBI-related expenses.

There may be too many factors to say what a single traumatic brain injury might cost in the long term, but the impact on society as a whole has been genuinely staggering, with a purported domestic lifetime cost of $76.5 billion (including both direct and indirect medical expenses).

Yet regardless of what the long-term costs of your own traumatic brain injury may be, you might not have to brave them by yourself, since you could be compensated if others are to blame. Your chief avenues of recovery will typically be the insurers for the parties who injured you, although you shouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t eager to hand it over.

Ways That Insurance Companies Can Dispute TBI Claims

Insurance companies can dispute TBI claims in a variety of ways, but they can be broadly divided into attacks on one of two elements: causation and damages.

An attack on causation will either cast doubt on the role an insured defendant played in causing the accident that caused your TBI or on the role that the accident itself played in causing your injury. In contrast, an attack on damages will cast doubt on the degree to which you were injured – assuming it doesn’t cast doubt on whether you actually have a TBI.

Admittedly, causation-based attacks could be deployed in nearly any personal injury case, while damages-based attacks denying the existence of TBIs might only be effective with “invisible” traumatic brain injuries like mild concussions that rarely give rise to substantial long-term costs.

However, a veteran insurance adjuster may still question the scale of your traumatic brain injury, your inability to work, or the lifetime care estimates you’ve put forth. The adjuster may even accuse you of “malingering,” defined by the Cleveland Clinic as “the intentional fabrication or exaggeration of physical or psychological symptoms for personal gain.”

When this happens, you may be asked to submit to an Independent Medical Examination (IME) conducted by an outside physician or psychologist. Although the “independence” of this process is debatable given that the insurance carrier is paying for it, that doesn’t mean that an unfavorable IME won’t hold a lot of sway with a judge or jury.

Tactics like these can be huge obstacles to anyone struggling to get justice for a devastating traumatic brain injury, but they don’t have to be insurmountable when you have Hensley Legal Group, PC in your corner.

How Our Indiana Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys Can Help

If you become one of the many Hoosiers every day who choose to hire Hensley, our Indiana traumatic brain injury attorneys will track down each of the defendants who contributed to your TBI and establish valid claims and/or file suit against them within the time allotted by law.

Our firm will then amass compelling evidence to rebut every attempt to minimize the long-term costs of your traumatic brain injury, such as:

• Economic expert testimony
• Medical records and billing
• Employment documentation
• Neurological, psychological, cognitive, vestibular, hearing, and/or vision testing
• Life care plans and expenditure projections
• Vocational assessments
• Photos and videos
• Witness statements

After putting together an airtight case against everybody who harmed you, our tenacious Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyers will negotiate tirelessly for a settlement that accurately reflects the full costs of your TBI. And if we don’t receive an offer that is worthy of your case, we aren’t afraid to proceed to trial for a verdict that is, unlike many of our competitors, who seldom venture into a courtroom.

This can give our Indiana traumatic brain injury attorneys the opportunity to convey everything your TBI has taken from you up to this moment, along with everything it may take from you going forward, which could allow you to secure the funds you need to start getting back to normal.

Reach Out to Hensley’s Indiana Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers

Hensley Legal Group has been fiercely advocating for the innocent victims of negligence for more than a quarter century. If your world has been upended by a catastrophic TBI you suffered through no fault of your own, reach out to Hensley’s Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyers to learn how they can set things right.

You can call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form for a complimentary case review with an accomplished Indiana traumatic brain attorney at our firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will my traumatic brain injury cost?

There are probably too many factors to say up front how much an individual traumatic brain injury will cost, but more serious TBIs generally end up costing more.

Whereas a mild traumatic brain injury might be treated for very little, a severe TBI could demand prolonged medical treatment at huge expense, and a patient’s costs will usually be compounded by substantial wage loss.

What type of traumatic brain injury is the most expensive to treat?

Traumatic brain injuries exist on a spectrum of intensity ranging from mild to moderate to severe, and the treatment costs tend to increase the further along the spectrum a TBI lies.

Among the most expensive traumatic brain injuries are cerebral penetrations, which usually require surgical interventions and extensive therapy in the short run, though that doesn’t keep many patients from still needing a lifetime of care.

What are the long-term costs associated with TBIs?

Some of the biggest long-term costs associated with TBIs include:

• Hospitalizations, procedures, and provider appointments
• Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation
• Nursing care
• Psychological counseling
• Medications
• Assistive equipment
• Home renovations
• Assisted living facility expenses
• Lost wages
• Diminished earning capacity

Of these costs, the loss of income often hits the hardest, particularly when a TBI prevents a family’s primary breadwinner from working, thereby making it much tougher to make ends meet as well as address the new TBI-related expenses.

How do insurance companies dispute long-term care costs in TBI claims?

Insurance companies typically dispute TBI claims by attacking either causation or damages, and damages-based attacks are especially prevalent when claimants have significant long-term costs.

A veteran insurance adjuster could question the scale of your traumatic brain injury, your inability to work, or the lifetime care estimates you’ve put forth, and you may even be accused of malingering or asked to submit to an Independent Medical Examination (IME).

Can I be compensated for the long-term costs of my traumatic brain injury?

Compensation may be available for the costs you incur as a result of a traumatic brain injury caused by others, including the long-term costs that may arise from it.

However, a successful outcome isn’t guaranteed in any TBI case thanks to the opposition you might face from the insurers with applicable coverage, although you may be able to overcome this opposition with help from Hensley’s skilled Indiana traumatic brain injury lawyers.