New York Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys

Treatment for Brain Injuries

Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro is a respected personal injury law firm in New York which has been successfully representing the rights of brain injury victims since 1990. The lawyers have years of experience in many areas of personal injury law, including brain injuries, exposure to toxic chemicals, medical malpractice, head injuries, brain damage and comas. And they have won exceptional financial results for clients. If you or someone you love has suffered a coma, brain injury, or other serious injury, you should speak with the New York brain injury attorneys at Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro today.

Initial treatment for a traumatic brain injury is a lot like treatment for any other major injury: Doctors do their best to repair the physical damage and take the patient out of danger. But once the patient is stabilized and able to participate in his or her own recovery, it's time for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation focuses on two things: Restoring those functions that were destroyed by the injury, and, if that's not possible, adapting to their loss. Because the brain controls so many different functions, this can vary widely between patients and can be very complex. Each individual patient, and his or her loved ones, must sit down with the doctors in charge of rehabilitation and make a treatment plan. While no two brain injuries are alike, most patients can expect to spend years working with specialists and therapists in several fields.

The first thing brain injury patients should expect is to take a battery of standardized tests designed to assess what brain functions they have lost. These functions can include:

• Cognitive functions, which are responsible for what an individual knows and what he or she can do. Learning and memory are examples.
• Executive functions, which are functions that allow a person to control his or her own thoughts and behavior -- the system that organizes and uses cognitive functions. In effect, people need executive functions to live independent lives. Examples of executive functions include directing one's attention; making plans for the future; and changing a problem-solving strategy.
• Motor functions, which control movement. In addition to causing a patient trouble with getting around, loss of motor functions can make it hard to speak clearly.

Depending on what problems these tests find, the patient may be directed to inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation; patients may also move between them as their skills improve. The professionals who help with rehabilitation can include:

• A physiatrist, who coordinates the rehabilitation.
• A physical therapist, who helps patients with movement.
• An occupational therapists, who retrains daily skills like taking a shower and managing money.
• A speech/language pathologist, who helps patients relearn how to speak clearly or communicate in other ways.
• A neuropsychologist, who monitors patients' cognitive progress and mental health.
• A recreational therapist, who takes patients into the community to apply the skills they're learning.
• A social worker or case manager, who, along with or instead of the family, advocates for the patient with insurance companies, medical staff and others.

In addition to all of this therapy, patients may need long-term medication to stop pain, seizures, muscle spasms, insomnia or mental illness.

Brain injury treatment is a long and complicated process, requiring hard work and patience not only from the patient, but also his or her family. In addition to being difficult, it can also be very expensive. If you or someone you care about sustained a traumatic brain injury because of another person's negligence, you have the right to hold that person legally and financially responsible. To protect your rights, you should speak with the experienced New York traumatic brain injury lawyers at Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro as soon as possible.

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Telephone: 212-986-7353
Fax: 212-953-4308
E-mail: wrs@wrslaw.com