Legal Issues that Commonly Confront Brain-Injury Survivors and their Families

Abstract

Medical treatment of brain injury as we know it today is relatively new. Ten to 20 years ago, emergency medicine was usually unable to keep people with severe brain injuries alive. On the other hand, those victims with so-called “minor” brain injuries (which nevertheless produced cognitive as well as other types of impairment) frequently went undiagnosed. Even if deficits caused by minor brain injury were recognized, many cases went untreated because of the lack of rehabilitation programs that took into account the special needs of these patients. Today, however, medicine acknowledges the epidemic proportions of brain injuries and continues to improve the efficacy of treatment and rehabilitation for this population.