Tbilaw.com has been at the cornerstone of the web advocacy of the Brain Injury Law Group since it went online in 1996.For a full treatment of the topic of brain injury, and recovering adequate compensation for those who have survived such injury, please visit our other pages.
Waiting.com, a page designed to assist those with issues regarding coma, especially in the acute phase when the doctors are saying "I just don't know."
Vestibulardisorder.com addresses vertigo and dizziness resulting from trauma as well as information and resources for vestibular disorders.
Subtlebraininjury.com focuses on all aspects of concussion and non-coma injuries.

The worker's compensation program applies to anyone injured while at work. While the benefits under worker's comp overlap with social security benefits, in most states they involve more money. In worker's comp, there generally is no requirement that the disability continue for a full year, so benefits should commence immediately. For most survivors, there should be no problem receiving worker's comp benefits at the beginning. Typically, medical bills should be paid in their entirety. The battle lines with worker's comp will be over the length and the extent of the benefits.

Under the Wisconsin worker's comp program, benefits are generally divided into two time periods: the temporary disability period and the permanent disability period. This classification assumes that the survivor will have some level of recovery. When the extent of that recovery has leveled off, the survivor has been said to have reached his or her "healing plateau." For survivors with some prospect of returning to work, they will receive temporary total disability, "TTD", until they reach the healing plateau. TTD benefits are generally 2/3 of what a survivor was making at the time of the injury, without deduction for withholding or taxes.

The battle begins when the insurance company's doctor determines that the survivor has hit the healing plateau. At such point, TTD benefits stop and the survivor's benefits are transformed to permanent partial disability, "PPD". PPD is limited in duration and equals only about $150 per week, depending on the year of injury. The length of time that the PPD payments are received will depend on the size of the permanent disability rating. Permanent disability ratings for brain injuries are expressed in terms of percentages of the "body of the whole." Both the survivors doctor and the insurance companies doctor will rate the disability, in such percentage. In converting such percentage rating to dollars, the system assumes that 100% of disability, equals 1000 weeks. Thus, a 10% permanent disability rating equates to 100 weeks of PPD, so something around $15,000.

That is all the insurance company will tell you about permanent benefits. But with almost all brain injury survivors, there will be a much greater entitlement to benefits: the loss of earning capacity claim. The Wisconsin worker's comp system compensates for vocational loss which might exceed the strictly medical diagnosis. If the vocational experts determination of disability exceeds the physicians, the vocational experts opinion will control. A vocational expert is a counselor who rates the survivors ability to earn a living in the work place. Even if the doctors rating is only 10%, if the vocational expert says that a survivor has lost 50% of his ability to earn a living, then the PPD rating is 50%. The extent of vocational rating is determined by comparing the survivors earning ability before and after the accident. If the survivor was a truck driver making $30,000 a year before the accident, but now can only earn $10,000 a year, he has a 67% loss of earning capacity. Thus, such survivor would be entitled to PPD benefits for 667 weeks.

The system gets a little more confusing when either the vocational expert or the doctor determines that the disability percentage is 100%. A determination that a survivor is permanently, totally disabled, does not provide for PPD (the $150 a week) for 1,000 weeks. Better. It provides the equivalent of the TTD benefit for life. As explained above TTD is 2/3 of previous earnings (usually higher than PPD). For example, if a survivor was earning $400 per week prior to the injury, TTD would be $267, instead of the $150 a week.

It is considerably more difficult to convince a worker's comp judge that a survivor is disabled, than it is with social security. Further, insurance companies face little or no penalty for cutting off benefits.

Worker's comp also provides benefits for vocational retraining, through cooperation with the State of Wisconsin department of vocational rehabilitation.

There is little question that a survivor with a claim for permanent disability needs an attorney to represent him. In Wisconsin, fees are done on a contingent basis, equal to 20% of the benefits that the attorney recovers for the survivor. The initial appointment to see a worker's comp attorney, in almost all cases, will be without charge.

NEXT: BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATIONS

"No head injury is too severe to despair of, nor too trivial to ignore."- Hippocrates

 

Understanding Subtle Brain Injury

The concussions that disable, are almost always more symptomatic at 24 hours, than at the 2-4 hour time frame when injured persons are evaluated in the emergency room. Brain injury symptoms escalate over the first 24 hours, because brain injury involves a cascade of events. It is critical that if you are still symptomatic the day after your injury, go back to the same Emergency Room, don’t wait for a doctors appointment. It is critical that the Emergency Room personnel see that the symptoms still persist or have gotten worse.

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This site is brought to you by the advocates of the Brain Injury Law Group, a community of plaintiff's trial lawyers across the United States united by a common interest in serving the rights of persons with traumatic brain injuries and a common commitment to fully understanding the anatomic, medical and psychological aspects of TBI.

The Brain Injury Law Group is involved with a network of plaintiff's trial lawyers across the United States united by a common interest in serving the rights of persons with traumatic brain injuries and a common commitment to fully understanding the anatomic, medical and psychological aspects of TBI, so we may be of better service to the survivors of brain injury. This network of lawyers are not part of a national law firm. We have separate law practices and are licensed to practice only in our home states.

The Brain Injury Law Group is here to listen and for that reason we maintain an 800 number and a staff willing to discuss your case and legal information where appropriate. There is no charge to call. We only represent people on a contingent fee basis and charge a fee only when we recover for the client. For more on Attorney Gordon Johnson, click here.