JEFFERY HERNANDEZ: It can be difficult to diagnose a brain injury, particularly if the brain injury is mild to moderate. If you have a catastrophic brain injury, obviously, you're going to show signs of the brain injury whether it be quadriplegia, paraplegia, or being in a coma or obviously death.
If you don't recognize the signs or symptoms, you may have problems for the rest of your life if you don't get the proper treatment. So it's important for you to get properly diagnosed. You need to treat the problem upfront, right away, as soon as you know. Otherwise you will have long lasting effects.
[GRAPHIC: Injuries that affect the quality of life]
JEFFERY HERNANDEZ: The majority of head injuries in Phoenix, Arizona result from auto accidents, truck accidents, slip and falls, construction accidents, sometimes they're a result of medical negligence.
I once had a client who was involved in a collision who hit her head on the door frame. The impact was significant. She had to go to the hospital. Scans were taken there and she was let out of the hospital. And for months after that she didn't think there was too much of a problem. She thought she was leading her life normally.
Her husband would give me a call occasionally and say hey Jeff, she's doing these strange things. She's putting diapers in the refrigerator. I found the remote control wrapped in tin foil. It was in the oven. She's doing--she's not being herself.
I sent her to an expert I know to examine her, to review her records and he determined that the hospital missed a brain bleed on the initial examination. That's the kind of thing I'm able to do as an attorney. In other words, if somebody's having some difficultly with the type of treatment they're receiving, I'm able to consult with experts and find out what is the problem, maybe send my client to another person to help diagnose the problem correctly and send them in the right direction in terms of obtaining the right treatment.
[GRAPHIC: Hiring an experienced attorney is important to recovery]
JEFFERY HERNANDEZ: My role in, in a case involving a traumatic brain injury or mild to moderate brain injury is to make sure that we have the proper diagnosis, make sure that my client is obtaining the proper treatment, that my client is being diagnosed properly and that my client is able to recover if at all possible using the right form of rehabilitation, using the right doctors. Making sure that the client is obtaining the proper medical care immediately and in the future to ensure at least the highest probability that this person will recover fully or to the best of his or her ability based upon current medical technology.
It's important for your attorney to know the medical science but it's also important for your attorney to understand what it takes to maximize the recovery, not only for the short term but for the long term.
