Jeff's Idea Lab Blog

 Car accidents are one of the leading causes of mild traumatic brain injury in British Columbia.

A mild traumatic brain injury can occur in a bunch of different ways. Sometimes the injured person stikes some part of the inside of the vehicle, such as the windshield or headrest. In other cases the injured individual's brain undergoes a a sudden accelerartion/deceleration movement (the mechanics of this type of injury are similar to a whiplash)without their head actually hitting anything.

What's the simplest way to describe what happens inside a person's skull when they sustain a brain injury ?

Think of the brain tissue as being like a soft sponge. What happens is that the soft spung is violently thrust up against the the very hard bone which forms the interior of the skull. The brain tissue is squished. As a result it bruises,tears and/or swells.

What are the symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury ?

Here are a few symptoms which may be experienced individually or in combination:

1. An altered state of consciousness;
2. dizziness;
3. severe headache;
4. confusion;
5. persistent vomiting
6. Sleep disturbance;
7. difficulties concentrating;
8. difficulties retaining new information;
9. depression and irritability

Unfortunately, many family physicans in British Columbia are not well educated regarding the diagnosis and treatment of mild traumatic injury. As such, it is not unusual for a mild traumatic brain injury to go undiagnosed by a family doctor.

A valuable medical program that is not well know amongst primary medical treators in British Columbia is the GF Strong Rehab Center's Early Response Brain Injury Service. This service is available for anybody with a recent mild traumatic brain injury either by self-referral or through a family doctor. Go to the GF Strong Rehab Centre's website to get more information or to locate a referral form.

Often it is the victim of mild traumatic injury who must seek out appropriate medical attention. More to the point, the sooner they pursue proper medical treatment the more likely they are to make a good recovery.

In British Columbia the law states that you have two years,from the date on which you were injured in a car accident, to either settle your case with ICBC or have a lawsuit filed.

So, in theory, you could wait close to two years before hiring a lawyer to handle your auto injury claim. And every couple months someone will phone me from the airport, just before getting on a flight to Cabo, to talk about their case which is 1day shy of the 2 year mark.

Back in the real world , however, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you're serious about getting your ICBC claim properly handled.

Most of the time when someone sees me with a case that's over a year old it's damaged goods.

What do I mean ?

A good settlement or trial judgement is a product of having done things properly throughout the life of your case. For 99.9% of British Columbians that means relying on the advise provided by their lawyer from very early on in the game. And not giving ICBC the opportunity to have their way with them for a number of months.

Besides, any personal lawyer who's experienced at handling ICBC injury claims is going to handle your case on a contingency( percentage )fee basis. Often, the percentage is the same regardless of when you hire that lawyer. So you might as well get full value and hire them early on.

ICBC injury claims are like alot of problems. They don't get solved to your best advantage by being ignored.