PI Brief Update

Dealing With Setbacks - Bill Braithwaite QC, Head of Exchange Chambers

10/08/14. I saw a young client recently who has been really struggling to get his life back after catastrophic brain injury. He has been growing through his teen years, coping with difficult family life, and gradually discovering how much he can't do. Along the route, he has been to inappropriate schooling, and has been generally misunderstood. Not surprisingly, his behaviour has been poor, and he has alienated people.

A good brain injury case manager can help with those problems, though, and that has gradually happened. It’s important for outsiders, such as litigation lawyers and experts, to realise that the process of helping a severely brain injured young man to grow up can be extremely difficult, and can take years, with many setbacks on the way.

What I find irritating about litigation experts who visit patients in those circumstances is that the injured person can't win. If he is in a really bad position, he doesn’t attract sympathy; if he’s doing his best, the expert thinks that everything will be fine. There is so often a lack of recognition that improvement and stability are often driven and maintained only by significant input of support, often multi-disciplinary.

Bill Braithwaite QC
Head of Exchange Chambers
This article was first published at http://billbraithwaite.com/blog/

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