PI Brief Update

Top Tips on How to Avoid Missing a Subtle Brain Injury - Rose Gibson, Simpson Millar LLP

06/05/16. As many law firms engaged in personal injury practice attempt streamline the lower value work, it is still vital that even junior staff are properly trained to spot the potentially more complex cases. This is even more important with subtle brain injury cases, as the signs can be hard to spot.

The starting point is to ensure that not just the more experience fee earners, but that junior fee earners are fully trained and able to spot these signs, ask the right questions of the clients and refer the case to someone more experienced where appropriate.

It is important to realise that subtle brain injuries can result from an apparently small bump to the head, that even the Claimant’s own GP or medical staff could dismiss initially.

Whilst many recover, some unfortunate people are left with long lasting symptoms that can turn their lives upside down. This is particularly so for high achievers, who many not notice the full effect of the lack of recovery from an apparent minor head injury until they try to return to work.

Here are some ‘top tips’ to help to avoid missing the signs:-

• Train all fee earners in relation to subtle brain injury symptoms

• Devise a questionnaire to check for subtle brain injury signs for all apparent minor head injury cases

• Obtain ambulance/hospital records to determine any period of loss of consciousness or Glasgow Coma Score

• Once a potential subtle brain injury case has been identified, ensure that the file is being handled by a fee earner suitably experienced to handle the case.

• Ensure that the client is seen in a face to face meeting at the earliest opportunity

• Take statements from friends and family members and work colleagues if possible regarding any change in personality or potential issues with regard to poor concentration, memory loss, performance or other subtle issues. Ensure those statements give detailed examples of problems identified and the potential consequences of those problems. Simply saying ‘ I am very forgetful’ is not enough.

• Advise the client to keep a diary of their issues (and also their family members)

• Consider 3 T MRI scanning to check for micro brain damage, and obtain a report from a radiologist or instruct a good neurologist to comment upon the extent of any suspected brain injury and act upon their recommendations for follow-up experts as required.

• Do not disclose any medical evidence to the Defendants until you are satisfied that all of the medical evidence that you have does not highlight any areas of potential conflict, as is often the case when dealing with experts in different disciplines.

• Manage your client’s expectations at all times, but at the same time ensure that you build a relationship of trust with them.

If you have identified that there is a possible subtle brain injury, ensure that both the fee earner and any Counsel instructed on the case are both sufficiently experienced and sympathetic to the Claimant’s plight, because these are the cases that are often fought hard by the Defendants.

Rose Gibson
Simpson Millar LLP

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