A traumatic brain injury can create long-term issues in a person’s life. That is the reality our law firm sees over and over in Portland, and throughout Oregon and Washington. Here’s how our legal team can help.
Families often arrive at our office believing that the worst is behind them. Their cars have been towed, the emergency room staff has sent everyone home, and the case on paper can look like a minor collision with a bruise.
But then, the person in the middle of the crash starts getting headaches that won’t go away. They forget the words they were supposed to say right as they are about to say them. They can no longer follow a simple schedule despite running a business or a household adeptly before the crash.
Traumatic brain injury can change everything, but it’s an injury that no one can see. This is where an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer matters. Good representation is not about filing paperwork. It is about protecting an injured person from an insurance system that is built to pay as little as possible. More importantly, it is about helping a family rebuild a life that a crash turned upside-down. We discuss here how we help families in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury.
According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 38,718 brain injuries in Oregon required hospital or emergency-department care in 2023. That is approximately 106 medically treated injuries every day.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): The Damage No One Can See
Brain injuries are often called invisible injuries for a reason. There is no cast, no open wound, and frequently no dramatic finding on a routine scan. A person can walk out of the hospital looking completely normal and still be living with a serious, permanent injury.
Many of our clients have sustained some form of traumatic brain injury, and we have learned that mild is one of the most misleading words in medicine. A so-called mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, can produce lasting problems with memory, concentration, mood, sleep, balance, and sensitivity to light and noise.
For the injured person and the people who love them, the hardest part is often simply being believed. Coworkers, friends, and even family members may not understand why someone looks fine but can no longer do their work or keep up with their relationships. A traumatic brain injury lawyer who understands these injuries can build the evidence needed to make your injury undeniable.
Read More from DeShaw Law: What Is a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury?
In 2020, 9,254 Oregonians with traumatic brain injuries were treated and released from emergency departments. A patient does not need to be admitted to the hospital for a brain injury to require continued care and careful documentation.
Why Insurance Companies Fight Brain Injury Claims So Hard
Insurance companies know that brain injuries are hard to see, and some of them use that fact against the very people they are supposed to protect. Because a brain injury does not always appear on an X-ray or show up in a photograph, an adjuster can argue that it is exaggerated, that it existed before the crash, or that it does not exist at all. The less an injury can be seen, the harder some insurers push back.
Their tactics are familiar to us. They delay decisions in the hope that a struggling family will accept less. They deny that the injury is connected to the crash. They defend the claim aggressively while dangling a quick settlement that looks generous to someone in crisis but falls far short of what a lifetime of care will cost. A brain injury victim who tries to face this system alone is at a serious disadvantage.
Oregon personal injury protection insurance covers up to $15,000 in reasonable and necessary medical expenses incurred within two years of a motor vehicle injury. Serious brain injury treatment can exhaust that coverage quickly.
Read More from DeShaw Law: What Does "Delay, Deny, Defend" Mean?
Proving an Injury That Standard Scans Often Miss
One of the most important things a brain injury attorney does is prove the injury with evidence that a jury and an insurer cannot dismiss. Standard imaging like CT and MRI is valuable, but it does not capture a large part of the damage that occurs in a traumatic brain injury, including the pain and suffering involved. Microscopic tearing of the brain's wiring can leave a person profoundly changed, even as a conventional scan reads as normal.
That is why experienced lawyers work with the right specialists and the right technology. Advanced imaging, detailed neuropsychological testing, and testimony from treating physicians can reveal what a routine scan misses. Some of the most powerful evidence comes from the people who knew the client before the crash. When an employer, a spouse, or a longtime friend describes the difference between who a person was and who they are now, the injury stops being invisible.
Putting an Honest Value on Your Traumatic Brain Injury Claim
A brain injury case is not measured by a stack of medical bills alone. The real losses reach into every corner of a person's life. There are the future costs of care, therapy, and medication. There is lost earning capacity when someone can no longer do the work they trained for years to do. And there are the losses that never show up on an invoice, such as the ability to concentrate, to manage emotions, and to be fully present as a parent or a partner.
To value a case honestly, our firm builds a complete picture of the future. That often means working with life care planners, economists, and vocational experts who can put reliable numbers on what a client will actually need over a lifetime. Insurance companies count on families not knowing how much a serious brain injury truly costs. Part of a lawyer's job is to make sure the full extent of the harm is documented and understood.
Oregon requires only $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage for one person in an accident. By comparison, the CDC estimates that a nonfatal TBI requiring inpatient care produces an average of $51,241 in medical expenses and $6,110 in lost work during the following year.
Read More from DeShaw Law: "What Is My Case Worth?" 7 Factors That Affect Case Value
How Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers Help Victims Rebuild
Helping a client rebuild is about far more than the eventual settlement or verdict. In the months after a severe crash, a brain-injured person often cannot manage the flood of phone calls, forms, and appointments that come with a serious injury. A good firm absorbs that burden so the client and family can put their energy into recovery.
That work looks different in every case. It can mean helping coordinate access to the right medical specialists, handling the insurance correspondence and medical liens that would otherwise pile up, and structuring a case so that funds are available for the care a client needs going forward.
We handle all types of cases related to TBI, including medical malpractice and wrongful death. Our office takes specific measures for brain-injured clients, because someone who is sensitive to light, noise, and stress should not be retraumatized by the very people who are trying to help.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a nonfatal TBI requiring inpatient care generates an average of $51,241 in medical expenses and $6,110 in lost work during the following year. These are national averages—not a measure of what any individual legal claim may be worth.
Read More from DeShaw Law: Portland Personal Injury Firm Takes Special Measures for Brain Injured Clients
Why Experience and Resources Change the Outcome
Not every personal injury firm is equipped to handle a severe brain injury case. These cases are expensive to prepare, they require the right medical and scientific experts, and they often have to be taken all the way to trial before an insurer will pay what the injury is worth. A firm without the experience or the financial resources to go the distance can leave real money on the table.
Dr. Aaron DeShaw has a track record spanning more than two decades representing seriously injured people. His background as a chiropractic doctor gives his firm an unusual command of the medicine behind a brain injury. That combination has helped our clients recover results that reflect the true weight of what they have lost. When you are choosing who will stand between your family and the insurance company, experience and resources are not a luxury. They are the difference.
Read More from DeShaw Law: Choosing the Best Brain Injury Attorney in 2026
The Same Injury Can Come From Very Different Crashes
It does not matter how a traumatic brain injury took place. We see the same devastating injuries whether a client was hurt as a driver, a passenger, a cyclist, or a pedestrian. If you were injured by a careless driver, a car accident attorney who understands brain injuries can pursue the compensation you need to move forward. When the crash involves a commercial vehicle, a truck accident attorney has to account for federal regulations, multiple potentially responsible parties, and far larger insurance policies.
In the most severe crashes, a brain injury proves fatal, and the focus shifts to the family left behind. A wrongful death attorney can help those families seek accountability and hold the responsible parties answerable for the loss. Whatever form the crash took, the goal is the same. It is to give the injured person, or the family that survives them, a real chance to rebuild.
Read More from DeShaw Law: When Do Truck Accidents Become Fatal? A Portland Truck Accident Attorney Explains
Talk With a Portland Brain Injury Lawyer
If you or someone you love suffered a traumatic brain injury in a crash anywhere in Oregon or Washington, you do not have to face the insurance companies alone. Our firm offers a free case review with a brain injury lawyer, at no cost and with no obligation to hire us. We will listen, explain your options, and help you understand what it will take to rebuild.
To speak with our team, call (503) 227-1233 to schedule your free consultation.