New Thoughts on TBI Help Injured Workers

We recently attended a program about the developing consensus on traumatic brain injuries. The program, which was sponsored by the Vermont Association for Justice and the Tennessee Association for Justice, examined the emerging school of thought that brain injuries are a process, not a single event. The biggest change brought by this new way of thinking is that medical care for individuals with traumatic brain injuries should be managed more like other chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma. For workers’ compensation claimants, this means that they should receive all reasonable and necessary medical benefits related to their traumatic brain injury as provided under Vermont Workers’ Compensation laws. This treatment may now include social services and medical specialists not previously considered. This may mean bigger expenditures for workers’ compensation insurance carriers who may initially balk at the medical treatment.  This is a big step forward in helping our clients with TBIs receive all of the workers’ compensation medical benefits that they need. For more information on traumatic brain injuries as a chronic condition see Science Daily.