Fort Worth Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Lawyer

Are you a Fort Worth veteran living with the effects of a traumatic brain injury?

At Glover Luck LLP, we have spent more than a decade making certain that every residual of a brain injury is identified, evaluated, and counted.

If the VA rated your brain injury without accounting for the headaches, the sleep problems, the mood changes, or the endocrine effects that followed, the evaluation almost certainly understates what you are living with. Our Fort Worth, TX Traumatic Brain Injury lawyer examines how each residual was documented, identifies conditions the agency treated as unrelated, and pursues evaluations across every system the injury affected. Glover Luck LLP has represented veterans in disability matters since 2014. Consultations are provided at no cost.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Lawyer Fort Worth, TX

A traumatic brain injury is evaluated differently from almost anything else in the rating schedule. Rather than a single set of criteria, the VA assesses ten separate facets covering memory, attention, judgment, social interaction, orientation, motor activity, visual spatial orientation, subjective symptoms, neurobehavioral effects, communication, and consciousness.

Each facet is assigned a level, and the highest of them determines the evaluation for cognitive impairment. That structure has a consequence veterans rarely learn about until it costs them. A residual with its own diagnosis, such as a headache disorder or a mental health condition, is generally rated separately rather than folded into the facet table. Our Traumatic Brain Injury attorneys in Fort Worth work through each residual individually, because conditions absorbed into a single evaluation are conditions that go uncompensated.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Cases We Handle in Fort Worth, TX

Brain injuries reach our firm from blast exposure, vehicle accidents during service, training injuries, and falls, and the claims that follow rarely involve one condition alone. Cognitive effects, physical residuals, and psychological consequences frequently appear together, and each may carry its own evaluation. The matters below reflect the work our Fort Worth attorneys perform for veterans living with brain injury.

• Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Blast exposure often produces a brain injury and a psychological injury at the same time, and the long-term effects overlap substantially. Distinguishing between them affects what each condition is worth.
• Mental health disorders claims. Depression is recognized as a consequence of brain injury within defined periods after the event. Where those conditions are diagnosed, they may be separately evaluated alongside the injury itself.
• Psychiatric disability claims. Emotional and behavioral effects of a brain injury are evaluated under the mental disorders framework where a psychiatric diagnosis exists. Where no diagnosis has been made, those effects are assessed within the facet table instead.
• Service connection. Establishing that the injury occurred during service is the first task, and blast and training injuries are frequently undocumented. We develop the service and medical evidence the record requires.
• Service connected disability. Veterans with brain injuries frequently carry other conditions from the same event or deployment. We assess the full record rather than the brain injury in isolation.
• VA disability compensation. The assigned evaluation determines the monthly award, and brain injury ratings are among the most frequently understated. Veterans with the most serious impairment may also warrant special monthly compensation.
• VA individual unemployability. Cognitive and behavioral effects can end a working life well before any single evaluation reaches a total level. Where employment is no longer sustainable, we pursue a total rating on that basis.
• Migraine and headache residuals. Headaches are among the most common lasting effects of a brain injury, and a headache disorder with its own diagnosis is generally evaluated separately. Frequency and severity determine that evaluation.
• Section 1151 claims. Where a brain injury resulted from VA medical care, including anoxic injury during a procedure, compensation may be available on that basis. These claims are decided on the treatment record.

Why Choose Glover Luck LLP as My Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Lawyer in Fort Worth, TX?

Every Residual Identified and Separately Evaluated

The most common failure in a brain injury claim is not an outright denial. It is an evaluation that captures the cognitive impairment and quietly absorbs everything else. We review the examination findings facet by facet, identify residuals with distinct diagnoses that warrant their own evaluations, and check whether the conditions the regulations treat as consequences of brain injury were considered at all. Where several evaluations exist, we examine how they were combined.

Founders Accredited to Represent Veterans Nationwide

Julie L. Glover and Adam R. Luck founded Glover Luck LLP in 2014, and both are accredited by the VA to represent veterans across the country. Julie Glover is admitted in Texas and New Mexico and before several federal district courts and two federal courts of appeals. Adam Luck is admitted before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States, and both belong to the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates. Veterans throughout Tarrant County bring brain injury claims to our veterans disability lawyer in Fort Worth, TX. Over more than a decade, our attorneys have helped veterans obtain compensation after an initial denial.

Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Cases

Facets, Secondary Conditions, and Compensation in TBI Cases

Cognitive impairment and other residuals not otherwise classified are evaluated through a table of ten facets. Each is assigned a level of impairment, and the highest level assigned determines the evaluation, which may be 0%, 10%, 40%, or 100%.

• Residuals with a distinct diagnosis are evaluated separately under the code that applies to them
• Emotional and behavioral effects are evaluated under the mental disorders schedule where a psychiatric diagnosis exists
• Physical residuals affecting other systems are evaluated under the codes governing those systems
• Separate evaluations are then combined, and special monthly compensation may warrant consideration

The regulations also treat several conditions as consequences of a service-connected brain injury unless clear evidence shows otherwise. These include parkinsonism and unprovoked seizures following a moderate or severe injury, certain dementias appearing within fifteen years of a moderate or severe injury, depression appearing within three years of a moderate or severe injury or within twelve months of a mild one, and hormone deficiency diseases arising from hypothalamic and pituitary changes within twelve months of a moderate or severe injury. Compensation is paid monthly at the rate corresponding to the combined evaluation, with additional amounts for dependents.

What Are Important Aspects of a Traumatic Brain Injury Case?

These claims are decided on the quality of the examination and the completeness of the record supporting it. A veteran examined on a good day, by an examiner working from a brief history, will frequently receive an evaluation that does not reflect ordinary functioning.

• Establishing that the injury occurred during service, including undocumented blast exposure
• Documenting the severity of the injury, which governs which secondary conditions apply
• Ensuring each of the ten facets is assessed rather than summarized
• Identifying residuals with distinct diagnoses that warrant separate evaluations
• Confirming that separate evaluations were properly combined

Severity classification deserves particular attention. Whether an injury was mild, moderate, or severe determines which conditions the regulations treat as its consequences and the periods within which they must appear, and that classification is frequently made from records created long before anyone considered the question.

What Should You Bring to Your Traumatic Brain Injury Consultation?

The evidence that decides these claims is often scattered across sources. Where they are available, we ask veterans and families to bring the following:

• Service records documenting the injury, including line of duty determinations and incident reports
• Medical records from the period immediately following the injury
• Neuropsychological testing results, whether from VA or private providers
• Any VA decision letters, rating decisions, or examination reports
• Statements from family members or colleagues describing changes in functioning

Statements from family members carry unusual weight in these claims, because the people who live alongside a veteran often observe changes that testing does not capture and that the veteran does not recognize. Families providing ongoing assistance may also wish to review the caregiver support program.

What Is The Traumatic Brain Injury Case Timeline?

These claims proceed on the ordinary VA schedule, though examinations frequently take longer to arrange because they must be conducted by a physician in one of several specified specialties.

• An intent to file preserves the effective date while records are gathered
• The claim is filed with service records and medical documentation of the injury
• The VA schedules an examination, which for initial evaluations must be performed by a specialist
• The regional office issues a rating decision addressing each residual
• An unfavorable decision may be challenged within one year of the notice

Veterans rated under the criteria in effect before October 23, 2008 may request review under the current criteria, whether or not the condition has worsened. An award resulting from that review cannot take effect earlier than that date, but for veterans rated decades ago the difference can be considerable.

What Are Important Texas Legal Resources for Traumatic Brain Injury Cases?

These claims are governed by federal regulation, and the criteria the agency applies are published in full. A veteran who wants to read them can begin with the sources below, none of which replaces representation.

• 38 CFR 4.124a contains diagnostic code 8045 and the facet table used to evaluate cognitive impairment and other residuals.
• 38 CFR 3.310 identifies the conditions held to be consequences of a service-connected brain injury and the periods within which they must appear.
• 38 CFR 4.25 sets out the combined ratings table used when a veteran holds evaluations for more than one condition.
• The rulemaking establishing the current criteria explains the reasoning behind the facet structure adopted in 2008.
• The rulemaking on secondary conditions sets out the medical findings underlying the conditions associated with brain injury.

Reach Out to Glover Luck LLP to Schedule a Consultation

The effects of a brain injury are frequently clearer to the people around a veteran than they are in a medical file. Our Fort Worth Traumatic Brain Injury lawyer can review the examination findings and the rating decision and explain what the criteria may support. Contact us to arrange a consultation at no cost. Glover Luck LLP represents veterans and their families throughout Tarrant County.