The Invisible Injury
How do you 'show' a catastrophic brain injury?
We have worked extensively with victims of brain injury . We have created dozens of invaluable films sharing the client and their family's deepest truths.
Traumatic Brain Injury occurs at an annual rate of 500 out of 100,000 individuals. That is approximately 165,000 in Canada. This equals 456 people every day, or one person injured every 3 minutes in Canada.
Brain Injury Canada
Lawyers face an enormous challenge when trying to prove their client’s brain injury meets the catastrophic threshold. It is the client that suffers behind closed doors.
Sometimes a brain injury can result in very visible changes to someone’s physical abilities, but in most cases a victim can present as physically healthy. The challenges a client actually suffers ends up affecting them, as well as everyone around them drastically. Sometimes a spouse or child even has to quit their job to take care of the victim. It usually becomes a domino effect within the family/friend structure.
Brain damage can manifest itself in many ways that are always difficult to prove using only standard diagnostic tools:
Physical issues:
Passing out, weakness in arms and legs, hearing and vision issues, changes in sensory perception ie. touch sensitivity.
Cognitive:
Confusion, difficulty concentrating, short-term memory loss, trouble communicating.
Social / Emotional:
Anxiety, nervousness, irritability, sadness, depression, anger, aggressiveness, behavior management, impulse control, social Isolation, relationship corrosions.
Many of these symptoms cannot be demonstrated to exist by pointing to a physical marker on medical tests and diagnostics such as MRIs and SPECT scans. A more human approach needs to be taken to understand and communicate the complexities of the injury.
What can a Victim Impact Documentary video do?
For over 20 years we have been creating compelling films that clearly demonstrate the severity of a client’s brain injury, called Victim Impact Documentaries; more than 'a day in the life'.
Vids capture powerful testimony from friends and family:
They can best explain what sort of person the victim used to be, the dramatic changes they’ve witnessed, and the grief they feel over the person they have “lost”, while giving a full picture of who the client was before the accident.
Show the reality of their lives:
An overview of their daily routine, their daily challenges physically, emotionally and cognitively.
Demonstrate their loss:
We contrast their lives before and after their injury (interviews with friends and family, photos, home videos, awards and accomplishments) and show the profound loss they have suffered as a result of their brain injury. We show how the injured, family and friends have been affected emotionally, financially, physically and cognitively.
In the course of 15 minutes the defence will see a human story and understand the severity of your client’s brain injury in a way that paper reports and examinations on their own can never do. They will see how friends and family can dramatically attest to the traumatic loss their loved one has suffered. And most importantly, they will understand how credible your client’s experiences will seem to a jury.
Be sure to watch our video series created for ABISS: (Acquired Brain Injury Survivors Solutions)