EXPERIENCED PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER SERVING ALL OF TEXAS
Written by Geoffrey Dashner. Read more about the author.
Every week, someone calls our office a few months after a serious accident and says some version of the same thing: “The doctors say he’s doing well, so we thought maybe we didn’t need a lawyer.” Then they describe memory problems, personality changes, chronic headaches, and an inability to return to work. The injury looked survivable on paper. The reality is more complicated.
Traumatic brain injuries are not like broken bones. A fracture heals on a predictable schedule. A TBI doesn’t follow one. At Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney, we represent families across North Texas who are living through that gap between what they were told and what they’re actually experiencing. If you or someone you love suffered a brain injury in an accident, understanding the medical facts matters just as much as understanding your legal rights — and the two are more connected than most people realize.
Can Someone Fully Recover From a Traumatic Brain Injury in Irving?
This is the question every family asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on the severity of the injury, the speed of treatment, the quality of rehabilitation, and factors that medicine still doesn’t fully understand.
For mild TBIs — including most concussions — the majority of people recover functional baseline within a few weeks to three months, according to Mayo Clinic. Rest, gradual return to activity, and monitoring are the standard approach. Most of these patients do return to work and daily life without permanent deficits.
Moderate TBIs are more unpredictable. Some people recover nearly completely. Others are left with cognitive deficits, fatigue, mood disorders, or physical impairments that last years — or permanently. The NIH has published research showing that a significant portion of moderate TBI patients still report disability one year post-injury.
Severe TBIs — those involving prolonged unconsciousness, significant structural brain damage, or diffuse axonal injury — carry a much lower probability of full recovery. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, severe TBI survivors often require long-term care, and many plateau at a functional level well below their pre-injury baseline. “Full recovery” in the clinical sense — returning to exactly who you were before — is rare.
What does this mean for someone injured in Irving? It means early, aggressive treatment matters. It means access to neurologists, neuropsychologists, and certified rehabilitation programs matters. And it means the legal case matters, because the cost of lifetime care for a severe TBI can exceed several million dollars. Settling too early, before the injury’s long-term trajectory is clear, can leave a family paying out of pocket for care that should have been covered by the at-fault party.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury is damage to the brain caused by an external physical force — a blow, jolt, or penetrating injury that disrupts normal brain function. The CDC classifies TBIs by severity: mild, moderate, and severe. Severity is typically assessed using the Glasgow Coma Scale, duration of unconsciousness, and duration of post-traumatic amnesia.
What separates a TBI from other head injuries is the effect on brain tissue itself. The brain can sustain bruising (contusion), bleeding (hemorrhage), tearing of nerve fibers (diffuse axonal injury), or swelling that cuts off oxygen. Some of these effects appear immediately on imaging. Others — particularly diffuse axonal injury — may not show up on a standard CT scan at all, which is one reason TBIs are routinely underdiagnosed in emergency settings.
In my experience handling Texas brain injury cases, the injuries most likely to be missed in the first 24 to 48 hours are the ones that look minor on imaging but cause significant cognitive and emotional symptoms weeks later. Clients come to us saying the ER “cleared” them, and yet they can’t concentrate at work, they’re snapping at their children, or they’re sleeping 12 hours a day and still exhausted. That is a brain injury.
Is a Concussion a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Yes. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. The word “mild” refers to the level of initial loss of consciousness, not to the impact on a person’s life.
This distinction matters legally and medically. Insurance adjusters and defense attorneys in Texas will sometimes argue that a concussion is “just a bump on the head” and not a compensable injury. That framing is wrong. WebMD and major neurological organizations define concussion as a TBI that temporarily — and sometimes permanently — alters brain function.
Post-concussion syndrome affects roughly 15 to 30 percent of people who suffer a concussion, according to published medical literature. Symptoms including headaches, cognitive fog, light sensitivity, sleep disruption, and depression can persist for months or years. In some cases, particularly with repeated concussions, the effects are permanent.
If you suffered a concussion in a car accident, a fall, or any other incident caused by someone else’s negligence, do not let anyone minimize it. Document your symptoms daily. Follow up with a neurologist, not just a general practitioner. And talk to a brain injury compensation lawyer before accepting any settlement offer.
What Causes Traumatic Brain Injury in Texas Accidents?
Texas roads, job sites, and public spaces produce TBIs at rates that reflect both the state’s size and its culture. The most common causes we see in our practice:
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause. Texas had over 15,000 serious injury crashes in 2025, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro — which includes Irving — consistently accounts for a disproportionate share. Highway 183, SH-114, and the LBJ Freeway corridor see high-speed impacts that generate the kind of rapid acceleration-deceleration forces that cause diffuse axonal injury. Our Texas car accident attorneys handle these cases regularly. Texas truck accident collisions are particularly dangerous — an 80,000-pound semi hitting a passenger vehicle at highway speed transfers enormous force to the brain, even with an airbag deployed.
Falls are the second most common cause nationally and among the most common we see in premises liability cases. A slip on an unmarked wet floor, a fall from scaffolding on a construction site, or a trip over an uneven surface can send a person’s head into concrete with enough force to cause a serious TBI. Under Texas law, property owners have a duty to maintain reasonably safe conditions, and when they fail that duty, they can be held liable. Our Texas premises liability attorneys handle these claims.
Pedestrian accidents produce some of the most severe TBIs we handle. A pedestrian hit by a vehicle has no protection between their skull and the vehicle or the pavement. Texas pedestrian accident cases frequently involve catastrophic brain injuries.
Motorcycle accidents follow a similar pattern. Even helmeted riders can sustain severe TBIs in high-speed crashes. Texas motorcycle accident cases involving brain injury require expert medical testimony to establish the full extent of the damage.
Workplace incidents, including falls from height, being struck by equipment, and explosions at industrial facilities, also produce a steady number of TBI cases in North Texas.
What Are the Long-Term Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury?
This section could fill a textbook. I’ll focus on what clients actually face years after the acute injury.
Cognitive changes are the most pervasive. Deficits in memory, processing speed, attention, and executive function affect employment, relationships, and quality of life. Many moderate-to-severe TBI survivors cannot return to their pre-injury occupation. A 45-year-old engineer who managed complex projects may no longer be able to reliably handle sequential tasks, manage deadlines, or retain new information.
Emotional and psychiatric effects are underappreciated and often emerge after the physical symptoms have stabilized. Depression, anxiety, irritability, impulsivity, and personality changes are well-documented sequelae. Rates of depression after TBI are roughly two to three times higher than in the general population, per research cited by the NIH. Families frequently describe their injured loved one as “a different person” — that is not a metaphor; it reflects actual changes in brain structure and chemistry.
Chronic pain and sensory disturbances — persistent headaches, tinnitus, visual disturbances, and vestibular problems — affect a significant portion of moderate-to-severe TBI survivors and can persist indefinitely.
Increased risk of neurodegenerative disease is a serious long-term concern. Research indicates that TBI survivors face elevated risk for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) compared to the general population. This is an area of active research, but the evidence is strong enough that it must be factored into the lifetime damages analysis in a Texas brain injury lawsuit.
Seizure disorders develop in a portion of TBI survivors, particularly those with penetrating injuries or hemorrhage. Epilepsy following TBI requires ongoing medication management and restricts the person’s ability to drive, work in certain industries, and live independently.
When I build a damages case for a brain-injured client, I work with life care planners and neuropsychological experts to calculate the real cost of these long-term effects. A settlement that covers only the first year of treatment and some pain and suffering is inadequate. The goal is to account for the trajectory of the injury across the rest of the client’s life.
How to Care for Someone With a Traumatic Brain Injury?
If you are the spouse, parent, or adult child of someone with a moderate or severe TBI, the caregiving role is unlike almost anything else. Here is what I tell families based on what I have seen work and what gets people into serious trouble.
Follow the treatment team’s guidance, but advocate aggressively. Inpatient rehabilitation discharge timelines are often driven by insurance coverage, not medical readiness. Know what your policy covers, appeal denials quickly, and document every conversation with the insurance company. Under Texas law and federal insurance regulations, you have rights in that process. If necessary, get a patient advocate involved early.
Neuropsychological testing is essential. A general neurologist may clear a patient from the acute phase, but neuropsychological testing — which measures cognitive function in detail — is what actually documents the disability. Without that testing, the legal case is harder to prove and the rehabilitation plan lacks a baseline. Push for it within the first three to six months post-injury.
Protect the legal record from day one. Keep a symptom journal. Photograph the accident scene if possible. Save every medical bill, every explanation of benefits, every communication with insurance. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company — yours or the at-fault party’s — without speaking to a traumatic brain injury attorney first. What seems like an innocuous statement early in the case can be used to minimize the injury later.
Understand caregiver burnout. The emotional and physical toll on family caregivers of TBI survivors is severe. Studies published in peer-reviewed medical literature consistently show high rates of depression, anxiety, and social isolation among TBI caregivers. Build a support network. Use respite care when available. And make sure that the legal compensation being sought accounts for the caregiver’s lost time, lost income, and labor — because under Texas law, those damages are recoverable.
Get legal advice before the statute of limitations runs. In Texas, the general statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of the injury. There are exceptions, but they are narrow. Waiting to “see how the recovery goes” before consulting a lawyer is one of the most common and costly mistakes families make.
Why the Legal Case Is Part of the Recovery?
People sometimes compartmentalize the medical and legal sides of a brain injury. In practice, they are connected. Adequate compensation is what funds the rehabilitation, the in-home care, the neuropsychological evaluations, and the accommodations that make recovery possible. A settlement that falls short doesn’t just affect finances — it affects outcomes.
At Dashner Law Firm | Irving Injury & Accident Attorney, we handle brain injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Our team has experience working with the medical experts, life care planners, and accident reconstruction professionals needed to build a case that reflects the full scope of the injury — not just the emergency room bill. You can read about client outcomes in our verdicts and settlements.
The American Bar Association and legal resources like FindLaw and Justia all emphasize that TBI cases are among the most complex in personal injury law — both because of the medical evidence required and because the long-term damages calculation demands expertise in areas most general practitioners don’t have.
We serve clients throughout Texas, but our Irving office is positioned to respond quickly to families in the Dallas-Fort Worth area at the moment they need help most.
Talk to a Brain Injury Attorney in Irving Today
If someone you love suffered a brain injury in an accident anywhere in Texas, the time to act is now — not after you’ve seen “how the recovery goes.” Evidence disappears. Insurance companies move fast. And the decisions made in the first weeks after an injury have consequences that last years.
Contact us for a free consultation. We’ll review the facts of your case, explain your options honestly, and tell you whether we think pursuing a claim makes sense — without pressure and without cost.
Call our team today at (972) 635-4460. Visit our Irving office at 4500 Fuller Dr, Irving, TX 75038. Or visit our Texas personal injury attorneys page to learn more about how we handle cases across the state.
Brain injuries change lives. The legal process won’t undo that. But handled correctly, it can make sure the financial burden of that change doesn’t fall on the family that least deserves to carry it.
