The moment your world stood still—the moment you discovered a loved one suffered a brain injury—is a moment you will never forget. It is a deeply personal and profoundly distressing event, a life-altering trauma that ripples through the entire family.
The emotional turmoil is overwhelming. But when you begin to suspect that this tragedy wasn't a random act of fate, but the direct result of a preventable medical error, a new layer of anguish takes hold.
You are likely consumed by a whirlwind of grief, anger, confusion, and a desperate need for answers. You are simultaneously trying to process this horror while fighting to support your family member through the most difficult recovery imaginable.
We want you to know this: your feelings are valid. Your questions deserve answers. Your family deserves justice.
This is not a journey you have to navigate alone.
At Shebell & Shebell, we provide a clear and compassionate path forward. We are here to help you understand how devastating medical mistakes can cause catastrophic brain damage and to outline the concrete steps you must take to care for your loved one and, critically, to protect your family’s future.
The most important thing to remember is that you are not alone. There are legal and financial resources ready to support you. Taking decisive action, especially by engaging a knowledgeable and dedicated brain injury lawyer, can empower you during this overwhelming time. It can ensure your loved one receives the financial support necessary for their extensive, lifelong needs.
At Shebell & Shebell, this is more than just a case. For us, it’s personal.
Our own Thomas F. Shebell III endured multiple brain surgeries as a child. He knows, firsthand, the fear, the uncertainty, and the long road to recovery. He has walked in shoes similar to yours and has stared at the hospital ceiling, counting the seconds for the pain to pass.
This deeply personal experience has forged in him an unbreakable connection to those affected by traumatic brain injuries and a relentless drive to hold negligent medical professionals accountable.
Your fight is our fight. Call Shebell & Shebell today at (732) 663-1122 for a free, no-obligation consultation. Let us be your advocate and your guide.
Table of Contents
- Understanding the Unthinkable: How Medical Negligence Causes Brain Injuries
- Birth Injuries from a Delayed Cesarean Section
- How Shebell & Shebell Guides You Through the Crisis: Your Step-by-Step Action Plan
- You Have the Right to Seek Justice. You Have the Right to Support.
Understanding the Unthinkable: How Medical Negligence Causes Brain Injuries
A brain injury can happen in an instant, but its consequences ripple out for a lifetime. When a healthcare provider's negligent action—or their inexcusable inaction—leads to such an injury, it is the definition of medical malpractice.
These are not just unfortunate accidents. They are often preventable events with devastating, life-shattering consequences. A family’s trust is placed in the hands of doctors and nurses, and when that trust is violated, the outcome can be catastrophic.
Here are some of the most common ways a medical error can result in a permanent brain injury:
Anesthesia Mistakes and Oxygen Deprivation
During any surgery, the anesthesiologist holds a patient's life in their hands. Their job is critical: to keep the patient safe, unconscious, and stable. A mistake in this delicate balance can lead to irreversible harm.
An overdose of anesthesia can suppress a person’s breathing and heart rate to dangerously low levels. This prevents vital, oxygen-rich blood from circulating through the body and reaching the brain.
Just as dangerous is a failure to properly monitor a patient's vital signs. The standard of care demands that the medical team constantly watches the patient's heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels. If these signs indicate a problem and the team does not act immediately, the brain is starved of oxygen.
This condition, known as anoxia or hypoxia, causes brain cells to die within minutes. This isn't an accident; it's a failure of the most basic duty of care, leading to permanent and severe brain damage. At Shebell & Shebell, we meticulously review anesthesia records and electronic monitoring data to uncover the truth of what happened in the operating room.
Failure to Provide a Clear Airway Through Intubation
When a person cannot breathe on their own—due to a medical emergency, a severe allergic reaction, or during surgery—inserting a breathing tube is a life-saving procedure. This process, called intubation, creates a direct, clear path for oxygen to reach the lungs.
A failure to perform this procedure correctly and swiftly is a profound medical error. A delay of even a few minutes can be catastrophic, as the brain simply cannot survive without a constant supply of oxygen.
Improper intubation is also incredibly dangerous. If the medical team accidentally places the breathing tube into the esophagus and stomach instead of the windpipe (trachea), no oxygen will reach the lungs. This error directly causes a brain injury while giving the false and deadly appearance that the patient has a secure airway. This is a "never event"—a mistake that should never happen in a medical setting.
Brain Injuries Caused by Preventable Medication Errors
Hospitals and clinics have multiple safety checks and protocols in place specifically to prevent medication errors, yet these devastating mistakes still happen.
Giving a patient the wrong medication or the wrong dosage can lead directly to a brain injury. Some medications can cause a patient’s heart to stop (cardiac arrest) or cause them to stop breathing (respiratory arrest). Other drugs might trigger a sudden and severe drop in blood pressure. In all these scenarios, the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain ceases, and damage begins.
These preventable mistakes can happen when a doctor prescribes the wrong drug, a pharmacist fills the prescription incorrectly, or a nurse administers a medication without double-checking the order, the drug, and the patient. The resulting brain damage is not an unavoidable side effect; it is a direct result of a catastrophic breakdown in patient safety protocols.
Birth Injuries from a Delayed Cesarean Section
A Cesarean section, or C-section, is a surgical procedure that is often essential for the safety of a baby during a difficult or complicated labor. When a baby shows signs of "fetal distress"—meaning their heart rate is dangerously low or erratically high—it is a clear signal that they are not getting enough oxygen through the umbilical cord.
In these emergency situations, doctors must act with speed and precision. A delay in the decision to perform a C-section can leave the baby deprived of oxygen for far too long. This deprivation can cause a devastating birth injury known as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which is a primary and preventable cause of lifelong conditions like cerebral palsy and other severe developmental disabilities.
Direct Trauma from Improper Use of Birthing Tools
Sometimes, during a difficult vaginal delivery, a doctor may need to use tools like forceps or a vacuum extractor to help guide the baby out of the birth canal. While these instruments can be life-saving when used correctly, they become dangerous weapons when used with too much force or in the wrong way.
A newborn's skull is incredibly soft and pliable. The improper placement of these tools or the use of excessive pulling force can cause skull fractures, bleeding on the brain (intracranial hemorrhage), or direct physical damage to the baby's delicate brain tissue. This type of direct trauma can result in a permanent, preventable brain injury that will alter the course of a child’s life forever.
Failure to Recognize and Respond to Fetal Distress
During labor and delivery, electronic fetal monitors are the standard of care used to track the baby’s heart rate and the mother's contractions. This continuous monitoring acts as a vital early warning system for any sign of distress.
A serious and unforgivable medical error occurs when nurses or doctors fail to pay adequate attention to these monitors, misinterpret the clear warning signs of distress, or see a problem but fail to act quickly enough. The entire purpose of the monitor is to allow the medical team to intervene before a brain injury occurs. When they fail in this duty, and a baby suffers a brain injury from lack of oxygen, it is a clear and catastrophic failure to provide the expected standard of care.
Delayed Diagnosis of Tumors, Infections, and Strokes
Some brain injuries are not caused by a single, sudden event but by a condition that is allowed to worsen over time due to a doctor's failure to make a timely diagnosis.
A brain tumor, for instance, can cause progressive damage by pressing on and destroying sensitive brain structures as it grows. An early diagnosis can lead to treatment that stops this from happening. A delayed diagnosis allows the tumor to grow larger, causing more irreversible harm and making treatment far more complex and dangerous.
In the same way, a serious infection like bacterial meningitis can cause massive swelling in the brain. If it is not diagnosed and treated with powerful antibiotics immediately, this swelling can lead to widespread and severe brain damage. Likewise, a failure to recognize the signs of a stroke and administer clot-busting drugs within the critical time window can turn a treatable event into a permanently disabling one.
Brain Injury from Direct Surgical Errors
Mistakes in the operating room are among the most shocking and harmful forms of medical negligence. When a surgeon operates on the brain, or even near the brain, there is absolutely no margin for error.
A mistake like operating on the wrong part of the brain can have obvious and catastrophic results. Other surgical errors can be just as damaging, such as a slip of a surgical instrument that damages a major blood vessel, leading to a severe bleed or stroke inside the brain.
Furthermore, the risk does not end when the surgery is over. A failure to properly manage a post-operative infection can lead to a brain abscess, and poor monitoring in the recovery room can fail to catch dangerous bleeding or swelling before it causes permanent, life-altering injury.
If any of these scenarios sound like what your family has endured, you have a right to seek answers and demand accountability.
Don’t wait. The time to act is now. Call Shebell & Shebell at (732) 663-1122 to protect your rights.
How Shebell & Shebell Guides You Through the Crisis: Your Step-by-Step Action Plan
After a loved one suffers a brain injury due to a medical mistake, the sheer number of tasks and worries can feel paralyzing. It’s easy to feel lost in a sea of medical jargon, hospital bureaucracy, and mounting bills.
We are here to provide the map and the compass. By breaking the process down into manageable steps, we help you regain a sense of control and ensure you are taking the right actions to protect your loved one and your family’s financial future.
Step 1: You Prioritize Your Loved One's Medical Care; We Handle the Rest
Your absolute, number-one priority is your loved one's health and well-being. This is where your energy should be focused.
- Ask Questions and Demand Answers: You have the right to understand every aspect of your loved one's care. Never be afraid to ask doctors and nurses to explain things in simple, clear terms. If you don't understand something, make them repeat it. We encourage our clients to keep a dedicated notebook to write down the answers.
- Seek a Second Opinion: You are always within your rights to have another qualified doctor review your loved one's case. A fresh perspective can be invaluable.
- Follow the Treatment Plan: Work closely with the medical team to ensure your loved one receives all recommended therapies and treatments. This is a long and challenging road, but consistent, quality care is essential for maximizing recovery.
While you focus on care, our legal team at Shebell & Shebell gets to work handling the immense burden of the legal and financial fight. You take care of your family; we take care of the fight for justice.
Step 2: We Gather and Organize All Medical Records for You
Your loved one's medical records are the most critical piece of evidence in a medical negligence claim. But collecting them can be a frustrating and time-consuming bureaucratic nightmare.
You don't have to do it alone. Our firm takes on the entire responsibility of requesting, collecting, and organizing every single page of these records. We obtain everything from every hospital, clinic, and doctor involved in your loved one's care. This includes:
- Doctor's notes and detailed reports
- All nurses' notes, which often contain crucial minute-by-minute details
- All diagnostic test results (MRIs, CT scans, blood work, fetal monitor strips, etc.)
- Medication administration records
- Anesthesia and surgical reports
- Every single billing statement
We don’t just collect these records; we have them scrutinized by a network of trusted medical experts to pinpoint exactly where the standard of care was breached.
Step 3: We Help You Document Your Journey
We will guide you in keeping a detailed journal to document everything related to your loved one's injury and recovery. This journal becomes an invaluable tool for your case, painting a clear picture of the day-to-day impact of the injury. We will advise you to include details such as:
- Daily Observations: Note any and all changes in your loved one's physical abilities, cognitive function, memory, mood, and behavior. No detail is too small.
- Medical Appointments: Record the date of every appointment, the people you spoke with, and the details of what was discussed.
- Log All Expenses: Keep a running log of every single expense related to the injury. This includes medical bills, co-pays, prescription costs, travel and parking for appointments, home modifications, and any lost wages for family members who have had to stop working to provide care.
- Conversations: Write down the details of any conversations you have with doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and especially insurance companies.
Your story is powerful evidence. We help you tell it in a way that builds the strongest case possible.
Step 4: Securing Your Family’s Financial Future
The long-term cost of care for a person with a severe brain injury is astronomical. According to Northwestern University, the lifetime cost can range from $85,000 for a "mild" injury to over $3 million for a severe one.
Your loved one may need:
- Lifelong medical treatments and future surgeries
- Intensive rehabilitation (physical, occupational, and speech therapy)
- 24/7 in-home nursing care
- Specialized medical equipment
- Costly home and vehicle modifications
- Vocational retraining
The financial strain can destroy a family. This is why a medical negligence claim is so profoundly important. It's not about revenge or punishment; it is about securing the financial compensation your family needs and deserves to cover the staggering costs of your loved one's care for the rest of their life. It is about ensuring your loved one has the resources to live the fullest, most comfortable, and most dignified life possible.
Step 5: Contacting Shebell & Shebell Immediately
This is the single most critical step you can take to protect your family's future. An experienced brain injury lawyer who specializes in medical negligence claims will become your strongest advocate and your fiercest champion.
Here's why engaging our firm is so important:
- We Understand the Complex Laws: Medical malpractice cases in New Jersey are governed by specific, complex laws and procedures. We know how to build a powerful, evidence-based case and navigate every aspect of the legal system.
- We Have the Resources: Shebell & Shebell, a firm helping injured victims since 1927, has a vast network of top-tier medical professionals who will review your loved one's records and provide expert testimony about how the medical error occurred and the true extent of the brain injury.
- We Handle All Paperwork and Deadlines: There are strict time limits, known as the statute of limitations, for filing a medical malpractice claim in New Jersey. We also handle the crucial "Affidavit of Merit," a document required by New Jersey law where a qualified medical expert must formally state that your case has merit. We track and meet every deadline, so you don't have to.
- We Confront the Hospital and Insurance Companies: You have enough to worry about. The last thing you need is the stress of dealing with hospital administrators and aggressive insurance adjusters whose only goal is to minimize or deny your claim. Our team handles all of these communications for you. We become your shield.
When you call us, you will receive a free, confidential consultation to review your case. This is your opportunity to ask us anything, understand your legal options, and see why families have trusted Shebell & Shebell for generations.
Step 6: We Help You Access Every Available Resource
In addition to your legal claim, other resources may be available to help your family. We help you identify and navigate these systems. For example, the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund in New Jersey provides financial assistance to families with children who have significant medical bills not covered by insurance.
You Have the Right to Seek Justice. You Have the Right to Support.
The road ahead may be long and arduous, but you do not have to walk it alone.
By taking these steps with a trusted legal partner by your side, you can ensure that you are doing everything in your power to provide the best care for your loved one while securing the critical financial resources your family will need to face the future.
Remember, the most empowering action you can take right now is to reach out to a dedicated brain injury attorney who will guide you through this difficult time with compassion, strength, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
Thomas F. Shebell III and our entire legal team are here to be your partners in this fight. We will seek the justice you deserve and the lifelong support your loved one requires.
Your story deserves to be heard. Your family deserves to be whole again. Call Shebell & Shebell now at (732) 663-1122 for a free and confidential case evaluation.