Brain Injury Awareness and Estate Planning
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. The campaign supports people affected by brain injuries, promotes education, challenges stigmas, and draws attention to the resources available to survivors and their families.
A brain injury can change a person’s health, independence, finances, and ability to make decisions. It can also require family members to adjust to a “new normal.” Along with learning about prevention and support, Brain Injury Awareness Month is an important reminder to consider who could make medical and financial decisions if an injury leaves you unable to act for yourself.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury, often referred to as a TBI, is an injury that affects how the brain works.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a TBI may be caused by:
- A bump, blow, or jolt to the head
- An injury that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth
- A penetrating injury to the head
A TBI can range from mild to severe. A mild TBI is commonly called a concussion.
There are also acquired brain injuries that are not caused by an external impact. These injuries may result from a stroke, lack of oxygen, disease, poisoning, a hereditary condition, or another internal medical event.
Brain injuries affect not only survivors but also the family members and caregivers who help them adjust to changes in health, behavior, mobility, employment, and daily life.
Why Is Brain Injury Awareness Month Important?
Brain Injury Awareness Month encourages education about brain injuries and the experiences of survivors.
The campaign seeks to:
- Reduce the stigma associated with brain injury
- Empower people who have survived brain injuries
- Help families and caregivers find support
- Promote brain injury organizations and resources
- Encourage prevention
- Raise funds for research, education, and assistance
- Give survivors an opportunity to share their experiences
A better understanding of brain injury can make it easier for survivors and their families to find support and feel less isolated.
Why Are Older Adults at Risk of Brain Injury?
Falls are a major cause of traumatic brain injuries, particularly among older adults. The risk of a serious injury and an unfavorable outcome generally increases with age.
The CDC identifies falls as the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries. Older adults age 75 and above also have some of the highest rates of TBI-related hospitalization and death.
Fall prevention is therefore an important part of brain injury prevention, particularly for people who plan to age in place.
How Does the STEADI Initiative Help Prevent Falls?
The CDC developed the Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries initiative, commonly known as STEADI.
STEADI provides tools and resources that help health care providers:
- Identify older adults who may be at risk of falling
- Assess individual fall-risk factors
- Recommend strategies to reduce those risks
- Help patients and caregivers prevent fall-related injuries
Strategies may include reviewing medications, evaluating vision, addressing weakness or balance problems, improving footwear, and removing hazards from the home.
Lightweight wearable sensors may also help identify changes in gait and other activities of daily living. These technologies could become another useful tool for preventing falls among older adults, including those who choose to age in place.
How Can You Support Brain Injury Awareness?
You have already taken one step by learning more about brain injuries.
Other ways to support Brain Injury Awareness Month include:
- Sharing educational information on social media
- Donating to a credible brain injury organization
- Holding a community fundraiser
- Inviting a speaker to your workplace, place of worship, or service organization
- Attending an educational workshop or awareness event
- Volunteering with an organization that supports survivors
- Distributing reliable educational materials
- Helping an individual or family affected by a brain injury
If you have survived a brain injury, you may also choose to tell your story. The Brain Injury Association of America invites survivors, family members, caregivers, and friends to share their experiences.
Sharing these experiences helps others understand that they are not alone. It may also provide useful insight, advice, and support. A caring community can help solve problems, reduce stigma, and promote brain injury prevention.
Why Does Estate Planning Matter After a Brain Injury?
A brain injury may affect a person’s ability to make or communicate decisions about medical care, money, property, and personal needs.
An estate plan can identify:
- Who may make medical decisions if you cannot
- Who may manage your finances and property
- What types of medical care you want or do not want
- How your needs should be met during incapacity
- How family members and caregivers can access the authority they need
These instructions can reduce uncertainty and help prevent disagreements during an already difficult time.
Legal documents generally must be completed while a person has the necessary capacity to understand and sign them. If an injury has already occurred, an attorney should evaluate what planning options remain available based on the individual’s condition and circumstances.
Which Legal Documents Can Help After a Brain Injury?
At a minimum, an estate plan should address medical and financial decision-making during incapacity.
Advance Directive
An advance directive allows you to state your preferences for medical care and name a trusted person to make health care decisions if you are unable to make or communicate those decisions yourself.
Durable Financial Power of Attorney
A durable financial power of attorney allows you to name an agent to handle financial and property matters on your behalf.
Under Maryland law, a durable power of attorney may continue despite the principal’s later disability or incapacity. The authority granted to the agent depends on the document’s terms.
Will or Trust
A will or trust can provide instructions for managing and distributing property. A trust may also offer a structure for managing assets during incapacity, depending on how it is drafted and funded.
These documents serve different purposes and should be coordinated as part of the same estate plan.
When Should You Review Your Estate Plan?
Do not wait for a brain injury or another medical emergency to begin planning.
Review your estate plan if:
- You do not have an advance directive or financial power of attorney
- Your chosen decision-makers are no longer appropriate
- Your health or family circumstances have changed
- Your documents were created many years ago
- You have moved to another state
- A loved one has experienced a brain injury or debilitating condition
- Your existing plan does not address incapacity
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury or another debilitating injury, McDonald Law Firm can discuss how an estate plan may help address present and future needs.
Andre O. McDonald is a Howard County, Montgomery County, and District of Columbia estate planning, special needs planning, and Medicaid planning attorney.
Call 443-741-1088, 301-941-7809, or 202-640-2133 to schedule a consultation.
DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION POSTED ON THIS BLOG IS INTENDED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY LEGAL, INSURANCE, OR TAX ADVICE.
