Lawyer Shares How Brain Injury Ended Career, Changed His Perspective
Struck on the head when a heavy piece of camera equipment fell on him as he was attending a music festival with his girlfriend, a Texas lawyer went to the emergency room, got stitched up and initially thought he had simply suffered a flesh wound.
Then, a few days after the March 19, 2011 accident, Patrick Fagerberg, now 42, began having difficulty speaking even in short sentences. His emotions changed, too, he and his girlfriend say; he was distant with her and made some impulsive decisions that obviously weren’t good choices, they tell Texas Lawyer.
A well-known figure in Austin courtrooms, Fagerberg had to stop practicing law because he could no longer represent clients adequately. Eventually, he was diagnosed with an injury to his frontal lobe, which controls both mental processes such as concentration and thinking and emotions.
Like many solos, he had opted not to purchase long-term disability coverage; the only really disabling injury to an attorney is a brain injury, a relatively rare event for a lawyer. He is, however, pursuing a tort claim over the accident, something he had thought he would never be involved in as a plaintiff, the article recounts.
Lawyers for the defendants in the 201st District Court case either did not return Texas Lawyer’s phone calls or declined to comment. Copies of the complaint (PDF) and responses by five defendants are linked to the article.
Fagerberg has two brothers who are lawyers, and turned over his practice to one of them. Now he is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. His doctor tells Texas Lawyer he has treated several attorneys for brain injuries, and they often struggle considerably with no longer being as bright as they were and having to come to terms with an average existence in which they can no longer get emotional satisfaction from being unusually successful.
Fagerberg says he has come to grips with this issue: “I looked at myself and I said, ‘All right man. It’s not money. It’s not cars. It’s about making people’s lives better.’ And that is what really makes me happy.”
Last updated Feb. 22 to revise the headline.
