Accident victims sometimes delay or entirely forego seeing a doctor. This often happens in car crashes in which the victim apparently suffered minor injuries or none at all. Even after accidents in which the injuries are fairly substantial, the victim might not see a doctor for some time, if at all. Delaying or refusing to see a doctor could jeopardize more than just your health. You might also pass up on the full amount of monetary compensation you deserve for your injuries. Text Kevin Accident Attorneys work hard to seek the damages that California car accident victims need.
Delayed Treatments Could Be Damaging To Your Health
Many people assume that the worst injuries are sustained during and immediately after a car accident. For some victims, this is true. But there are also a number of injuries which have delayed symptoms, meaning they won’t necessarily show up until hours or even days after the wreck happened. Some examples include:
- Back and neck injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Internal bleeding
- Internal organ damage
- Muscle and soft tissue injuries
- Whiplash
Not all injuries are physical in nature, a fact which again leads many victims to incorrectly believe they haven’t really been hurt (or hurt that much). Victims can develop psychological and emotional injuries such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. But it may take a while before they realize these conditions are present.
Failing to see a medical professional could unnecessarily aggravate the above and other injuries. Even if you think your injuries are minor or non-existent, let a doctor make that determination and set you on the right treatment path.
Skipping the Doctor’s Office Might Harm Your Legal Case
The other reason to see a healthcare professional is that failure to do so might damage your ability to seek the full amount of compensation you deserve from the at-fault party. When victims delay seeing a doctor, this gives the insurance company a justification to either deny the accident claim or pay very little on it. That’s because the insurers might blame the victim for aggravating his or her own injuries. Incredibly, the insurer may even assert that something or someone else caused them.
The more time that passes between the accident itself and treatment for it, the more it becomes plausible that either the victim’s delay or some other intervening cause was responsible. The insurer can raise questions with a skeptical jury: if the injuries were so bad, why did the victim wait so long to see a doctor? What else or who else might have caused harm to the victim? If the victim doesn’t see the doctor at all, this might invalidate any demand for compensation.
How To Protect the Value of Your Accident Claim
After a car accident, see a doctor as soon as you can. If your injuries are especially grave, you may need an ambulance or some other way to get to the emergency room. But you should never assume that either you weren’t injured or your injuries are negligible. In the hours and days that follow you could suffer substantial damage to your body that requires more medical assistance than you would have originally needed. This, in turn, might translate to significant medical bills, lost time from work, lost earning capacity, non-economic damages like emotional distress, and more.
Be sure to follow all doctor recommendations as well. Take any prescribed medications, see any specialists to whom you are referred, and make sure you attend all follow-up appointments. Keep your doctor updated about your medical condition and ask any questions you have about your treatments. By taking these steps, it will be more difficult for the attorneys and insurance companies representing the at-fault driver to try to shift blame to you.
If you’re in California, Text Kevin Accident Attorneys can help you seek the compensation you deserve for your accident. There are other important steps you need to take to protect your claim, such as filing a police accident report. To learn more about these critical steps or to get started with your case, call our office today.