How Long Do You Have to See a Doctor After an Auto Accident
If you or someone you know were seriously injured in an auto accident, the obvious answer to that question is to see a doctor “immediately.” But there are more cases than you would expect in which a driver or a passenger might not seek medical attention immediately after an auto accident.
The variety of injuries someone could suffer in a car crash is almost endless. Many crashes are so severe that they threaten the victim’s survival. Others are less severe but still result in injuries that may or may not be apparent at the time of the accident.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), auto accidents send 2.3 million people to the hospital for emergency medical care every year. What’s missing from these statistics is the number of people who did not go to the hospital after an auto accident.
Best Medical Advice — Get Checked Out by a Doctor No Matter What.
The human body is a remarkable organism. An example of its extraordinary ability is the reaction we have when we meet with a sudden danger or threat. We call it the “fight or flight” response. As a means of protecting us from harm, our nervous system triggers the release of hormones when we confront a frightful or harmful situation. The adrenaline we feel serves as a jolt of energy so we can either stay and deal with the crisis (fight) or run away to escape (flight).
When someone is in an automobile accident, the surge of adrenaline acts to strengthen them, to help them react to the emergency. Very often, though, that same shot of adrenaline that helps someone endure the immediate shock also masks the pain associated with injuries that are not obvious. Then, sometime later when the accident victim calms down, the sensations of pain become clearer.
Everyone who is involved in an automobile accident should seek medical attention within 72 hours of the crash. Whether or not you think you are injured, a doctor should examine you to determine if you suffered injuries you are not aware of.
Don’t try to be brave and think an accident-related injury is too minor to warrant medical attention.
Are you a doctor? Do you know what internal bleeding feels like? Do you know if you suffered a traumatic brain injury or a concussion? Do you know what post-concussion syndrome is? That’s why you need to visit a doctor to be examined as soon as possible.
Best Legal Advice — The Importance of Reporting Every Accident
Some people think that they don’t need to report what appear to be minor accidents to the police. While it may not be legally required to do so in every state, failing to report what you think is a minor accident could complicate your ability to get compensation for an injury you don’t immediately recognize.
Why does it make a difference whether you do or don’t report the accident? If your injured, shouldn’t you be able to be compensated? Yes, you should be compensated for every injury caused in an auto accident regardless of whether you reported it. But if there is no report that the accident occurred, your lawyer will have a more difficult time proving that your injury was caused by the collision.
Causation Must Be Proved
Everyone understands that you can seek compensation if you are injured in an accident. But, to collect for your damages under American law, the person seeking compensation needs to establish a “causal connection” between the crash and the injury. If no one reported the accident, then the other driver’s insurer can question when and where the accident occurred. Without a police report, what evidence will show the position of the vehicles, or the road conditions, or the weather or lighting conditions?
The more time that passes before an accident victim seeks medical attention or reports the accident, the more difficult the job will be of the personal injury attorney trying to help get them compensation for their injuries.
An Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer is Important
A skilled personal injury attorney can overcome problems created by a victim’s failure to report an accident. At The Clauson Law Firm, our experience enables us to keep resources available that we can activate in cases that present special challenges. When an accident victim did not report an accident or seek medical care immediately, Clauson Law can conduct a thorough investigation, perform witness interviews, seek available photographs, and use your own testimony. But each of those information sources is open to challenge by the opposing counsel or insurance company.
Give our Clauson Law attorneys and staff the tools we need to get you the maximum financial compensation you deserve. Report the accident and seek medical care.
Hidden Injuries
Hidden injuries often referred to as latent injuries, are those injuries you may not even know you suffered when you were in an accident. Many people, especially men who think our society expects them to be able to tolerate a little pain without complaining, try to live with what they think is “just a little soreness.” That soreness is a sign of real injury.
Delaying a visit to a doctor following an automobile accident can even cause you to suffer further injury. Some accident victims can suffer a bone fracture that doesn’t feel like a broken bone. But if left unset, fractured bones can heal improperly and result in reduced range-of-motion and mobility issues. Mild concussions if undetected and untreated can lead to blurred vision, sleep disturbance, depression, and other disorders.
Soft tissue injuries may sound unremarkable and unworthy of immediate medical treatment. But untreated ligament, tendon, or muscle injury in a knee can lead to joint instability, and even collapse.
Not Getting Medical Attention is a Big Mistake
First, as we noted above, failing to see a doctor as soon as possible after an auto accident is a risk to your health. That is and always remains the most important consideration.
Second, if you were injured in an accident caused by another driver’s negligence, you want to ensure that you preserve your rights to recover compensation for those injuries. By visiting a doctor immediately, you create a definitive record of the medically diagnosed injuries. The medical record will detail your complaints and the location of your pain. X-rays and test results will illustrate and quantify the extent to which your injuries can be measured.
Follow Your Doctor’s Directions – Keep Appointments with Your Doctors and Therapists
Once you do seek medical care for an injury suffered in an auto accident, you must follow the advice the doctor gives you. Many accident victims comply with the doctor’s directions in the initial stages of recovery but then begin to slack off as they begin to feel a bit better.
It’s important to remember that your goal is not just to feel better than you did when you were at your worst. The goal is to recover completely, to resume the state of good health and vitality you lived with before you were injured.
In cases of back injuries, where a victim’s injury involves a fracture to the vertebrae, a herniated disc, or a severe muscle injury, the patient requires physical therapy to maximize the extent of improvement they can achieve. These sessions are prescribed so the patient can regain full functionality in the injured tissue.
When a personal injury lawyer represents an injured client, the lawyer uses all the facts and the records to persuade an insurer to pay the highest compensation possible. Often, the sad fact is that many accident victims continue to have residual pain or disability for many years. Insurers, who are trying to pay as little in compensation as possible, will also use the facts they favor and the records they choose to try to diminish the value of the injury claim.
When you miss doctor’s appointments or neglect to maintain the prescribed therapy regimen, the insurer can argue that your continuing symptoms or limitations would be improved if only you followed the therapy the doctor ordered.
Missed doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions can be used against you to diminish your compensation, to argue that the pain is not as bad as you claim, or that you are delaying your recovery by ignoring your doctor’s directions.
Never Too Late to See the Doctor
Seeking medical attention immediately following an auto accident is by far the most helpful thing an injury victim can do to assist their lawyer in getting them the highest amount of compensation possible.
But a long-delayed doctor’s examination is not necessarily fatal to a personal injury claim. It may be that the nature of the injury is such that it lay dormant, or that the long-suffering victim made the pain from the injury well known to several people who could so testify. A delayed report or postponed medical care makes your personal injury lawyer’s work more difficult. That’s why your lawyer needs to be experienced, hard-working, and have the resources to overcome unusual obstacles to win your case.
