6 Reasons to get checked out by a Doctor if you are in an accident
After a auto accident, it is important for you to get checked out by a doctor if you have any discomfort, pain, or injury. Auto accidents can be a traumatic experience that can unleash your body’s defenses to mask pain. In some accident patients, they will tell the doctor that the pain did not happen right away, it took days or even weeks. There are a number of reasons you need to get checked out after you have been involved in an auto crash.
Car accidents can be either catastrophic and cause a lot of trauma or minor and cause soft tissue injury. But, in order to ascertain that there is no injury or lasting effect after a car accident, you should get checked out by a doctor.
Sometimes we can suffer injuries during accidents that we are not even aware of. Medically, your health is the most important thing so it is imperative that you go to the emergency room as soon as possible to make sure there are no serious injuries.
Why you should see a doctor after a car accident
It’s quite simple really. You should see a doctor after a car wreck to prove your injury came from the accident. If you never see one, or wait too long, you may not ever have any chance at recovering a settlement for your medical expenses. In order to prove your case, a lawyer needs documentation. If you never go see a doctor, you don’t have the documentation that is so critical for proving a case.
1-You could be hurt and not know it
I’m sure people read this and laugh. Insurance companies read it and don’t believe it. But the fact is, this is true. You could have injuries for which you feel no pain at all. Your pain may start the day, days, or even weeks after a car wreck. Your body may release endorphins and adrenaline after a car wreck.
This is your body’s natural pain killers at work. It is possible for you to be hurt and not even know it. Get to the doctor ASAP, if you are not hurt at least you will have peace of mind, if you are hurt, you can start your medical care ASAP and limit your recovery time.
Some injuries you may sustain that may not present themselves right away
- Whiplash
- Closed type head injuries
- Soft tissue injures
It’s always clear if you have a broken bone, however it is not always clear if you have soft tissue injuries. If you go to the ER, chances are they will do X-rays and if they don’t see anything broken, they will cut you loose with prescriptions. Just because the emergency room sends you home, does not mean you are not hurt.
Soft tissue injuries may not show up in X RAYS. Further diagnostic’s would be needed to see if you had sustained soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue injuries are not what the ER would consider a life threatening issues.
2-Medical Issues
Sometimes many injuries do not even manifest until hours or days after an accident. It can take some time for some symptoms to surface. There are chemicals and hormones in our body that disable us to feel pain due to the high levels of stress or adrenaline. You could have hit your head or suffered an injury to the spinal cord, you may not even realize it.
Whether the accident is serious or not, injuries can still occur so you should pay attention to what signs your body is showing you and get a check up from a doctor who treats auto injuries.
3-Delayed Pain or onset of injury
I’m sure we have all laughed at people who said they were hurt in an accident days or weeks after the fact. The truth is, this happens quite frequently. Soft tissue injuries unlike broken bones in some cases don’t present themselves right away. If you do something that you have not done in quite some time or exercise a group of muscles that don’t get much of a workout, when are you sore?
Are you sore while you are doing it, or hours, days later. Soft tissue may no present themselves at the time of the accident, you may feel stiffness but no pain. The pain may come later. If you have been involved in auto accident and feel stiffness, pain, or discomfort, go see a doctor right away.
Hours, Days, or weeks
Many accidents can cause injuries that are immediately noticeable, but some take hours or even days to show. However, the most common injuries that are caused by car accidents are to the spine or neck. The car wreck can cause injury to your neck and back. These injuries could include muscle sprains, neck pain, back pain, spinal disc damage, whiplash, etc.. The clear signs of any injury could be numbness, swelling, stiffness and pain.
If you also have trouble in moving your neck and back then that could also mean you have a soft tissue injury. Some symptoms are not as obvious like headaches, numbness or tingling sensation, but they should still be checked by a doctor or physician.
You may be on the lookout for some serious pain, and that could take a bit of time to surface. But you should make sure that any insignificant discomfort such as soreness should also not be ignored. A simple headache could be an indication of a concussion, and other small aches could indicate some other injury. As mentioned above, some injuries may take some time to be visible or noticeable. It is necessary to go to a doctor after an accident and get checked out , whether the auto accident was big or small.
4-Legal Issues
If you had a car accident and it was the other driver’s fault then to be able to have a medical claim, it is important for you to get checked out by a doctor quickly after the accident occurs. If you had an car accident that was your fault, you still should get checked out by a doctor.
For example, you get into a car accident, and some other driver has hit you. Whether it was a serious collision or not, your priority should be to make sure you have no injuries due to their negligence. If you feel any amount of pain or discomfort, you should go and get a doctor to check you out immediately.
Insurance adjuster
Insurance companies may not accept medical claims that are made if the affected person did not seek medical attention immediately after the accident. Furthermore, they could argue that if it was serious and you suffered an injury due to the accident, then you would have gone to get it checked out by a doctor.
These are small but significant legal details that everyone should know. If you go get checked out by a doctor sometime after the accident, then they could argue the injury in question did not occur during the accident but was rather self-induced. And, happened somewhere else. Or, is being exaggerated.
Waiting to go see the doctor hurts your personal injury case
Maybe this has happened to you. You have been in a car wreck, but you wait to see a doctor. You call an attorney and he won’t take your personal injury case because he sees a gap in your medical care or no medical care at all. The insurance company is going to look at this as well as a sign you were not injured in a car wreck.
If you have ever called an attorney’s office after an auto accident, you are going to get hit with a series of questions.
These questions might be
- When was your accident?
- Are you hurt?
- What hurts?
- Did you go to the ER?
- Have you seen a doctor?
- When did you see the Doctor?
- Why did you wait so long to see a physician?
Accident Attorneys can wait
If you wait to see a physician after a car wreck, you may have a hard time finding a lawyer to take your case. Accident Attorneys have criteria they go by when they take a case. Furthermore, if you don’t fall into that criteria, they won’t take your case. This does not mean you don’t have a case. It just means they do not want to handle your case.
Finding an attorney who will take your case may prove difficult with a gap in medical care. You have to keep in mind what they are thinking, if you waited so long to go see a doctor, are you really hurt? Injured people do not wait to seek treatment. Waiting only causes you to have more pain, and the lawyer to have pain as well, trying to prove your injury came from a auto accident.
However, that’s not saying you were not injured, but you have to look at it from their viewpoint. They may think you just got hurt from fixing your roof, not a car wreck. And, if you wait a month to seek medical care, that does not help you at all.
5-Gap in medical care or Treatment
Another reason to get checked out right after a car wreck is a gap in medical care. What exactly is a gap in medical care? A gap in medical care or treatment is when you wait to go see a doctor after you have been involved in an auto accident. Waiting to go see a doctor is never a good idea when you have been hurt. The insurance company is going to use this gap in medical care against you if you have a medical case.
Furthermore, they may think you got hurt from anywhere other than your auto accident. While there is really no set time of when you should see a doctor after an auto accident, it is recommend that you go right away. When you go ASAP, you eliminate so many other issues that could harm your case. See the doctor first after you have been involved in an auto accident. Any good lawyer will tell you, you don’t have a case if you never go see a doctor after a car wreck.
I don’t have any money to see a doctor after my accident
Having no money in order to seek medical care after an accident is not a viable excuse to the insurance company. They would rather you not seek treatment for an injury sustained in an auto accident. There are many options for you to receive proper medical care. And, not have to worry about who is going to pay the bill.
Your medical bills can be paid by a number of options
- Med Pay or medical payments
- Pip
- Medical lien
- 3rd party billing
6-Documentation of injury
Without it, you may not have a case. Don’t see the wrong person or i should say a doctor who does not handle auto accidents. Your lawyer may not get the documentation he or she needs to prove your injury came from the auto accident. Documentation becomes very crucial to a case when you have soft tissue injuries.
The reason for this is because soft tissue injuries may not show up on X-RAYS. X-RAYS tend to show broken bones. Broken bones are seen on X-RAY and it’s very easy to determine how it happened. Soft tissue injuries need documentation from a doctor who treats auto accidents. If you see the wrong clinic after your auto accident, you may not get the settlement you deserve.
Get checked out immediately by a doctor after a accident
There is no excuse for you not to seek treatment for your injuries. Your injury needs documentation to prove you were hurt from your auto accident. Without documentation, you may not have a case. Find a doctor today.