After an accident, the most logical thing to do is seek medical attention. But that doesn’t always happen, especially when the affected person doesn’t have apparent injuries.
Some injuries tend to not show at the scene of an accident, even when they could be severe, such as traumatic brain injuries. Also, increased release of adrenaline, a flight and fight hormone at impact, masks pain to allow a person to escape from danger quickly. That would be helpful when under an attack or something of that nature. However, when you are in a car in an accident, fleeing is not an option unless the car catches fire.
Gaps in Medical Treatment
“If you fail to get timely medical attention after an accident, you could create gaps in your medical treatment, potentially hurting your case,” says Felix Gonzalez law firm. However, failing to get medical help at the scene of an accident is not the only way of introducing gaps in your medical treatment. Sometimes, failure to follow through with your treating doctor’s recommended treatment regime could also create gaps and affect the outcome of your case.
Medical Help at the Scene
After an accident, the emergency department usually receives several calls from witnesses, so even when you don’t place a call personally, the police and paramedics will probably show up. The paramedics often cater to the most injured first before attending to the less injured.
Getting checked right at the scene ensures that you create a clear paper trail of your medical records right from the word go – your medical records are a critical piece of evidence. The clearer the paper trail is, the easier it is to prove your injuries resulted from the accident.
But leaving the scene without getting treatment doesn’t mean you lose out on your right to pursue compensation. You could go to the hospital a day or two later, but anything more than 72 hours can create a problem because the opposing side can claim that your injuries are not a result of the accident.
Doctor Recommended Treatment
After getting a checkup at the scene, paramedics may offer to take you to the ER for further checkups, and it is a good idea to take the offer. At the ER, the doctor will recommend treatment based on their findings. Following through with the doctor’s recommendations is essential as it can affect how long your injuries take to heal.
A more extended treatment period would mean more cost of treatment, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and psychological pain, all of which are factors used to determine the value of compensation. If your claim has a high value, the opposing side will be very keen to see if you followed the recommended treatment. Should they find that you missed doctor’s appointments or failed to undergo a recommended procedure, they can claim that you are partly to blame for some complications resulting from your injuries and thus have grounds for minimizing the value of your claim.
Most accident victims often make the mistake of failing to follow through with their treatment out of ignorance. The good news is that involving a lawyer in your case at the earliest possible can help you avoid mistakes that could turn out costly.
