It is essential to get prompt medical treatment after a collision for several reasons. People are often surprised by how much it could hurt their injury claim if they try to tough it out at home instead of getting professional medical attention.
You should talk to a Little Rock car accident attorney about the importance of seeking medical treatment after a car accident. We can handle every aspect of your injury claim, leaving you free to focus on your recovery.
Prompt Medical Treatment Can Lead to Better Healing and Fewer Complications
Following a car accident, you will safeguard your health and give yourself the best chance of optimal healing if you seek medical attention as soon as possible. Sometimes, even with severe injuries, symptoms aren’t immediately apparent.
- You could be bleeding internally and not know it.
- You may have a fracture and think it’s just soreness.
- Untreated injuries can develop infections that could become life-threatening.
Additional side effects could be averted with prompt medical evaluation and treatment. Medical providers at an emergency room can examine you and help you understand your injuries.
Medical Records Can Provide a Link Between the Accident and Your Injuries
If you go straight from the car accident scene to the emergency room, and emergency personnel write down in your records that you have fresh wounds from a motor vehicle accident, it will be more difficult for the negligent party who caused the crash to deny that your injuries were the result of the collision.
On the other hand, if you try to tough it out, then finally decide to go to the doctor because you are not getting better on your own, you might have a problem with causation. In that case, the at-fault driver can argue that you weren’t hurt in the collision, and there is some other cause of your injuries. After all, if you were hurt in the accident, why didn’t you go to the doctor?
Proof for Your Injury Claim or Lawsuit
Even if you were injured and suffered a great deal of pain, if there is no record of medical treatment, you will have a difficult time coming up with evidence you can use to support your claim for compensation from the defendant.
Your medical records can help to prove what happened and how you were injured. For example:
- When you see a medical provider following a car accident, your medical history will be taken, including why you’re seeking treatment that day. The car accident will likely be documented in your medical record.
- Medical providers will want to know details about the car accident to help determine the forces on your body and what types of injuries you might have suffered.
- Based on “where it hurts,” medical providers will perform diagnostic studies on affected areas. For example, they might perform x-rays of your neck, back, or other injured areas.
- Medical providers will document diagnoses of your injuries that were caused in the wreck, making a record of your damages. For example, if there is a fracture or a brain bleed, the issue will be discovered and documented.
- Medical providers will document the extent and severity of your injuries, then offer recommendations on how to follow up for additional, needed medical treatment. Typically, injured victims are advised to follow up with their primary care doctor so he/she can direct the additional medical care you need.
In short, your medical records can serve as valuable evidence for your car accident injury case. The lack of medical records, on the other hand, will hurt your case.
It is also important to complete the treatment plan your doctor prescribes. For example, the defendant can argue that you’re not hurt if you don’t complete recommended treatment like physical therapy, or you don’t have a surgery your doctor recommended.
You likely have many questions about what to do after getting injured in a car accident that was not your fault. We encourage you to reach out to us today for a free consultation.
