No matter how small or seemingly inconsequential an accident is, you should always get medical attention afterward. Even a minor fender bender happens so fast that you may not even be aware that you got injured. Or, the adrenaline from the accident acts a painkiller and you don’t feel anything that would suggest that you are hurt.
The problem is that you go home or to work and about your day and suddenly you realize that something did happen. You were injured after all. What do you do now?
In this article, we will go over exactly why you should never refuse medical care after you’ve been in a minor accident.
You risk losing out on a case
After a car accident, it is investigated to find out who is at fault. When you are cleared of responsibility then you would have a very good case to recover expenses from any medical treatment or lost wages that occur as a result of the injury.
Unless, of course, you decided to not seek any help. It could be that EMTs came and offered assistance and you said no, or you never asked to bring to the hospital. Whatever the case, you need to go to the doctor right away.
Once you leave the scene, no matter how good your car accident lawyer is, you have compromised your case and may never see any compensation. A good defense attorney is going to make the case that your injuries could have happened after the accident as nobody knows what happened once you left the scene.
It can be argued that you already had a previous injury and are now looking to fraudulently claim to have been injured, or some other event happened at a later date. Or even ome of the internal injuries was not immediately apparent.
Immediate care could have prevented further injury
Let’s suppose that the jury or judge was sympathetic and agreed that the injury did happen at the time of the accident even though you had left. A good lawyer would then investigate the extent of the injuries and find a doctor to conclude that the injuries are worse now because no care was provided early on. It’s possible that your injury became more serious after time had passed since there was no initial treatment. Treatment that could have made it a much more minor injury.
Any settlement relies on a proper diagnosis and treatment plan to understand how it is relatable to the accident. Then, there needs to be a determination with a monetary figure that corresponds to the injury from an accident. The more time that goes by the more difficult it is to award a suitable figure since the injury was worsened by not getting help.
Insurance companies are not your friend
Always remember that when you are dealing with insurance companies from an accident that they are not looking at your best interests. Make sure that you are taking matters into your own hands and insisting on going to the doctor to be checked.
