Car crashes are a harsh reality of life, particularly if you live in Florida. Interestingly, according to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), 200,000 car crashes get registered in the Sunshine State each year – which equals to 650 accidents, on average, per day!
So, what should be your immediate steps if you are involved in a serious crash or just a fender bender? Should your first contact a doctor, an accident attorney in Clermont, Florida, or your insurance company?
Below are the top three reasons why it is important to visit a doctor even if you are involved in a minor automobile accident.
#1 Seeing a Doctor Following an Accident May Help Your Address Pain Before It Starts:
After an automobile accident, if you feel any kind of discomfort or pain, you should seek medical assistance as soon as possible. However, even when you don’t feel pain immediately, you should put a doctor’s visit at the top of your priority list. The human body is exceptionally resilient, but it is not designed to withstand the force exerted by hundreds of pounds of metal, plastic, and glass, during a collision with a bulky vehicle. Unfortunately, even the safest automobiles are unable to cover everything.
When you are involved in an accident, your body automatically responds to stress by secreting emergency hormones that can diminish pain for some time. What might feel like a minor ache or bump soon after the crash, can aggravate to debilitating or severe pain, lasting for hours or even days after the accident. In some specific cases, the type of the injuries sustained could result in the symptoms that won’t show up for even weeks or months, depending on the severity, type, and site of the injury.
A timely medical examination and assessment by a physician can help determine soft tissue or skeletal damage that may result in pain or worsen your health, leading to long-lasting injury.
#2 A Doctor Can Aid in Speeding up Your Auto Insurance Claim
Insurance companies often make use of automated systems to process your insurance claim, based on the collected data related to your crash and what happened thereafter. One such piece of information that insurers take into account while adjusting your claim includes whether or not you sought medical care after your crash, and how long it took you to do so.
Most insurers consider the first 72 hours as an acceptable time window after an accident to seek medical attention. For this very reason, it is crucial that you should, at the least, get an examination done by a medical professional for even the most minor injuries after your crash. It will indicate to your insurer that you might have suffered injuries and that you are proactively taking care of yourself. Any delay in seeking medical care beyond this timeframe could result in a substantial reduction in the recompense you may be eligible for, for your auto crash injuries.
Getting your primary doctor’s appointment within such a short period may be tough. The same could be the case with many specialists. Moreover, urgent care centers usually have exorbitantly high out-of-pocket expenses and they may not be able to understand the nature of chronic pain or musculoskeletal injuries. Having said that, there are several specialized medical care facilities, where physicians are available for same-day appointments. Your personal injury lawyer in Clermont, Florida can help you recommend one. In such a facility, a spine, musculoskeletal, and/or whiplash specialist will assess your injuries, and they will provide you with the details you would need for medical treatment as well as for your auto insurance claim.
#3 Seeing a Doctor Can Help Improve Your Legal Claim
If the auto accident you were involved in was caused by someone else, you may be required to deal with an unknown auto insurance carrier to get paid for your medical bills. Just as you do while dealing with your own insurance company for damage claims, you may be required to take care of your health in a timely manner post accident, which can prove immensely beneficial while you negotiate with the insurer of the party at fault.
If you have hired a personal injury attorney in Clermont, Florida to help you navigate the complex scenario of dealing with the insurance companies involved, they will most likely insist on getting quick medical exams done. If you are not severely injured, contacting your personal injury attorney in Florida immediately after the crash may help as they can recommend you the right medical center, where you can get the kind of attention you need, as well as information and records your accident lawyer will need to back your case.
It is very likely that the insurer of the at-fault party will attempt to disregard your claim or try to diminish the severity of your harms in order to lower their liability in your medical expenses or reduce the extent of settlement of your claim. A common tactic used by insurance companies in such cases is to argue that the victim’s injuries were either pre-existing or occurred after the said accident – and that the injuries are not the direct result of that accident.
The longer you wait to get medical attention, the tougher it becomes for you to prove the case that you were harmed in the auto crash you were involved in. A descriptive and timely record of medical exams and prescribed treatments can easily zap this tactic.
Contact a Personal injury Law Firm
Even if you have sought medical attention within the defined time frame, reaching out to a personal injury lawyer in Florida soon after the accident is important. Your accident lawyer will let you know what documents you would need from the doctor to support your insurance claim, while representing you legally in all matters related to your personal injury case, so that you receive the best compensation possible.
MANGAL, PLLC – Clermont Personal Injury Law Firm is committed to protecting the rights of car accident victims in Florida. Get in touch with one of our experienced personal injury lawyers to discuss your case at length and understand your legal options.