When it comes to personal injury caused by a slip-and-fall, a car accident or any other accident, it is essential to seek immediate medical attention and follow-up on the appointment of a doctor.
If you get involved in an accident and suffer an injury, you may have to file a personal injury lawsuit against the person responsible for the crash. You may even have to file a lawsuit against your insurance company if they are not willing to pay for the damage and your medical bills.
If there are gaps in your medical treatment, it will have a negative impact on the outcome of your case. If you are to prove that your injuries resulted from the accident and you should be compensated for the medical bills, you must receive medical treatment consistently.
If there is a gap in the medical treatment, the insurance company can object, stating that the injuries caused by the accident weren’t serious enough and didn’t deserve financial compensation. Insurance companies often make these claims and say that if the injuries weren’t serious enough, they shouldn’t be responsible for the medical bills. Let’s take a look at how consistent treatment can strengthen your claim in a personal injury case.
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Treatment is Essential Not Just For the Case
Often people who get injured in a car accident ignore their physical injuries because they are too worried about the damage to their car and the financial burden the accident will put on them. However, physical health is more important than anything else. Therefore, you should seek immediate medical attention to ensure your well-being. If you sustain an injury and don’t receive urgent medical care, the chances are that your injury will cause more pain over time. Some injuries aren’t visible to our naked eye. An examination from a physician can detect those injuries.
If you experience pain after getting involved in an accident you should immediately go to a physician. Injuries like internal bruising and nerve damage are hard to detect. However, these kinds of injuries can have a long-lasting effect on your body if you don’t get them treated. The longer you delay the treatment for these kinds of injuries, the more pain and damage you are likely to sustain. Untreated injuries can even become permanent.
Often people receive medical treatment initially. As they start feeling better, they stop going to the physician and don’t follow-up on their appointments. This creates more complicated problems especially in the case of car accidents. Car accidents can cause soft-tissues injuries like strains or sprains of the ligaments, muscles and/or tendons.
The reason people stop getting medical treatment is that when they feel better, they think that they have recovered and didn’t need treatment anymore. However, what people don’t realize is that sometimes they only get short-term relief. The injury doesn’t go away unless consistent medical treatment is received and the physician has declared that they have recovered from the injury.
Consistent Treatment for the Case
When you sustain an injury as a result of a car accident that didn’t occur because of your fault, you and your injury lawyer can file a personal injury lawsuit against the person responsible for the accident. If you are to convince the jury that you were injured to the extent you’re claiming, it is imperative that you have documented and consistent medical records to back up your claim.
The medical records and the bills associated with the treatment you received are essential to determine how much compensation should be given to you for the injuries you sustained in the accident. Gaps in the treatment can make you lose the personal injury case.
Gaps in the medical treatment are of two types. One gap refers to the time between when you sustained an injury in the accident and when you started getting medical treatment for that injury. For example, if you sustain an injury in a crash and get medical treatment four months after the accident, then the gap will be for four months. Another difference is when you initially seek medical treatment and stop attending doctor’s appointments for a few months before you see them again.
If there are gaps in the treatment, the defendant’s attorney can use this as evidence to prove that the injuries weren’t serious enough. The defendant’s attorney can claim that since you didn’t get medical treatment, you weren’t injured to the extent you are claiming. That’s why it is essential to get medical treatment consistently and keep a record of every visit, symptom and medical bill associated with the treatment.
What If a Gap Is Inevitable?
If you have a gap in your medical treatment, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will lose the personal injury case. Sometimes, a gap is inevitable. For example, you may get severely sick while you are injured, and this sickness may prevent you from going to the physician and attending your appointments. It’s also possible that you have to leave town for business. These kinds of reasons are acceptable, and they won’t have an impact on your injury case.
You can communicate these reasons to your personal injury attorney and provide evidence to prove that the gap in the treatment was because of genuine reasons. In this case, the defendant’s attorney won’t be able to claim that your injuries weren’t serious enough.
Bottom Line
In a nutshell, if you are to ensure your well-being as well as increase your chances of winning a personal injury case, you should receive medical treatment consistently. Receiving consistent medical treatment will not only allow you to recover from your injuries but also help you get compensation for the costs associated with your medical treatment. When filing a personal injury case, make sure to hire a personal injury attorney to help you get through the complicated court procedures.
Slip and fall accidents can happen anywhere and to anyone. Whether it occurs at a place of business, a residence, or even at a public venue, slip and falls are inconveniences that can sometimes lead to significant hardships – particularly for young children or the elderly; however, while many personal injury victims may believe the incident is caused by personal negligence, often the property owner can be at fault. An experienced slip and fall attorney can help you pursue financial recovery for your injuries and hold negligible property owners accountable.
