Too often, when individuals have been injured in a car crash, they fail to get immediate care, which causes problems resolving their personal injury claims with insurance companies. Usually, this delay is a combination of a common dislike of seeking medical treatment, a hope that the injuries will heal on their own, not wanting to take the time from a busy life to go wait in a doctor’s office to be seen, and the natural reaction of denial that anything serious could be wrong.
Regardless of your feelings toward medical care, getting prompt treatment after an accident can only help you and your attorney pursue a successful injury claim.
If you think you might be injured after a car crash or another type of accident, you should always get checked out as soon as possible. In addition to seeking immediate medical care for injuries sustained in an accident, it is also important to return for follow-up visits and, if symptoms persist, to follow the doctor’s advice and return for further evaluation.
If there are significant gaps in medical treatment, the insurance company might use this as a reason to make a lower offer. In most states, the law requires that injured people must take reasonable steps to seek medical treatment for their injuries and follow that medical treatment and advice given by doctors.
If the injured person does not, and the injury, therefore, lasts longer or is more expensive or difficult to treat, the law says that it is the fault of the injured person that they didn’t mitigate damages. The insurance company might refuse to cover the costs associated with your worsened injury or complications that might have been avoided with treatment. Failure to mitigate damages could mean significant reductions in what you are able to recover from insurance companies or defendants.
Ensuring that you continue to keep up with your medical care also shows your genuine determination to recover from the injury and, thus, can influence what you can financially recover from a defendant responsible for causing such injury. Keeping up with your medical treatment for an injury also bolsters the legitimacy of your injury as perceived by a defendant or a jury in a lawsuit relating to that injury. It offers proof of lasting effects of the injury, its severity, its ongoing existence, and its need for medical treatment for recovery, which are essential facts to be able to demonstrably prove the injury is deserving of financial compensation on behalf of the party responsible for causing it.
At the Breeden Malpractice & Injury Law Firm, we are dedicated to helping victims with injuries in accidents caused by another’s negligent conduct recover the full compensation they are owed. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident by someone else’s negligence, we are a law firm fully capable of successfully representing your case to obtain the maximum recovery for your injuries, enough to cover any lingering expenses for ongoing treatment for the injuries sustained. Contact us by going online or by calling (702) 819-7770 today to speak to one of our qualified attorneys.
7432 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 101, Las Vegas, NV 89117