“If I’m hurt real bad, won’t the insurance company see the medical record and understand that?” We understand how someone might think that but the answer is “no.” The insurance company for an at fault driver in Kentucky will use any excuse possible to avoid paying what is required by Kentucky law. A delay in treatment, even if your injury is clearly serious, will cause them to hire professionals to fight you. You will need your own professional who helps injured Kentuckians every day. That’s where we come in.
Us Kentuckians don’t really like going to the doctor and we usually don’t like to admit something is physically wrong with us. We are tough and we’d like to keep it that way. This sometimes causes us to forget that our bodies are not meant to take the amount of force involved with vehicles weighing several tons at high speed. Unfortunately, when an injury is serious, permanent, or nagging, failure to seek an examination by a Medical Doctor (M.D.) immediately after a car accident will give the insurance company an excuse to not cover all expenses and problems you experience because of the accident. Perhaps you just wanted to go home to rest after the accident, or you had so much adrenaline running through your system that you couldn’t feel the pain your body was in. Or someone may have hit their head, but did not start to experience any symptoms right away or they weren’t aware of the symptoms because they had just suffered a concussion. There are many reasons folks are tempted to avoid the doctor but doing so can be particularly bad for your health immediately after a car wreck.
If you fail to get checked out at the emergency room immediately after an accident, but you determine later that day, or that week, that something is not right with you then go the emergency room or get an appointment with your family doctor that same day. It is always best to get examined the same day but get to a hospital or Medical Doctor as soon as you realize you are really hurt or the insurance company will always hold that against you and use it as an excuse to fight your claim.
Injuries Aren’t Always Apparent
The most important reason to seek medical treatment after an injury is that certain injuries are not always apparent right away. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), head injuries are not always apparent right away after an accident. Even when you go to the ER after a concussion, studies have shown that roughly 56% percent of mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) are not accurately diagnosed and documented as such in the records of emergency rooms at hospitals. That is, more than half of those who suffer concussions will be told they are fine and they will not receive treatment or car instructions regarding their concussion and post-concussion syndrome.
This is particularly true for concussions, which make up 90 percent of all head injuries, according to the CDC. Even when a person realizes they have hit their head during an accident, they may think little of it when they aren’t experiencing symptoms. Only days, or even weeks, later when they begin developing migraines and blurry vision will accident victims often begin to understand the injuries they sustained were worse than initially thought.
The same is true for many types of injuries. A person may suffer from internal bleeding, but not realize it until they arrive home and start experiencing nausea and vomiting, along with other symptoms. It is very common for soft-tissue injuries (such as sprains, strains, and tears in the muscles of the back or elsewhere) to go undetected until they become worse in the week after the wreck. Doctors and medical staff have the experience to know what type of injuries are often sustained during an accident. They also know to look for them and to run tests that may indicate a serious injury is present.
It is common for emergency rooms to send people home with the expectation that they will get better on their own, but they always give the advice that if it doesn’t resolve in a certain number of days that you should get checked out again. It is very important for you to get medical care and examined a second time if your injuries do not get better.
You only have one life, don’t risk living it in pain. This is the main reason anyone involved in a crash needs to be examined by a trauma healthcare professional as soon as possible after a car accident.
Delays Always Cause Problems
Getting treatment right away can greatly help a person’s health recover and ensure they get back to their best life as soon as possible. There are few things more important than how you feel, physically each day. If you are feeling bad then it impacts every aspect of your life and how you treat people, whether you realize it or not. It should also be noted that failing to get immediate treatment will give the insurance company an excuse to discount your claim even if you really need the full payment because you are seriously injured. We see it happen all the time.
Failing to get medical treatment immediately after an accident will cause the insurance company to argue that if you were really hurt badly, and you were in pain, then you would have obtained medical attention right away. They will also argue that the injuries weren’t due to the accident, but that it’s possible the injuries were caused by another unrelated incident that happened afterward.
Insurance companies of the at-fault drivers are professionals at what they do and they will try any defense to avoid paying what they owe to folks who have been injured in Kentucky. The mistreatment we’ve seen from insurance companies in Kentucky is so bad that they must think they are dealing with idiots. Using an injured party’s own actions and words against them is one of the first defenses they will attempt (don’t ever give a recorded statement over the phone). Getting proper medical attention is one way to remove this defense, so injured individuals can get the compensation they need to get back to their best health right away.
The bottom line is that if you want the insurance company to believe you, get to the hospital and have the doctors diagnose you.
After Seeking Treatment, Contact the Morrin Law Office
Seeking medical treatment is the most important thing injured individuals should do after a car accident. Once treated, all accident victims in Kentucky should contact a Kentucky personal injury attorney who almost exclusively handles Kentucky injuries and someone who will only add value because they handle this claims against the insurance companies every day. If you have been injured in an accident, contact the Morrin Law Office at (859) 358-0300 as soon as possible.
At the Morrin Law Office, we handle car accidents every day and we know what information the insurance company is looking for to determine how much medical care you will need, and how much they should pay to cover your medical care. We will also advise on filing a personal injury lawsuit if necessary, but more importantly, we work from day one to help those who have been hurt bad in Kentucky avoid the stress and expense of litigation while still receiving full and fair compensation to help with their medical care and road to recovery.
We are able to work remotely if necessary and we take cases all over Kentucky. If you join our team as a client, then you will receive protection from the harassing insurance company and bill collectors. We are professionals who go to work for you, so you can focus on getting back to your best life as soon as possible. We’re here to help you do just that, so contact us today.
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