Not everyone who gets into a serious accident feels like they have been hurt right after an accident. This leads many people to put off getting medical treatment for days, or even weeks. However, doing this can cause a lot of problems, both medically and legally. Here are a few reasons why you should seek medical treatment after any serious accident, no matter how you feel:
- Some injuries are not immediately obvious
- It may seem absurd, but some people can walk around with serious injuries from accidents for days, weeks, or even months without realizing it. This is because some injuries are not easy to detect, while others are often mistaken for more mundane symptoms. Traumatic brain injuries, for example, are often called “the invisible injury” because of how often they go undiagnosed for long periods of time.
- The longer you leave an injury untreated, the worse it can get
- Seeking medical treatment promptly after an accident is an important way of ensuring any injuries you have are treated promptly. This is important because injuries that are left untreated can worsen over time. This can extend the amount of time you need to spend recovering from your injuries, and can also increase the amount of pain and suffering you experience as a result of the accident.
- It can prevent long-term medical complications
- Unfortunately, the problems caused by an accident do not necessarily stop once you have recovered from the original injury. In some cases, you can suffer long-term side effects from the injury, which can last for years or decades. The risk of these side effects increases the longer your injury goes without treatment, so getting medical treatment right after an injury can help protect your long-term health and welfare.
- It can create medical records for your legal case
- Getting immediate medical treatment will also create important medical records that can be used in your case. If you choose to seek a lawyer for your injury, your lawyer will need these records to help you obtain compensation for the harm you have suffered. The longer you wait to get treated, the harder it will be for your personal injury attorney to prove your injuries are the result of your accident.
- It can help with negotiations with insurers
- When you get into talks with an insurance company over covering your injuries, you will find they will use any tactic imaginable to get out of paying your claim. They may even try to claim your injuries were the result of something other than your accident. Having medical records from right after the accident will cut off these avenues of argument, forcing them to the table and giving you the best chance at a favorable outcome to your lawsuit. To get the best outcome to your case, though, you should seek a New York personal injury lawyer near you who can help you with your case.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you should seek out the personal injury lawyers at Zlotolow & Associates. Our seasoned New York personal injury attorneys bring more than two decades of trial experience to your case. We serve all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Nassau and Suffolk County. Our aggressive personal injury attorneys always demand maximum compensation. We have helped thousands of clients recover through settlements and courtroom verdicts. To schedule a consultation, you can call us at 866-800-0092, or you can visit our contact page.
