In this article, you will discover:
- Why waiting to seek treatment can diminish your personal injury claim.
- Common tactics used to save insurance companies money.
- How to avoid the long wait to see a chiropractor.
If You’re Injured In A Car Accident, How Important Is It To Seek Medical Treatment Right Away?
There are two reasons you want to be seen for medical treatment as soon as possible after an accident. One, your body needs help now, not later. If you’re injured badly enough, going to the hospital by ambulance is not a bad idea—you can’t get there faster than by ambulance. Don’t wait a week or a month. Go in as soon as you can. Two, insurance adjusters are paid healthy salaries to save the insurance company money.
One way the adjusters save their employers money is by demonstrating a gap in treatment—a timeframe between when the accident happened and when you got medical care or between medical treatments. In an ideal situation, you would go to the hospital on the same day of the accident and then be seen by a chiropractor two days later.
Alternatively, you get hit and don’t go to the hospital because you weren’t feeling that hurt. If you call me three weeks later and you haven’t seen a physician, there will be a gap in treatment. I will help you the best I can, but we need to get you into a chiropractor that day or the next. That gap in treatment is bad for your body and bad for your case.
When it is time to get the case in front of an adjuster, they’ll question the three-week gap in treatment. I’ll work with you to explain what happened; you can’t lie. Maybe you did at-home stretches, hoping it would go to go away, or you were taking Advil that only helped a little. Whatever the reason, we’re already starting with a weakened case.
It is crucial to get treatment as soon as you reasonably can. The object is to get you healthier and out of pain quicker. If you’re in pain, why would you wait to get treatment? When you go to the hospital, they just want to stabilize you. They will give you a painkiller or muscle relaxer and tell you to come back if you need to. They won’t treat your sore back or neck. They want to get you out of there.
A chiropractor is usually the answer to your treatment—and your case. Sometimes physical therapy works as well. Chiropractors are one of the bigger helpers to get somebody back on track and healthy again.
You can go on your own to a chiropractor, but the problem is a lot of them might say they don’t take personal injury cases and that you have to pay out of pocket. You can do that—but you don’t have to. If you call me, I’ll line you up with a chiropractor I already know. They will take your case without charging you out of pocket. They’ll take my promise that they’re going to get paid.
I then open a personal injury protection (PIP) claim through your own company. If appropriate, you’ll use that to pay for the chiropractor. Whatever is not paid by PIP, the liability check will pay off once that comes in.
The chiropractors I work with are people I’ve worked with for years. I’ve met them and trust them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t use them. The chiropractor and I are on the same page. They know how to do this, and they’re going to take you as soon as possible. They know what we’re looking for, and in turn, they hopefully get more referrals out of me. That’s why the whole thing works smoothly.
For more information on Auto Accidents in Maryland, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (443) 990-1529 today.
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