Immediately after a car accident, you will likely feel overwhelmed by the situation and have trouble knowing what to do. Your body releases adrenaline and endorphins in response to a crash as a part of its natural reaction, and these chemicals can mask injury symptoms for several hours until the levels subside in your body. Because of the effects of these natural hormones, you might not realize you have been injured. Some injuries also have delayed symptoms that might not appear for hours or days. These injuries can become serious and cause long-lasting repercussions without immediate medical intervention. Scroll down to learn why it’s important to seek a medical evaluation after a car accident.
Why You Should Schedule a Check-Up ASAP
Prevent Complications
A prompt medical evaluation after a car accident can quickly identify hidden injuries and prevent them from worsening. When you get the right treatment immediately, you can reduce your risk of complications. Untreated injuries can worsen without treatment and lead to additional damage. For example, damage from an untreated concussion can spread and cause additional brain damage that could affect your ability to fully recover. By contrast, seeing a doctor right after a car crash can help to identify all of your injuries and facilitate a smooth recovery process.
Avoid Insurance Issues
Recovering insurance benefits to pay for your injuries can be difficult if you fail to seek a prompt medical evaluation after a car accident. If you wait to see a doctor for days or weeks following your collision, the insurance company will likely believe your injuries are not as serious as you claim. The insurance company might also argue that your injuries didn’t happen as a result of the accident but instead from an intervening incident. Seeing a medical professional immediately can help you show a causal link between your injuries and your auto accident and prevent the insurance company from making these arguments against paying your claim.
Lessen Psychological Trauma
Just like physical injuries, car accidents can cause psychological harm. Many people suffer psychological trauma from car crashes because of what they experienced and witnessed. A medical evaluation after a car accident should also include a mental health component or referral to a therapist for mental health care. Conditions such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after a car crash and affect your life. It’s a good idea to ask for a referral to a therapist or discuss your feelings about your crash with a professional after an accident to stave off these conditions.
Having documentation that you sought and received mental health treatment to address the emotional and psychological challenges caused by your accident can also help you to recover compensation for these losses. In addition to compensation for your medical expenses, wage losses, and property damages, you can also seek compensation for non-economic losses, including psychological trauma.
Avoid Higher Treatment Costs
When you wait to seek medical treatment for your accident-related injuries, your condition can significantly worsen. You might think that you’ll recover on your own and don’t want to pay to see a doctor, but this can lead to higher medical expenses in the long term. Untreated conditions that worsen can become much more complex and costly to treat. Waiting to seek treatment will not save you money and could instead result in unaffordable medical bills and trouble recovering compensation to pay for them from the at-fault driver’s insurance company.
If you are concerned about affording treatment, that isn’t a reason to wait. If you don’t have medical insurance, you can still go to the emergency department at your local hospital. Hospitals can’t turn you away just because you don’t have health insurance. An experienced defense lawyer at the Law Offices of Bryan Musgrave can then help you figure out how to pay for your medical expenses while you are waiting to recover compensation from your personal injury claim.
Contact an Experienced Car Accident Attorney
Avoiding a medical evaluation following a car crash is never a good idea. You might have hidden injuries that start as relatively minor but rapidly worsen into major issues without treatment. To learn more about your legal rights and options following a car crash, call the Law Offices of Bryan Musgrave today for a free consultation at 417-322-2222 or contact us online.