The Importance Of Timely And Consistent Medical Treatment In Personal Injury Cases

We’re asked to help with personal injury claims, including car accidents and motorcycle accidents, every week. We then advocate for our clients against insurance companies or in court. One key point that we’ve learned as a result of those efforts is that timely and consistent medical treatment is crucial to a personal injury claim.

Insurance companies and the courts are very much concerned with whether an accident victim has received medical treatment and, if so, how much. Personal injury claims can include compensation for, among other things, medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of function of the body, and lost wages, but the extent to which such claims are available, and whether they’re even available at all, almost always hinges upon medical evidence. In turn, that medical evidence can only come through documented treatment and, sometimes, statements or testimony from the victim’s treating healthcare providers, evidence that can’t exist unless the victim’s visiting hospitals and medical clinics.

The process of establishing the necessary medical evidence begins immediately after the accident. The victim shouldn’t tell anyone, including and especially the other driver, that they’re fine, aren’t hurt, etc. If the police respond to the accident, as they usually do, the victim shouldn’t tell the police that either (such statements will very well be caught on video and later used against the victim). The victim shouldn’t speak with anyone at the accident scene about their injuries at all, except the police if requested, and the police should be told that the victim isn’t sure how he or she is doing but will likely visit an emergency room or medical clinic to get checked out.

Next, if the victim immediately perceives injuries, the nearest emergency department should be visited without delay to begin documentation of the injuries. An urgent care clinic is also a possibility. There must not be a delay in that initial medical treatment or the opposing insurance company and its lawyers will use that to argue that the victim wasn’t that badly hurt or that whatever led to the emergency room or urgent care visit wasn’t connected to the accident.

After the initial medical visit, prompt follow-up care at an urgent care clinic or regular practice clinic is crucial if the victim continues to have physical issues because of the accident. There can be no delays for the reasons previously stated. If no follow-up treatment is scheduled, the victim should expect that any opposing insurance companies and the court system will be very resistance to arguments that physical pain, lost wages, or other components of a personal injury claim lasted much beyond the first few days after the accident and the short period of time around the initial medical treatment.

Documented medical treatment is also important for establishing a claim for lost wages. An accident victim can claim reimbursement for all wages as a result of missing work because of the injuries or medical treatment. But lost wage claims predicated on missing work because of injuries are generally disregarded unless the victim’s treating healthcare provider issues a directive (usually called a “work release” or something similar), stating that the victim should be off work for a certain period to allow recovery from the injuries. And, of course, claiming lost wages for missing work due to a medical visit requires proof of the medical visit through a medical record showing the date and time of the visit.

In conclusion, accident victims should assume that the value and extent of their claims will rise or fall depending upon the amount and timing of medical treatment that they receive. Victims with minimal, delayed, or no medical treatment should have very low expectations regarding their legal rights to compensation. Therefore, every effort to obtain timely and consistent medical treatment should be made to maximize the victim’s right to injury compensation.