Any Injuries After a Car Accident? Go to the Hospital
After a car accident, you want to make sure you feel okay more than anything. Because you’re pumped up with adrenaline and frightened after what just occurred, it’s easy to shrug off any medical care if your injuries don’t seem too serious at first. After you get home, you may want to do the same thing — just shrug it off and wait to see if your pain goes away. Doing so can prove very costly to you if it turns out your injuries are worse than you originally thought.
There are two basic, common sense reasons why you should go to the hospital immediately after a car accident if you have any sign of injuries:
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Serious injuries may often seem minor at first.
A few years ago, actress Natasha Richardson died after suffering a head injury that seemed okay for the first hour. This tragic example shows why you should always go to the hospital even if you feel okay after seemingly suffering only minor injuries. Many serious injuries remain hidden for a while because your adrenaline is high and pain or bleeding has yet to appear. Also, “soft tissue” neck and back injuries are some of the most common car wreck injuries, and the symptoms from these types of injuries may worsen as time goes on.
Especially go to a hospital for:
- Head injuries. You might not feel the effects of a concussion or internal bleeding immediately, so you want to go to a hospital to make sure nothing more significant occurs. Watch for dizziness and nausea, as those are signs that you may have a more serious head injury. Did you know you can have a brain injury even if you did not strike your head on anything inside the vehicle?
- Neck injuries. Whiplash is one of the most common car accident injuries, and it results when your neck snaps forward or backward from the impact of the car accident. You might not feel much pain at first, but you could have lasting damage to your neck muscles, ligaments, or even the soft discs in your spine.
- Back injuries. A back injury can affect you for the rest of your life, so you want to make sure as soon as possible that you don’t have a serious injury to your spine or back muscles and ligaments.
Even if the emergency room reports that you don’t have fractures, see your general practitioner as soon as possible after the accident if you are still having pain or lingering symptoms after the wreck. When in doubt about your injuries, go to a hospital emergency room.
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Getting medical treatment after an accident ensures that you have written proof for an injury claim.
Here’s how an insurance company will look at any injury claims you make.
Insurance company: Did you go to a hospital after your car accident?
You: No.
Insurance company: Oh, so you must not have been injured.
You: But I had pain when I got home later that night and saw a doctor a few days afterward. My doctor told me my injuries are from the car accident.
Insurance company: Well, how do we know those injuries are from your car accident? If you were really injured you would have gone to the hospital in an ambulance.
You get the picture. Similar to filing a police report, a visit to the hospital gives you written proof that you complained of an injury after the car accident. If you delay getting medical attention, the insurance company will always claim that you have a “gap in treatment” and will try to pay you less than your injuries are worth. If you have any type of injury, immediately going to a hospital increases your chances of being paid fair compensation for your car wreck injuries.
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If you have the slightest feeling that you were injured during a car accident, then go to the hospital.
Need advice about your injuries after a car accident? Not sure if you can file an injury claim? Call us today for a free consultation.
