Santa Clarita accident attorney Robert Mansour provides perspective on obtaining medical treatment after you've been injured in an auto accident.
After you’ve had an injury, whether it’s from a car accident or other incident, you need to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Some of my clients have been offered ambulance transportation to the hospital from the accident scene.
They usually don’t offer that unless your injuries are pretty serious or potentially serious.
Many of my clients decline the treatment so as to not inconvenience the emergency personnel. They don’t want to be “a bother.”
They figure a family member can take them to the emergency room or they will drive themselves.
Some avoid the ambulance to avoid the costs. Do you know what the insurance company will say? Something like this: “How bad could your injuries have been since you were not transported to the hospital by ambulance? If you were truly injured, you would have been taken by ambulance. You probably only have a sprain.”
Then there are clients who try to tough it out.
They figure they will get better over time so they don’t go to the doctor at all.
They go to work or sit at home, lying in bed, hoping to feel better.
However, what invariably happens is they find they are not getting better over time.
In fact, they are feeling worse. Even if they only have “soft tissue” injuries, they find their body is aching more and more. Then they finally go to the doctor.
Well, again you can guess what the insurance company will say: “How bad could your injuries have been since you waited so long before seeking medical treatment?”
I used to work as a defense lawyer for a major insurance company, so I’ve seen this mindset first hand. Some insurance adjusters I knew were so “tough” that if the plaintiff waited three days before seeking medical treatment, they “weren’t hurt that bad.”
In my experience, if you put off needed medical treatment or care for longer than one week, you’ve severely compromised your case in many instances.
One of my clients waited one year before seeking medical care. Not a good idea.
That is why I implore people to contact an experienced attorney when dealing with a car accident case.
I don’t encourage my clients to seek medical attention if they don’t need to, but I tell them not to delay if they believe they were injured (however seemingly minor) because I worked for the insurance companies and I know how they defend these cases.
Also, you might think you’re OK, but upon closer inspection, you may find you have a serious injury that doesn’t manifest itself until later.
Some of my clients don’t know which doctor to see. I usually tell them to seek whatever doctor they want. If it’s their primary care facility, that’s fine with me unless there is a one-month wait before they can get any physical therapy.
Through no fault of their own, some clients need to wait weeks before their first therapy appointment. Again, you can hear the insurance adjuster screaming his or her defense: “You waited two weeks before you got any therapy? How bad could things be if you could wait two weeks?”
In those cases, I provide the client with the option of seeing a doctor on a lien basis; one who can care for them right away. If you’ve had a serious car accident or other injury, you won’t want to wait around for weeks before getting any active care.
Not only are you compromising your health, but you aren’t helping your personal injury case much either.
Finally, all your medical providers need to be paid. Few are working out of the goodness of their heart.
If you see a doctor on a lien, which means the doctor is willing to provide you care and get paid after you settle your claim. However, if you don’t settle your claim or you get zero dollars, the doctor’s office is technically still entitled to payment.
Lawyers who tell you that you are going to get “free” medical treatment are usually misinformed or just plain misleading you just to get the case.
If you go to your own health insurance providers, they, too, want to get paid. The doctor will be paid by your health insurance, but the health insurance company will often expect you to pay them back if you recover any money from the other.
