What is “Medical Evidence” and Why do You Need it to Get Compensation for Your Car Accident Injuries?

In motor vehicle accident cases, injuries can vary in their extent, as well as in the time it takes for your injuries to reveal themselves. If the injuries are especially serious and evident at the scene of the accident, such as open wounds, loss of limb and blood loss, the emergency personnel will take the person to the hospital immediately.
The healthcare system will conduct testing on you to ensure that they have addressed all injuries that you suffered. Clients who are unable to move or feel extreme pain at the scene of the accident should immediately contact the emergency personnel, especially EMS, to have you transported to a nearby hospital so you may receive immediately medical attention. However, what if your collision was not so serious that you needed immediate medical attention but you suffered injuries from an accident that were later discovered? In these situations, it is important to be mindful of all the evidence you will need to establish your claim for accident benefits (compensation from your own motor vehicle insurance) and tort (compensation from the insurance of the driver who caused the accident).

For one, if you are injured in an accident, you should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you contact a lawyer, the more helpful he or she can be in determining the evidence you will need. The later you contact a lawyer, the more risky your position will become when considering the evidence that should be collected. The court expects you to establish your personal injury case based on evidence, which the court will consider in order to establish “non-pecuniary damages” (legalese for getting compensation from insurance company for the actual injuries you suffered). In order to establish non-pecuniary damages, you must provide all medical documentation, hospital records, doctor’s notes, consultation reports, assessments, and even raw medical data (such as X-Rays and MRIs) to your car accident lawyer, who will then share it with insurance companies. Also, it is important that you provide medical evidence on an ongoing basis to ensure that your injuries can be considered “serious and permanent”. This is a so called “statutory threshold” established by the courts for tort claims to make sure that they can throw out small personal injury claims without a trial. Good medical evidence will also ensure that your compensation amount will pass the $30,000 deductible amount, which is deducted for personal injury claims where the compensation awarded by the court is less than $100,000.

With such a high burden of finding and organizing medical evidence, it is essential for car accident victims to speak with a personal injury lawyer in order to better assess whether their injuries can pass all the special tests in the court in order to get money for their injuries. Remember, the sooner you contact a lawyer, the better he or she can help you build your case correctly from the scratch by recommending that you visit various types of medical specialists early in the case and organizing your medical evidence.