23 Feb 5 Reasons You Should Finish Your Auto Accident Treatment
After a Florida car accident, most people head to an emergency room or urgent care. This is the common, and correct, immediate action following a car accident. However, all your medical treatment is not completed in this initial visit or initial hospitalization. When you leave the hospital, the treating doctor will likely send you home with a recommendation to visit your health care provider, or possibly a specialist. They may give you a prescription for medication or tell you to get certain imaging tests.
Unfortunately, many people skip or postpone follow-up treatments, and never get scans or fill their prescriptions, without considering that no following doctor’s orders can be a very costly mistake. The hours skipped in not going to a follow-up, or not going to physical therapy, can ultimately cost you thousands of dollars. If you are without transportation to go to an appointment, or can’t afford the copay at your doctor, talk to your lawyer about this before you don’t go. Below are five reasons you must finish your auto accident treatment:
Reason # 1: You Are Doing Everything Possible For Yourself and Your Health
Unless you are a doctor, your treating medical team likely knows more about your injuries and how to treat them than you do. Their recommendation is based on experience and science. Following your doctor’s treatment recommendation is doing everything possible to facilitate healing and recovery.
Reason # 2: You Are Creating a Medical Treatment Record
When you eventually file a personal injury claim, you will release the relevant medical records to the insurance company. Your treatment record will allow the insurance company to see, and calculate the value of the care you received. This record will include the recommendations of your treatment providers.
Reason # 3: You Are Showing the Insurance Company You Are Doing Everything Possible For Your Health
If you assert in your claim that you were severely injured, but only went to two of your recommended five physical therapy appointments, the insurance company will ask you about it. They will also, without hesitation, use this as a means of devaluing your claim. In other words, if you file a personal injury claim having completed only part of your doctor’s recommendation, your attorney will have to defend you and explain why you did not finish treatment.
Reason # 4 : Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) Can Only Accurately Be Assessed if you Finish Your Treatment
Your condition and prognosis for your future can only be accurately assessed if you get to a point where your doctor determines that you are fully recovered, or you have stabilized to a point where no major future changes are expected. Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement, or MMI, can take months, or in some cases, years. If you did not complete treatment, again, the insurance company will have an argument to devalue your claim.
Reason #5 : Recovery For Pain and Suffering Will be Reduced
Pain and suffering damages are often referred to as “non-economic” damages, and are based on the severity of your injury, and how long it takes for you to recover. If you undergo a long period of treatment, you will have a good argument for a higher amount of non-economic damages. Without completing treatment, you will very likely receive a lower amount of non-economic damages.
Get a Free Consultation with a Florida Car Accident Lawyer
If you have questions about a personal injury claim, Sara Jones Law, P.A., is here to answer your questions and provide advice, resources, and support. Our Lake Wales personal injury lawyers are proud to represent individuals and families who have been impacted by serious personal injury in Florida. Contact us today.
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