Can It Hurt Your Case?
In this article, I’m going to answer the question, “How long is too long to wait to see a doctor if you’ve been involved in a car crash or a work injury?”
The answer is you should see a doctor as soon as possible after any crash.
There are two reasons for that, the first one is you get one body in life and there is no injury or illness that has a better medical outcome for you. If you wait to see a doctor, that’s a lot of words. What does it mean? It means the faster you see a doctor no matter what your injury is, the faster you’re going to get better and better the outcome will be. Think about like a broken bone, is it better to go immediately to the doctor or is it better to wait a month?
What about a cancer, is it better to go to a doctor and know the diagnosis and start the treatment right away or is it better to wait a month? Well, that’s true, neck or back injury or even a shoulder injury, too. Because your body starts healing and if anything’s out of place, it will heal in the wrong position.
A lot of medical treatment is geared towards making you comfortable, as well as making you heal. So why limp around for a month or walk around with a stiff neck or a bad back if you can see a doctor right away?
It Gives You Peace Of Mind
Like if you’ve got a bad shoulder or bad neck or back, it doesn’t make sense to see a doctor right away even if it’s just ER or urgent care to get checked out to make sure something serious isn’t going on. So, that’s always my advice to people who got hurt and that’s the first reason.
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Symptoms Might Get Worse
But the second reason is for a case. Here’s something else that’s true, a lot of people don’t realize the way you feel if you got a neck injury or a back injury or a shoulder injury, whatever it is right after the crash within the first week because some symptoms get worse over the course of the week, that’s natural.
But the way you feel after a week of having an injury tells you nothing about whether you’re going to have a short term injury or a long term injury. In other words, a neck strain that lasts a month or two initially feels exactly like a permanent neck injury. Same with a back injury or a shoulder strain often feels exactly like a torn rotator cuff.
So, what a lot of people do is they say, “Well, I hurt myself. But I'm just going to ride it out, we'll see what happens.” And the problem with doing that is that in one of the main defenses to every injury case is, did they go to the doctor right away?
It Will Help You Win Your Case
Because something magical happens when you become a claims adjuster or a juror on a jury every juror. Every claim adjuster, if they're evaluating somebody else who got hurt, they're like “Why didn't you go to the doctor right away? Why didn't you go to the doctor after the first week?” Even though they themselves are reluctant to go to the doctor in their private life.
It actually is a very persuasive argument in front of a jury. That's why I tell people if you got hurt and if you're having any pain, guess what? It's probably going to get worse after the first day, after the second day, over the course of that first week. It tends to get worse and worse and worse, so I tell people get medical care within the first week and the day, if possible, even if we're talking about walking into an ER or an urgent care center.
What's happening is you are documenting with a medical provider that you have complaints and that is going to allow us to have a better time with your case. If you've been at an axe and you have any pain at all, even if you're not sure, that’s serious. It is better you're way better off both for your personal health. Also in case, you have to make a claim somewhere down the road to get that medical care documented and see a doctor.
If you've been injured and you need to talk or you have any questions, I offer a free no-obligation case strategy session. You can reach me 24/7 at 312-540-500. I am happy to answer your questions or you can get more information at my website at www.DeSalvolaw.com.
