Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Fatal Mistake #3: Not Seeing or Not Cooperating Fully with Your Doctor (Part A)
This is an excerpt from the 7 Biggest Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Massachusetts Accident Case by the Boston car accident lawyer, Thomas M. Kiley.
1. Go to the doctor immediately after the accident – even if you don’t feel any pain or show any other sign of injury.
SEE a Doctor After You’ve Been In An Accident
After representing thousands of injured clients, I can say with near certainty that you will feel worse the day after the accident, and you will probably feel even worse on the second and third days. Don’t assume that just because you don’t feel immediate pain, you have not been injured.
I’m not a doctor, so I can’t explain this in medical terms, but I do know that our bodies just don’t exhibit the symptoms of soft-tissue injuries immediately. If you break your arm, you know it right away! But if you sprain your neck or back, you may not feel the effects for a few days. Then, by the time you can get in to see your doctor, you may be in excruciating pain.
It’s much better to let your doctor start some preventive care immediately after the accident, so that when your symptoms do appear, they are likely to be less severe than if you had waited.
After an accident, many people try to tough it out, even though they may be in great pain and in need of medical care. Some people are even embarrassed to ride in an ambulance!
Failure to seek medical attention immediately after an accident will be used against you by the insurance company.
The adjuster will say, “Well, if you were really hurt in the accident, why didn’t you immediately see a doctor?” The adjuster may argue that the failure to see a doctor immediately indicates that an injury must have resulted from an unrelated event that happened after the accident. The longer you wait for medical treatment, the more difficult it will be to connect the injuries to the accident.
2. At every doctor visit, from the first to the last, tell the doctor about every single problem you have, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you.
It’s human nature to tell the doctor only about what hurts the worst, and not mention the little aches and pains. But six months later, what used to hurt the worst might be healed, and that little ache or pain might have developed into a serious problem.
I always tell my clients to let the doctor or therapist know about EVERY pain or problem they have, and let the doctor decide what’s important and what’s not.
Don’t try to diagnose yourself- you may make your injury, and your case, worse.
If you have been involved in an accident and injured due to someone else’s negligence, contact an experienced Boston car accident attorney at the Kiley Law Group. Our personal injury lawyers specialize in accident cases and know how to fight the insurance companies to get the compensation you deserve.
Call now 1-888-208-1695 to schedule a FREE evaluation of your car accident case!
Continue to Fatal Mistake #3: Not Seeing or Not Cooperating Fully with Your Doctor (Part B)
