More than 60,000 people are injured on Illinois roadways every year, although not all of them knew for sure they were injured at the time. Some failed to seek medical attention right away and developed long-term damages. If they waited too long, their health and the viability of a personal injury claim suffered.
If you have been involved in a collision and aren’t sure you sustained injuries, there are excellent reasons for you to seek medical attention. As they say, it is better to be safe than sorry. Time, in many cases, is not your friend.
At Marker & Crannell Attorneys at Law, we have dedicated ourselves to advocating for injury victims, offering experienced advice, and guiding them through the legal process while they treat and recover from minor or serious injuries. If you have been injured in Naperville, Illinois, or in Joliet, Bolingbrook, Wheaton, Aurora, Plainfield, Lisle, Woodridge, or Romeoville, let us answer your questions.
What Injuries Are Common
After a Collision?
There are many variables that determine the type of injuries victims sustain in auto collisions. Head-on collisions may cause more shattered heels, broken legs, and steering wheel impact injuries than a rear-end collision, which may cause more whiplash injuries.
Major categories of injuries include:
- Soft-tissue injuries such as whiplash, bruising, sprains, and strains
- Bone fractures and dislocations
- Spine injuries (e.g. disc injuries, disc protrusions, disc herniations, disc bulges, pinched nerves, vertebral fractures, numbness, tingling or sharp shooting pain into arms, hands and/or legs/feet)
- Nerve damage
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries and concussions
- Internal injuries
- Disfigurement (e.g. scars, burns, deformities)
- Emotional/psychological distress
- PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
Why Should I Get Medical Attention Right Away?
The two primary reasons to seek medical attention right after a collision are for your health and for the value of any potential personal injury claim.
Your health is the most important reason to seek treatment. Some injuries aren’t readily visible or felt, masked by the adrenaline rush common with even the most minor impacts. If you don’t seek treatment until you start having problems days or weeks later, you might have damage that cannot be reversed.
A physician, whether at an emergency room, urgent care center, or clinic, will know what to look for when they examine you. Radiology may reveal injuries such as hairline fractures or brain bleeds. Timely diagnosis and treatment may be critical to your recovery.
Prompt medical treatment is also necessary for claims against your own auto policy coverage and against bodily injury liability coverage of the person at fault for the collision. A delay between the time of the crash and the filing of a claim for your medical payment benefits or against the at-fault driver’s insurance could cause adjusters to question the cause of injuries diagnosed later.
Insurance companies, always motivated to deny liability claims, will question whether any injuries related to the collision were significant enough for you to seek medical attention. It is important that your treating physician can document the causation of injuries to the collision, and that requires timely medical attention.
Why Continue Treatment when I Feel Better?
Following and completing the treatment plan given to you by your doctor is important to your recovery. Stopping too soon may cause related health issues later. It’s a little like not taking a full course of antibiotics because you started to feel better. Follow-through is vital.
Adherence to the treatment plan is also necessary to the value of your bodily injury claim. Long-term effects of injuries add value to your claim, but only if the insurance company can’t allege that ongoing issues are your fault for not completing recommended treatment.
Getting the Experienced Legal Support You Need
Injuries following some collisions are not always obvious. You want to shake it off and get back to what you were doing when the accident happened. Perhaps you feel like you are crying wolf by appearing to be okay but seeking medical treatment.
If you have been in a collision, take the time you need to be examined by a doctor. Doing so will be vital to any claim you may later bring against the at-fault driver. More importantly, it may be critical to your long-term health and well-being.
At Marker & Crannell Attorneys at Law, we have seen clients who did not think they were injured in a collision suffer debilitating medical issues attributable to the incident down the road. Seeking immediate medical treatment might have strengthened their personal injury claim, but it definitely would have benefited their health.
If you have been in a collision in Naperville, Illinois, or in Joliet, Bolingbrook, Wheaton, Aurora, Plainfield, Lisle, Woodridge, or Romeoville, no matter how minor, we are here to help. Take the first step by calling to schedule a free case consultation.
Don’t wait another minute. Call now.