What to Know About Going to the Doctor After a Car Accident

If you’re ever in a car accident, it’s important to see a doctor or medical professional right after, if at all possible. This is what lawyers will advise you to do, and even if you are in an accident and feel fine, again, see a doctor.

The following are some of the key things to know about seeing a doctor following an accident.

Reasons to See a Doctor Right Away

There are quite a few very important reasons to see a doctor immediately following a car accident or as soon as you can.

First, it’s for your own safety.

You may feel like you’re fine and have no injuries, but there could be things below the surface that you don’t notice right away. For example, you could have an internal injury or even a mild brain injury that a doctor will have to diagnose.

When you’re first in an accident, you are likely going to have an adrenaline rush going on. This is normal when you’re in a high-stress environment.

Along with adrenaline, a car accident can cause a rush of endorphins too.

The combination of adrenaline and endorphins can block pain.

In general, there are a lot of injuries that can stem from a car accident, even one that happens when you’re going at a relatively low speed.

For example, a low-speed car accident can still generate the force that could put stress on your body and may lead to soft tissue injuries or whiplash.

Even while you may not have symptoms initially, a doctor can evaluate you and see what they think about the potential for injuries.

Along with checking any potential symptoms that might be happening at the time, your doctor can also tell you more about monitoring your symptoms and what the red flags are after your accident.

Who Should You See?

You have a few choices as far as what type of medical facility you should go to after an accident.

For example, you might go see your primary care doctor if you do feel okay and don’t have any apparent symptoms at that time.

If you don’t have a primary care doctor and you also don’t feel like you have serious or life-threatening injuries, you could also go to an urgent care center.

If you have symptoms or injuries that are obvious, then you may need to go to the emergency room.

There is a possibility that your doctor might not treat you following a car accident because they either don’t bill car insurance companies or they don’t want to run the risk of being asked to testify in court.

If you call your primary care doctor and they won’t see you, it’s a good idea to call a personal injury lawyer who will be able to connect you with someone who will.

How Long Do You Have?

If it’s an option, the best-case scenario is to go see a doctor right after your accident.

Then, you get it out of the way, and you can get some peace of mind.

If you can’t do that, you might wait until the next day, or maybe two days out from your accident, but you should really try your best to do it within that time frame.

The Legal Reasons to See a Doctor

Along with your health and well-being, there are legal reasons that you should see a doctor as soon as you can following a car accident.

First of all, insurance companies often engage in what is called bad faith practices. That means they might deny a claim without an adequate explanation as to why.

One way that an insurance company can maneuver to deny your claim is by saying you didn’t get medical care or you didn’t do it soon enough. Then, they could make the argument that your claim isn’t related to your injuries.

When you see a doctor right away, you start a chain of documentation that can later be used to support your claim.

If you’re in an accident, an insurance adjuster may try to contact you very quickly thereafter in an attempt to settle with you. Don’t do that before you see a doctor, and don’t do it right away even if you have seen a doctor. You need to wait to see if any other injuries become apparent and, if so, what treatment will be required for them.

Otherwise, if you sign a release and then find out you have a serious injury, you can’t do anything to get any more compensation.