Our Atlanta car accident lawyers always tell our clients to take several steps after a car accident. The first thing you have to do is call 911. It’s important that the police come out and investigate the crash. The second thing you have to do is go to the hospital to be seen by an emergency room doctor. They can make sure that any serious injuries you’ve suffered are treated right away. Finally, the third thing you should do is call an accident attorney in Atlanta. That way, if you did suffer serious injuries, your attorney can help you file a lawsuit against the other driver.
Here, we’ll discuss why it’s important that you visit the hospital immediately after your Georgia car accident. If you still have questions about your own car accident case, call our office. We can schedule your free, initial consultation with an experienced Atlanta car accident lawyer right away.
You Have No Idea if You’ve Been Injured or Not
People tend to think that, if they can’t see any physical injuries, they must be okay. The truth is that you could’ve suffered internal injuries or organ damage. The only way to know for sure is to see a doctor. The reason we tell clients to go to the hospital immediately after their car accident is so that they get checked out. If you go home and don’t get treatment, you have no idea what could happen. For example, if you have internal bleeding or a concussion, you could get extremely sick or even die.
The Emergency Room Doctors Need to Run Diagnostic Tests
When you leave the accident scene, you need to go to the hospital. The emergency room doctors will run the necessary tests to determine if you’re suffered any injuries. These tests include:
- CT scan
- MRI
- X-ray
- Ultrasound
- EKG
- Neurological examination
- physical examination
The results of these tests will let your doctor know what kind of medical treatment you need. This will also determine whether you’ll be entitled to damages for future medical care. The defendant will have no choice but to compensate you for any medical bills you’ve already accrued. If you can demonstrate that you’ll need future care as well, your Atlanta car accident lawyer can demand compensation for that as well.
Your Atlanta Car Accident Lawyer Needs Your Medical Records to Prove Your Injuries
Aside from needing to make sure you’re okay, your Atlanta car accident lawyer will need a copy of your medical records. This is the best and only way to demonstrate that you were hurt. When you sue the other driver, you’ll need to prove that you were hurt. If you’re not able to do that, you won’t be compensated. Your attorney is going to need to submit specific proof for each type of damages listed on your complaint. Your physical injuries will impact your medical bills, future medical bills, as well as damages for pain and suffering.
If You Don’t Go to the Hospital, The Defendant Will Say You Weren’t Hurt
Depending on the type of injuries you suffered, there’s a chance that some of them may have started to heal rather quickly. If you wait several days to see a doctor, they may find that your injuries are less serious than you first implied. Your accident attorney in Atlanta may not be able to prove that your injuries were serious if you wait too long. What this means is that we won’t be able to get you as much in damages. If the defendant successfully argues that you exaggerated your injuries, your damages will be reduced. That is, if you receive any damages at all.
The amount of your damages is dependent on the nature and extent of your injuries. If your accident attorney in Atlanta isn’t able to prove the damages listed on your complaint, you won’t be compensated. All the defendant’s lawyer has to do is say you lied about your injuries. This will call your entire position into question. If the judge or jury believes the defendant, you could walk away with nothing. Even if the defendant doesn’t win in court, your damages could be significantly reduced.
Don’t Jeopardize Your Best Chance for Damages
If you’ve been hurt in an accident, the last thing you want to do is give the other driver a chance to get away without compensating you for your injuries. If you refuse to go to the hospital after your crash, then that’s exactly what you’re doing. Our Atlanta car accident lawyers have met with plenty of clients who didn’t realize how important it was to go to the E.R. after an accident. Like a lot of people, they felt like admitting they were hurt would make them look bad. Other accident victims don’t realize they’re hurt until a few days or weeks go by.
Regardless of the reason why you didn’t go to the hospital, it can cause big trouble for your car accident lawsuit. If any length of time goes be between the day of your crash and your doctor’s visit, the defendant will capitalize on it. They’ll argue that something other than the car accident caused your injuries. All they have to do is present reasonable support for their claim that something intervened between the date of the accident and today that caused your injuries. This means that, even though your accident attorney in Atlanta can prove fault, they won’t be able to demonstrate causation. If this happens, you’ll walk away with nothing.
If you’ve recently been hurt in a car crash, call our office. We can schedule your free, initial consultation with a seasoned Atlanta car accident lawyer. Let them review your case and decide if it has value. If it does, our firm will more than likely be willing to represent you. If we don’t feel your claim is viable, we’ll let you know. We certainly wouldn’t want to give a client the wrong impression about their case.
