How Long Do You Have to Visit the Doctor After an Accident?
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, slip and fall incident, or other traumatic event, deciding when and how often to seek medical treatment can be confusing. Understanding how long you have to visit the doctor after an accident is important for your health and any compensation claims.
Even if you feel fine, you should see a doctor as soon as possible after a crash. It is tempting to avoid seeing the doctor or think that the pain will go away with a little time. Don’t ignore pain after an accident. It could lead to long-term injuries.
Consulting with a Lafayette personal injury lawyer can help you understand your responsibilities for getting medical attention after an accident.
Proving Injuries to an Insurer
The longer you wait between your accident and seeing a doctor, the more you give an insurer room to deny your claim. The insurer doesn’t know when you were injured or what might have happened between your accident and when you saw a doctor.
They may claim that something else harmed you instead of what you’re claiming if you wait too long. Most insurers want to see medical records recorded within 72 hours of an accident. Any longer and they’ll be more skeptical of your claim.
Even better is seeing a doctor within 24 hours, even if you feel fine. You may have hidden injuries that may not become painful or impairing until later, and it will give insurers even less room to say that something else injured you.
Going to the Doctor Early Can Improve Your Health
An injury that may not seem serious at the scene of a crash could become worse as time passes without treatment. Never try to “walk off” injuries you received in an accident because you may make it much worse.
Promptly seeing a doctor to get care could help you avoid surgery, disability, or debilitating pain. You do not have to be in pain for the doctor to learn if you’re injured. Tell them you’ve been in an accident and what happened and they’ll test you for injuries.
The medical record, including images, of your injury will prove to the insurers that you were injured and deserve compensation, even if you feel “fine” because you went to see a doctor early. You may not have a case if you didn’t visit the doctor after your car accident.
Agree to Go to the Hospital
If a doctor or a paramedic urges you to go to the hospital after an accident, you should do it. A paramedic is trained to look for hidden injuries. For example, if you were concussed, you may have no serious symptoms but they could get much worse.
Sometimes post-injury symptoms could be life-threatening. Yes, it may be expensive to go to the hospital in an ambulance, but insurance may cover the ride if you weren’t at fault for your accident. The costs of not going and getting a worse injury, or even dying, are far greater.
Dealing With Insurers
Another factor in how long you have to visit the doctor after an accident is the insurance company. Any delay in seeing a doctor opens an opportunity for the insurance adjusters to argue that your visit to the doctor was not related to the accident.
Before an insurance company will compensate you, you must prove to them that your injury was caused by the accident and not some other reason. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to link the two together.
The insurance company will argue that you should have seen a doctor sooner if you waited too long. They will look for any other activities you’ve done since the accident that could be construed to be the source of your pain. If they succeed, you will get less money or none at all.
The Statute of Limitations
In almost all cases, the statute of limitations for personal injury cases in Louisiana is two years from the accident date. After that point, you lose your right to claim compensation for your injuries. You must start your lawsuit before then.
Your lawyer will need to have proof of your injuries from a doctor before they will start your lawsuit, so you must see a doctor as soon as you can after your accident. That gives your lawyer enough time to make your case and file it with the court before the deadline.
Conclusion
How long you have to visit the doctor after an accident, ultimately, is the statute of limitations, but you should see one far sooner than that. An insurer would prefer to see proof that you saw a doctor within 72 hours or they’ll suspect that your injury may not be from what you claim.
Furthermore, for your health, it’s best to see a doctor as soon as you feasibly can for your health. If that means riding the ambulance to the hospital because a paramedic thinks you need more testing, do so.
Don’t delay seeing a doctor. If you do discover you were injured, follow your doctor’s orders and contact Laborde Earles for a free consultation to see if you could get compensation for your accident.
