blog home Car Accidents See the right doctors after your car accident – right away

See the right doctors after your car accident – right away

By Ken Gibson on June 16, 2020

Seeking medical attention is one of the most important steps you can take after a car accident, even if you don’t think you have a serious injury. Your adrenaline can spike during trauma, and the shock can mask a major injury. If in doubt, visit a nearby emergency room immediately, or at minimum, get checked out by a doctor within 24 hours.

And while your initial check-up by a doctor is extremely important, follow-up appointments are important too, especially to track your recovery and make sure you don’t have lasting damage. Finally, if you do have lasting damage, keep making sure you’re getting the right treatment throughout.

Most of us mainly see general practitioners or family health specialists when we’re sick, and we see specialists if we have a more serious or specific issue. Following a car accident, both types of doctors can play important roles in evaluating your trauma and treating you.

Finding the right doctor

If you do not already have a trusted doctor, you can ask for recommendations for a general practitioner or a specialist at the emergency room you visit. Some general practitioners have more experience than others in treating patients following wrecks. Often recommended specialists following trauma include neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and physical therapists. If you have multiple injuries, ideally, your general practitioner or the first specialist you see will recommend other specialists and coordinate with them to make sure you’re receiving the best care possible.

For all of your medical care, make sure you provide your health insurance information to the medical provider’s billing department before or during your visits.

The important role of general practitioners

Most of us know that having a good relationship with a primary care physician is important to our long-term health, because he or she helps us with the majority of our routine illnesses and injuries. That’s why it’s important to make sure you are going to annual or semi-annual appointments and seeing these physicians routinely. Depending on their experience and background, these general doctors often can provide in-depth diagnostic care and treatment and also suggest specialists for more extensive needs following a wreck.

The important role of specialists

After a car accident, you can suffer a variety of serious trauma, ranging from brain injuries to slipped discs to nerve damage. You may require highly specialized care and treatment plans. If that’s the case, see a specialist as soon as possible so they can assess the harm, build a treatment plan, and schedule surgery if necessary.

Some specialists focus on specific traumas like paralysis, soft tissue damage, or internal damage. Delaying an initial visit to a medical professional can harm your health, because you may be neglecting an injury that needs immediate treatment. Getting the best treatment as soon as possible is important to your making a full recovery. And if you did suffer trauma that leads to a permanent disability or chronic pain, you want to get specialized medical advice on how to move forward right away.

Medical experts and car accident cases

During a car accident case, your medical reports will be critical to proving your injuries, demonstrating negligence, and justifying compensation. Insurance adjusters will comb through them and try to find any reason to diminish or reject your claim. Having extensive records about your treatment plan can make or break your case.

In addition, if your case goes to trial, we may ask your doctors to take the stand, so ideally, they should be prepared and willing to do that. If your doctor has extensive experience treating car accident victims, they often will not only develop a highly effective treatment plan, but they will also keep detailed records and provide a credible testimony.

We also suggest that you keep your own journal of your appointments, treatment, symptoms, and medications, as well as any difficulties you experience in your home, family, or work life as a result of your injuries. Your thoughts and observations can be vital to helping us provide the insurance company and if necessary, a jury, with the true impact that the car crash and your injuries have had on your life.

Get sound guidance after your wreck

Car accidents are jarring, both emotionally and physically. Both my law partner John Singleton and I have been through auto accidents ourselves and have dealt with finding the right doctors. We know how hard it can be to navigate a legal and a medical maze following an accident.

That’s why we offer people who have been in accidents and their loved ones the opportunity to speak with a Virginia personal injury attorney during a free consultation. Not only can we offer you legal representation, but based on our experience in helping hundreds of people after car accidents, we can also help you find the right doctors. To make sure you get comprehensive help after your accident, call us at (804) 413-6777 or toll-free at (855) 781-6777.