Immediately following your personal injury accident, you may have an out-of-body experience in which you are running solely on adrenaline. With this, you may be unable to process the extent of your injuries and the pain you are in. So you may opt out of attending immediate medical treatment. However, doing so may be a great mistake.聽Read on to discover whether you can file an injury claim if you initially denied medical care and how a seasoned New York City personal injury attorney at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. can help improve your chances of a successful case.
Why should I accept medical care after my personal injury accident?
Even if you do not believe that you incurred injuries in the aftermath of your personal injury accident, this may not necessarily be true. Rather, you must understand that your injuries may be hidden and arise in the days, weeks, or months following your accident. And if these injuries are left undiagnosed for too long, then they may turn even more severe or fatal. Examples of such hidden injuries are as follows:
- Concussions and other brain injuries.
- Whiplash and other neck injuries.
- Herniated disks and other spinal cord injuries.
- Internal bleeding and organ damage.
- Soft tissue injuries.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder.
So, when a law enforcement officer responds to the scene of your accident, they may dispatch an ambulance on your behalf. You must accept medical treatment once paramedics and EMTs arrive on the scene. That is, you must submit to an initial medical review conducted by an emergency first responder. Then, it would be best if you allowed them to take you on an ambulance ride to the hospital, so that further medical reviews and treatments may be administered.
Can I still file a personal injury claim if I initially denied medical care?
While you may still be eligible to file a personal injury claim without having succumbed to immediate medical care, it may be all the more difficult to attain a successful outcome. This is because, as the plaintiff, you carry a burden of proof. This burden of proof requires you to collect a sufficient amount of evidence that ties your injuries directly to the negligence of the defendant. So, without evidence of immediate medical care, it may be challenging to draw this connection.
Further, you may open the door for the defendant to build certain arguments against you. For one, they may counter that you failed to take the appropriate measures to ensure a speedy recovery. Therefore, they may claim that this delay caused your medical bills to be more expensive. This may ultimately lead to you receiving a lesser amount of financial compensation.
You must take your personal injury claim seriously. As soon as you can, pick up the phone and call a competent New York City personal injury attorney. Someone at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. will be happy to answer.