Introduction – Personal Injury Cases

When it comes to personal injury lawsuits, you should know that your priority should be to resolve things the right way instead of resolving them fast. Sometimes, things cannot be handled quickly – but after you have been in an accident and you have gotten an attorney on board – focus on taking care of yourself. 

On that note, let us understand how the entire process works.

Get Treatment First 

Go and see a doctor first. See what the doctor recommends. If the doctor recommends you to go to a neurologist – you must follow their advice. If you don’t have health insurance, you don’t need to be embarrassed about it. Talk to your lawyer and let them know about everything, as there is no shortage of doctors who will see you without insurance and provide proper treatment.

Of course, the doctor, in return, might expect something out of your settlement when your personal injury case is all over with. But you must ensure to look after yourself and prioritize your health over everything else. 

Maintain a Record of Your Symptoms

You should also keep a journal of what your symptoms are. The things that you note in your journal don’t have to be fancy. It is also not something that you do every single day – but – make notes periodically of how you are feeling and how much pain you are in from a scale of one to ten.

Also, take notes of how the pain is affecting your day-to-day life and what you are not able to do – whether it is getting out of bed, picking up your child, performing your tasks at your job, etc. You get the point – you need to keep a good record of how the pain or injury is affecting you because lawyers like to think they know everything – but – only you have full knowledge of what is going on inside of you.

You are your best historian and curator of information. So, keeping a journal can be effective in maintaining a record of your suffering due to personal injury. 

Be Vocal About Your Symptoms 

After an accident, find out what is wrong with you and continue to get treatment. If you are not getting an answer that satisfies you from your primary healthcare provider – you should demand to see a specialist and make an appointment with a specialist on your own if your insurance allows it.

Make sure to be vocal about wrong things because staying silent and not letting your doctor or lawyer know about the pains that you are feeling won’t do you any good. After an accident, you might get into an emergency room, and despite that, they run all sorts of tests on you, and the tests return negative – you might still not feel well.

You need to be vocal about how you feel. For instance, if you feel numbness, you should ask for a nerve conduction study. If you are having issues with moving your joints, ask to see an orthopedist. Getting proper treatment is the biggest chunk of the aftermath of a car wreck with the guidance of your lawyer. 

Make sure to get the treatment that you need so you can find out what is wrong with you and get the injury fixed. 

Aim for Maximum Medical Improvement 

Nothing can happen in the way of money being paid until you have properly figured out what is wrong with you, until you have exhausted your treatment options, and you are at maximum medical improvement. 

Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to go all the way to surgery – but – you need to run your symptoms in your treatment to the ground before you can get your head around what the value of your case is. This is also the way your personal injury lawyer, such as the Western Justice Associates, PLLC, will get your medical records as well as the billing records.

You should track everything that comes in the mail. Subsequently, let your personal injury lawyer see the medical records, the bills, and whatever else relevant to your case you receive in the mail. Let your lawyer be your mouthpiece, and let the lawyer send the letters to the creditors and healthcare provider stating that you have a lawyer on your case. 

Allow the Lawyer to Be Your Mouthpiece

The lawyer will respond and tell your creditors that they will be taking care of you with your bills after the settlement is over. This way, you won’t be harassed for more and won’t feel much of an impact on your credit. All you need to do is to allow your lawyer to act on your behalf and be the go-between.

The point is that when you get into an accident, make sure to get in touch with your lawyer as soon as you can. Simultaneously, take care of yourself and get the much-needed healthcare treatment while allowing your lawyer to take care of the medical records, debt collectors, and anyone who might be coming after you. 

Once you know what is wrong with you and the subsequent treatment you receive, the wages you have lost, and how the personal injury has affected you personally, and you have shared everything with your lawyer – the next step for the lawyer is to collect everything and submit a demand to the insurance company. 

Settlement vs. Filing a Lawsuit – The Final Step 

Sometimes, it can be easy to know what demands to make because the at-fault driver’s insurance limits aren’t very high. In this case, it is easy to send out a letter to the insurance company with all of the supporting documentation and demand policy limits.

Frequently, there is a dispute over liability over who caused the accident and the comparative fault between the two drivers where the insurance adjuster might tell your lawyer that you have been 25% at fault. 

In such a scenario, where the insurance adjuster won’t give in and push back – your personal injury lawyer will file a lawsuit and draft a petition as a way to get your case moved from the insurance adjuster to a lawyer who represents the insurance company. 

You should know that your lawyer – whether it is opting for a settlement or filing a lawsuit –won’t do it without keeping you in the loop. You might ask your lawyer to keep you in the loop so you get an instant notification every time your lawyer sends or receives an email.