Being involved in a car accident can lead to injuries that keep you laid up in a hospital bed or stuck at home for weeks or even months. That recovery time is essential, as it sets you up for how the rest of your life will go after your recovery. It is vital to take smart steps during your recovery to avoid making things worse and to make sure you have the financial coverage to give you time and space to recover.
When recovering from a car accident, you want to avoid any strenuous activity and follow up with all recommended medical care to avoid any issues. You also want to explore your options for legal compensation, which might include potentially accepting money from some insurance policies to cover your damages and expenses while you recover. Ultimately, full recovery – in a legal and financial sense – might even require a lawsuit.
Getting the Care You Need
It is vital from both a physical health standpoint and a legal standpoint to get the medical care you need after a car crash. If you fail to get treated, serious injuries you might not have noticed can compound and get worse, potentially even becoming fatal. For example, if you hit your head, you should be on your way to the hospital within minutes of the accident to make sure that you do not have any internal bleeding that could kill you if left untreated for more than a few hours.
Some injuries will heal wrong and require additional care down the road if they go untreated now. This leads to additional expenses and, of course, limits how well your recovery can go. You do not want to do anything that might jeopardize getting better and delaying or skipping necessary treatment will do exactly that.
From a legal standpoint, many Philadelphia car accident attorneys also recommend following through with all recommended medical care. These attorneys explain that if you miss any recommended care or skip appointments, the defense can claim that you are actually the one making those injuries worse and that you should be responsible for them going forward. This could ultimately mean losing out on damages that you would have been owed if you had instead kept up with your treatment plan. Legally speaking, this also comes up against issues of “mitigation of damages,” where a victim is held responsible for the increase in damages if they caused the damages to go up instead of taking steps to reduce how much the accident ultimately costs.
Getting Insurance Coverage Now
Depending on what your insurance covers and what your state’s insurance rules are like, you may be entitled to certain coverages and payments early on in your case, helping you through your recovery. If you are ultimately filing an insurance claim against the at-fault driver or potentially even taking them to court, you might not get that claim paid for months or even years after the accident, so getting financial help in the meantime might be absolutely necessary.
Some states use no-fault insurance policies, where you file with your own insurance for first-party benefits after the accident. These payments can help you get coverage now for medical bills and lost earnings, helping you to move forward with your life before the rest of your compensation comes in from the claim against the at-fault driver.
Even if you are not in a no-fault state, you might still have first-party benefits, PIP (personal injury protection), or medpay coverages on your policy, which fill a similar role and pay you now, regardless of who caused the accident.
Ultimately, using this coverage is legally a bit tricky. First, you must always beware of what you are signing and accepting, as accepting payment from the defendant’s insurance might qualify as a settlement that blocks you from claiming additional damages. When you get coverage from your own insurance, it should not qualify as a settlement. However, you might have to deal with a subrogation claim later if you do accept money now.
When you take money from your first-party benefits and later sue the defendant for coverage, the at-fault driver and their insurance might be ordered to pay you back for the damages you already got reimbursed for through your own insurance. At that point, your insurance might be permitted to file a claim against you to recover what they initially paid you from the damages you got out of the case against the defendant. This avoids you double-dipping and reimburses your insurance company for the up-front payments they provided you, but insurance companies often try to claim more than they are entitled to, and you should have a lawyer draw lines on how these damages are calculated and what they represent.
Suing for a Car Accident
If you need to file one, a lawsuit might be the best way to fully recover after a car accident. Insurance may help cover things, but it might not cover everything, and only through a lawsuit can we make the other driver pay what they owed you.
In any case, you should talk to a lawyer about what is best for your case, avoid accepting anything from insurance before talking with your attorney, and follow up with all recommended care to help ensure you make a full recovery after a car crash.
The content is intended to augment, not replace, information provided by your clinician. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Reading this information does not create or replace a doctor-patient relationship or consultation. If required, please contact your doctor or other health care provider to assist you in interpreting any of this information, or in applying the information to your individual needs.
