Safe Information To Share With Your Treating Physician At The Hospital

In this article, you will learn:

• What to share with your medical provider after an accident
• Whether you can choose your own medical providers after an accident
• How to interact with the opposing party’s insurance company
• Why to follow your doctor’s orders

The opposing party can use anything reported in the medical records as an admission by a party. What our firm tells people, though, when they are going to get treatment either at a hospital or any other medical provider is it’s critical to document your symptoms and be clear about the symptoms you are dealing with and the part of your body you are having those symptoms. What you report to your medical providers more than likely is going to show up in your medical records, and those records will be used by both sides to value the case. Typically, in this situation, it would be to defend your claim for damages by the insurance company. We tell people we believe in the truth, so tell your medical providers the truth. We can always deal with the truth. Try not to withhold information that may appear in other records, as what may have been a simple oversight or lapse in memory, can cause issues that we may have to spend unnecessary time dealing with and that takes the focus of the other parts of your claim that may be the strongest.

For instance, if you’ve had lower back pain off and on for ten years and you get in a serious accident, you show up at your doctor’s office, and they ask you if you ever had back pain before, and your forget you have, it will not be too difficult for the opposing party’s insurance company or attorney to find and get their hands on your previous lower back treatment. So while we understand sometimes it is hard to remember every prior injury or illness you may have dealt with, especially when dealing with the trauma from an unexpected accident, just because you have had prior injuries or illnesses, doesn’t mean we can’t pursue claims for exacerbation of pre-existing injuries or pre-existing conditions and get your money for the exacerbated symptoms the accident caused. So, don’t be afraid to talk to your doctors about prior pre-existing conditions that you’ve had. Certainly, if the accident has caused those symptoms to be worse, make sure you explain and report the increased symptoms to your medical provider. In today’s digital world, there’s a record of just about everything that happened before the accident as far as any medical treatment you have previously had, so do your best to remember to report those, especially if you are now having symptoms that are worse due to the accident. It is important, that you don’t provide the other side a chance to use any omission to contradict you or attack your credibility.

Your Ability To Choose Your Own Medical Providers For Ongoing Treatment

You can choose your own provider(s) for accident-related treatment for your injuries. However, we have seen over the last few years, some providers that our client’s may normally use through their health insurance plan will get a little bit hesitant to treat their patients when their patient says I’ve been in an accident. It isn’t because they don’t think the person is injured, rather it can be because some medical providers don’t want to be dragged into a possible court case in which they may to have to provide testimony as to the injuries suffered, the type of treatment administered and any future treatment that may be needed. However, in over two decades of helping injured people, those providers are a minority. Most medical providers understand how the system works, and they will treat their patients no matter how they ended up with their symptoms and injuries. At our firm, we certainly don’t direct our clients’ treatment, but if they get a situation when they call their provider and their normal doctor doesn’t treat people that have been in car accidents, we have been able to help our client explain to their provider why they need to help treat them, or help find them a provider that understands how car accidents and personal injury claims work and will be able to provide the accident related treatment they need.

Why It Is Important To Follow Doctor’s Orders For Your Personal Injury Claim?

Following your treating doctor’s orders, making your appointments, and getting your prescriptions filled gives credibility to you as an injured party. So many of the cases our firm has handled over the last two decades are not about who was at fault, rather the argument is about the value of the injured client’s claim or case. It quickly becomes the burden of the party that wasn’t at fault, the injured person, to prove their damages, and their damages consist of medical treatment. Suppose a person is not following the prescribed treatment, missing appointments, and not getting their prescriptions filled. In that case, those actions could undermine the value of their damages for bodily injury, which will ultimately undermine the value of the recovery. Our firm stresses to our clients the importance of following their doctor’s advice, attending their appointments, following the providers treatment plan which includes sometimes getting prescriptions filled or undergoing conservative care like physical therapy or chiropractic treatment. If there’s an issue with the medication, we always advise our injured clients to let their doctor know.

The Risks In Having Contact With The At-Fault Party’s Insurance Company After The Accident

The number one thing that I have seen in over twenty years of helping injured clients, is clients that have spoken directly with the at-fault party’s insurance company after the accident and come away with a false sense that the insurance adjuster is working on their side when in fact, the insurance adjuster’s goal is going to be to resolve the case for the lowest value possible. So, risk number one is that they will be fooled into thinking that the insurance adjuster for the party that caused the accident is trying to help them. Number two, anything they say to that adjuster typically will be recorded, or notes will be made and later can be used as an admission against our client as we pursue the case. The day they speak to the adjuster, they may be feeling better than they did the day before, and so the adjuster may use this statement as an opportunity to devalue their claim.

Our firm cautions people when dealing with the insurance company directly to understand that everything is documented in one form, or another and usually not a way that favor’s paying an injured party more money. Thus, we encourage injured people to let our firm with decades of experience and millions recovered to advocate directly with insurance company adjuster while they seek to recover from their injuries. It is one less thing we believe that an injured client should have to be dealing with.

For more information on Sharing Information With Medical Providers, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you seek by calling (866) 253-2226 today.