After an injury, it is extremely common for someone to delay contacting a lawyer and following the proper steps after an accident. This can be due to embarrassment over the incident, work schedules getting in the way, or even someone not understanding how serious their injury was until much later. While all valid reasons, each of these delays affects the injury timeline and makes it harder to collect evidence. As a personal injury lawyer can explain, this gives insurance companies a reason to argue that injuries were not caused by an accident and are therefore not covered.
Gaps In The Injury Timeline
The basis of a personal injury claim is connecting the injury itself to the accident. If a person waits days or even weeks to see a doctor, insurance companies will try to claim that the injuries are not that serious because medical care was delayed, or that the injuries were not related to the accident at all. Insurance companies only protect themselves and do not want to pay out money if they can help it. That is why it is best to seek medical care even if you feel fine or think the accident was minor, as injuries may show later, often masked initially by the adrenaline rush from the incident.
Additionally, delayed medical treatment disrupts the medical documentation of your injuries. A first appointment establishes a starting point for injury issues. If you hurt your head and develop headaches, a first appointment can establish that you were fine until later, when you began complaining of headaches. If you show up to the doctor’s office much later and say your head hurts, it is harder to prove that particular symptom matches your injury accident. Medical notes on the progression of your symptoms are extremely important in these cases.
Evidence can also disappear quickly without the help of an attorney to preserve it, as our friends at Cohen & Cohen can explain. Surveillance footage is often overwritten or deleted entirely after a certain period of time has passed. If you tripped over something and fell, the hazard can be fixed in the time it takes actually to pursue a claim. Witnesses easily forget details if there are several weeks or days between the incident and the trial.
Arguing In The Gaps
Any bit of time between the accident, the report, and working with an attorney can be detrimental to your case. The other side will claim your injuries were caused by something else, they were not that serious, that you hurt yourself by waiting more than the accident hurt you, the accident was not as described later, the hazard has been removed so it cannot be confirmed, witnesses cannot support the story, or the other side can even claim that you did not follow medical advice by delaying treatment.
Waiting a few days after an accident is common. People are confused. They have to call off work. They have other events in their lives that take precedence. While not best practice, a day or two is okay. Waiting longer than that can mean you don’t have a case at all. If you or someone you love has been injured in an accident, contact a lawyer near you immediately.