If you’re involved in a car accident, you may assume that any injuries you notice immediately–such as blood running down your leg from a cut–are the only injuries that you’ve suffered. This makes sense: there is an association with obvious pain and an obvious injury. However, this isn’t always the case. In fact, some injuries are not evident in the immediate aftermath of a crash. These are called late-appearing car accident injuries.
Mb accident injuries can be serious and do require medical care. For help navigating your claim, reach out to the experienced Los Angeles car accident lawyers at the office of El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers today for a free consultation.
What Types of Car Accident Injuries Are Late-Appearing?
Most serious car accident injuries are immediately evident – it’d be hard to miss a broken bone, for example, or a major laceration. That being said, sometimes accidents lead to injuries that take hours or days to really develop. This may be because of the nature of the injury, or because adrenaline from the crash prevents the body from fully acknowledging the injury until later. Some of the most common types of car accident injuries that are late-appearing include:
- Traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions;
- Soft tissue injuries, such as whiplash;
- Internal injuries, such as internal bleeding; and
- Psychological injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Importance of Seeking Medical Care After a Crash
The fact that some injuries are late-appearing is one of the primary reasons that seeking medical care after a crash is so important. Even if you think that you’re not injured or not seriously injured, being seen by a medical professional can rule out the possibility of late-appearing injuries, such as a concussion. If you are injured and just haven’t realized it yet, seeking medical care can help to ensure that you get a diagnosis and begin treatment for your injuries sooner rather than later.
There’s another important reason why you should seek medical care after a crash: failing to do so may have an impact on your claim. For example, say that you sustain a concussion in a car accident, but don’t see the doctor. A week later, your symptoms are bad – you may even lose consciousness or suffer from swelling in the brain. After receiving the treatment that you need, you file a claim with your insurer. However, your car insurance company denies the claim on the basis that there’s not enough evidence that the concussion was related to the car accident. After all, so much time passed between the crash and when you sought medical care that there are numerous things that could have happened to cause the brain injury.
In order to protect your right to compensation, seeking medical care is important.
Request a Free Consultation Today
If you have been in a car crash and have suffered late-appearing, but serious, injuries, you may need a lawyer in order to maximize your compensation award. At the office of El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, our Los Angeles car accident attorneys can help. Please request a free consultation today to get started.