TOP 3 MISTAKES THAT PEOPLE MAKE IN THEIR UTAH CAR ACCIDENT CASES
If you are in a Utah car accident, many people will enter the world of car insurance for the first time. Most people will be completely overwhelmed and will not even know which insurance company is on their side, or how to get their car fixed.
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Here are some top mistakes people make after a Utah car accident.
(1). Seek Medical Care. After a Provo, Utah car accident you should seek medical care when appropriate. Error on the side of caution because remember, you only have one body and “holding out” may not work.
Also, every Utah car policy of insurance has $3,000 in medical pay coverage, called Personal Injury Protections (“PIP”) to help pay for your ambulance or ER visit. Appropriate medical care may be the InstaCare clinic or your family doctor the next day. But whatever you do, don’t skip getting a proper diagnosis and treatment when you are hurt. Not only will it hurt your body, but in the eyes of the insurance carrier, will appear that you are not hurt, when you were really just trying to hold out, or concerned about the bills.
(2). Multi-Disciplinary Medical Approach. Only treating with physical therapy or chiropractic care only after a car accident is not the best way to document your injuries to the insurance adjuster. Insurance companies who pay car insurance claims needs accurate, timely and complete medical documentation to properly value your claim. Having only one type of medical provider diagnose your case is a mistake. Instead, it is best to work in combination with a monitoring medical doctor, with prescribed physical therapy or chiropractic care, if medically appropriate under the circumstances.
(3). Over Treatment. Overtreating is a serious problem with car accident medical care. The worst is when you only see a chiropractor, or physical therapists, and continue treat past the point of maximum medical improvement. What this means is that you continue to go to chiropractor visits when there is nothing more the chiropractor can do for you. The doctor has tried everything and you are stuck for an appreciable time with the same injuries. At this point you will need to move to a different type of care. Maybe a run with physical therapy, or pain management. If your chiropractor insists on seeing you for 50 visits without improvement, that very well could be overtreatment and the insurance company will fight you on it and not want to pay for it.
(4). Proper Course of Treatment. The sister chapter of overtreatment is the error in not following conservative care, up the treatment continuum to more aggressive care for your injuries. This is a patient decision whether to progress to more aggressive medical care for their symptoms and it is alright to decline surgery or other seriously invasive care, but it is a problem if you overtreat.
Often car accidents victims are treated by physical medicine and rehabilitation types of doctors. These doctors are physiatrists (MD), chiropractors (DC), and physical therapists (PT). They help you through the acute injury stage, rehabilitation state and chronic stage of your injuries if they do not resolve.
Properly accessing the spectrum of medical care for car accident victims will better document your injuries, which will allow for fairer compensation.
CONCLUSION–The Tale of Two Passengers. In the Same Car. In the Same Accident. The Same Injuries. But with Different Medical Care.
Imagine two passengers in the same car. In the same rear-end collision. Both passengers are of similar size and gender. Both were in the rear seats. Both receive the same injuries.
One passenger got an experienced Utah personal injury attorney to help him through the process. The other passenger did not get an attorney.
Which passenger will have a better chance at obtaining adequate compensation? Which passenger is more like to make critical mistakes that devalue his claim?
Going into a car accident claim without an attorney is like doing your own dental work. Might work. Might not. Every day people are hurt, but wait to hire an attorney, or try to do it on their own where they make critical mistakes that either devalue their case, or even bar any chance of recovery.
As you can see, proper medical documentation is huge for obtaining fair compensation. Image two passengers, in the same car accident, incurring the same injuries, but one passenger made the above described mistakes, while the other did not.
Who do you think the insurance company will provide more adequate compensation?