We are all very concerned with how the coronavirus could impact injured people’s medical treatment and personal and financial outcomes. Even though we are in uncertain times, there are many things involving a personal injury or car accident case where we can provide our best recommendations for you to follow so that your case is not negatively impacted by this pandemic.
Make Sure You Get Medical Treatment
After a car accident it is important for the injured person’s health to receive medical treatment as soon as possible. Substantial medical evidence supports the fact that, if the injured person receives medical treatment sooner rather than later, it is often more effective. One of the most important issues to maximize the case value of personal injury or car accident lawsuits is to receive extensive medical treatment immediately. Sometimes this involves emergency surgery to handle injuries such as broken bones, head injuries, whiplash and more. Often individuals who are injured in a car accident will benefit from additional diagnostic treatment, such as MRIs and cat scans, as well as some form of physical therapy.
To maximize your personal injury or car accident case value, it is usually important to be fully diagnosed and treated. If you delay such treatment it will often increase the time to recover from your injuries. Also it may reduce the value of your personal injury case. So one concern is that people might be afraid to seek out medical treatment or keep their medical appointments, because of the coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately, fear of this virus, as a reason for not receiving medical treatment after an accident, will not change the fact that the treatment is needed to have the best chance to fully recover from your injuries as quickly as possible.
An experienced personal injury attorney can also help you with alternative medical treatment options so that you may possibly avoid high risk COVID-19 exposure at hospitals or other medical providers. The Law Offices of David Kohm is currently working with several medical providers that are well equipped to minimize your exposure to coronavirus. Several of these providers have instituted strict sanitary and infection control procedures.
An Experienced Personal Injury Attorney Can Assist You in Finding Medical Treatment While Limiting Your Contact With Others
So if you are afraid of going to the doctor, we recommend that you take precautions when visiting, like sitting a good distance from others and checking with your medical providers to make sure that they are taking proper precautions to not expose you to infection.
An experienced personal injury attorney can assist you in finding medical treatment that may not compromise your health to coronavirus (COVID-19). They will have many relationships and know where to direct you to receive medical treatment for your injuries from your accident while minimizing the exposure to coronavirus.
Your personal injury attorney can also assist you in finding medical treatment via telemedicine and virtual medicine. Utilizing technology to receive proper care is one thing an experienced attorney can assist you with. We also have access to medical professionals who are able to go to your home and provide care.
A personal injury attorney can assist you in obtaining your medical records without having to leave your home. Using your legal team to obtain this evidence while remaining at home is a great service to minimize your exposure to coronavirus. We can navigate the medical documentation world very efficiently and get the necessary evidence required to maximize your claim very quickly.
Avoid Financial Strain with a Letter of Protection
There is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to your financial future during these times. Being injured from an accident and having medical bills piling up creates even more stress during these difficult times. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to assist you in eliminating the stress of trying to pay for all of these bills while you are waiting for your settlement.
Your personal injury attorney can draft a “letter of protection” or “LOP.” A LOP agreement states that the cost of services provided for your treatments will be paid out of your settlement award. Your health care providers sign and agree to defer billing you until a settlement has been awarded. Medical payment coverage typically allows the insurance company to claim a subrogation lien against most additional recoveries, which the injured person might obtain from their accident case. That is the bad news. The good news is that a car accident attorney can often get that subrogation lien reduced, which can allow the accident victim to recover larger net proceeds.
Insurance Companies May Fight Harder to Reduce or Eliminate Claims
Insurance company profits may also decline. This may cause insurance companies to fight harder before settling accident cases. It is important to have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side to fight hard for you. An experienced personal injury attorney will know how to deal with difficult insurance companies and the typical tricks that they use to minimize and deny claims.
Obtaining the Proper Evidence
Your personal injury attorney can assist you in obtaining the proper evidence needed to maximize your case, and this can usually be done without you having to make numerous personal appearances. By utilizing technology and experience your attorney can communicate with witnesses, the police, insurance companies and the courts for you, and they can then communicate to you via phone or video conference. All of this can be done without exposing you to the pandemic coronavirus.
Do Not Delay
It is important that you do not delay in filing your case, contacting an attorney or seeking medical treatment. You may be fearful of exposing yourself to coronavirus, but this will all end in time. However, not receiving medical treatment may end up being more dangerous to your health in addition to greatly reducing the amount of your claim. You will also want to make sure that you contact a personal injury attorney as soon as you can in order to make sure that your case is handled properly and that you can avoid any delays. Insurance companies may have reduced staff, which may result in delays. The courts may also have reduced staff that can result in delays also.
In these uncertain times it is prudent to be careful, but you also want to make sure if you are involved in an accident that you retain the services and counsel of an experienced personal injury attorney. If you were recently involved in an accident that caused serious injuries, please do not delay calling a personal injury attorney, despite the concerns regarding the coronavirus. We are well-equipped to handle the possible disruptions — and continue to maximize our clients’ case values.
