It is critical that you seek medical attention immediately following a car accident, even if you think that you are okay.
When you are in a car accident, the car might stop suddenly, however your body does not. Due to inertia, when the vehicle stops, your body stays in motion, making it likely that you will hit the window, the dashboard, or the steering wheel.
Most of the types of injuries that people sustain in a car accident don’t surface right away. In fact, some types of injuries might take months to appear.
Why You Should Seek Medical Care
Most people assume that if they feel alright after a car accident, then they are okay. Or they think that if the accident is minor and they have a little bruising or pain, it will go away with no further complications.
The unfortunate reality is that type of thinking might do them a huge disservice. If you don’t seek the proper medical care immediately following an accident, it might leave you holding the financial bag for your injuries if something should show later.
What Is a Chain of Causation?
When you file a claim for personal injury in a car accident, you have to prove that the crash was to blame for your injuries. One way that an insurance company will seek to deny your claim is to say that your accident didn’t happen the way that you said. They may claim that your injury isn’t as severe as you say it is, or that your injury is the result of a pre-existing condition.
Therefore, the only way to prove your case is by showing a direct cause of your injury, or a chain of causation, of the accident to you being hurt.
Why May Injuries Take Long to Surface?
Many injuries that people sustain in a car accident are related to soft tissue injuries. When soft tissue injuries happen, they might not cause a problem right away, but they can chip away at the integrity of your joints and tendons leading to further damage and weakness.
If you fail to seek medical care, and later you hurt yourself further because of the damage from an accident, it will be difficult for you to prove that your accident was directly to blame.
Car accidents are inconvenient enough, which can make going to the doctor seem like one more hassle; but, it is well worth it to ensure that if you feel your injuries later or need further treatment, you can prove that the cause of your injuries was definitively the fault of the car accident. If you are in a car accident, it is an excellent idea to speak with a St. Louis car accident lawyer to make sure that you get all that you are entitled to and to protect yourself if an injury should arise later that you didn’t notice.