It’s important to understand what to expect after a car accident regarding injuries and legal actions you should take to resolve your claim. You can always speak to a car accident attorney for free in your community if you have questions about filing a claim or lawsuit for your injuries.
How A Car Accident Affects The Body
Many people don’t realize just how critical it is to ensure you are fully compensated for your losses after a severe auto accident. The reason is that injuries can be devastating, expensive, and life-changing. Few people have the financial resources to afford months or years of medical care while not working. Thus, obtaining a fair settlement from a car accident is the best way to recover both mentally and physically.
Accident injuries are serious because the kinetic forces involved in a crash are massive. When you drive a car, your body and car travel at identical speeds in the same direction. An object in motion stays in motion until an outside force stops it. So, in a head-on car crash, your body will continue to travel forward at the same speed as your car until stopped by the other vehicle.
If you don’t wear a seatbelt, your body will fly forward and probably slam into the dashboard, steering wheel, and windshield, causing severe injuries. Remember that not wearing a seatbelt in a 30 MPH crash produces the same force as falling from 30 feet. Even if you wear your seatbelt, there still is a high risk of a severe injury from hitting something in the car.
Physical Injuries After Car Accidents
There are approximately six million auto accidents in the US annually. In a recent year, auto accidents caused 4.8 million documented injuries nationwide. The massive forces in a typical car wreck may cause surprisingly serious injuries, and many auto accidents result in major, life-changing injuries, including:
- Brain trauma
- Back & neck injuries
- Broken bones
- Injured joints
- Herniated discs
- Spinal cord injuries
It may take a few days to notice the full effects of the auto accident. You can be in shock and not feel pain for at least a few hours. Some of the symptoms you may expect after a serious car accident are:
- Back pain: You can have pain in the upper, mid, or lower back that can be pulled and strained muscles, a ruptured disc, or even damage to the spinal cord. You may or may not notice the pain right after the crash.
- Pain in shoulders and neck: You may have whiplash and other soft tissue injuries in the neck from your head whipping violently back and forth during the accident. Again, you may not feel the pain for a day or two.
- Pain in the chest: You can be having a heart attack from the stress or can have a fractured sternum or ribs.
- Nausea and headaches: You can have a head injury but not notice major symptoms besides headaches and nausea. It can be a concussion, and the pain and injury can worsen over days.
- Pain in the abdomen: You can have internal bleeding or muscle and tissue tears.
- Numbness: Feeling pins and needles in the extremities can indicate nerve damage
- Memory loss: If you notice you don’t remember everything during and after the crash, you can have a concussion.
These symptoms after a severe car accident may be apparent immediately, but not necessarily. They may appear after a few hours or a day. You might not even think you were initially injured. You also can have hidden injuries that take hours or days to manifest, including:
- Herniated discs
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Knee injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Sprains and strains
- Back and spine injuries
- Internal organ injuries
The most important step after a severe auto accident is getting medical care quickly. When you leave the accident scene, go to your doctor or local emergency room to be examined. Tell them that you were in a car accident caused by another person.
Psychological Injuries After Car Accidents
A severe auto accident may not only cause physical injuries. You also can suffer from trauma to your mind. After the initial crash, it’s common for injured people to have various symptoms of psychological distress. These symptoms can arise right after the crash, or it can take time:
- Stress and anxiety
- Fear of driving or being in our around cars
- Recurring nightmares
- Sleeplessness
- Depression
- PTSD
You should seek mental health counseling for any psychological issues that a car accident causes. You can be entitled to compensation for mental health issues after a car accident caused by another party. Your mental health professional’s diagnosis of an accident-related mental health issue can be used as evidence that you deserve more money for mental and emotional trauma.
Get Immediate Medical Care
After any serious car accident, the most critical thing to do is receive immediate medical attention for your physical and psychological injuries. You should always go to the ER or your doctor when you leave the accident scene. There may be severe injuries that you do not notice for several hours. Even a few days can pass before you feel pain from your injuries.
Going to the doctor immediately after the accident serves two purposes. First, a doctor will immediately notice if you have an injury and initiate appropriate treatments. Getting fast medical treatment ensures that your injury is addressed and will not worsen. It can improve the timeline for maximum recovery. It also can prevent a seemingly minor injury from becoming severe or fatal.
There are many stories of people who thought they were uninjured after an auto accident, so they didn’t see a doctor. However, it turned out that they had a severe head or internal injury that they didn’t detect for a day or two. Delaying medical care in these cases can lead to devastating consequences.
Second, delaying medical care can make any subsequent claim or lawsuit more challenging. Let’s assume that another driver injured you in a head-on crash when they went the wrong way on a one-way street. The crash was low-speed, so you didn’t think you were seriously hurt. You didn’t go to the doctor the week of the crash.
However, six days after the accident, you have severe headaches that won’t go away and numbness in your extremities. It turns out you have a severe concussion that has gotten worse over several days, and your prognosis is worse than it was before. It can take months to recover, and you won’t be able to work.
Now you realize you suffered an injury in the accident. But the at-fault driver’s insurance company argues that you didn’t get medical care for almost a week after the crash. You could have fallen and injured your head in your house. They claim they aren’t responsible for your injuries and medical bills.
The bottom line is you should always seek medical care immediately after a crash caused by another party. You want to preserve your legal options if you suffer an injury and are unable to work. Spending two hours at the ER can help immensely in receiving compensation for your injuries in your claim.
Retain An Auto Accident Attorney
After receiving medical care, you should contact an experienced auto accident attorney. Serious injuries require you to receive fair compensation for your medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering. Your personal injury attorney is the person who is most likely to prove fault in your accident and secure the most compensation. Some of your attorney’s most important duties are:
- Vast legal experience with auto accidents: Car accident claims get complicated fast. There can be several parties pointing fingers at others, multiple damaged cars, severe injuries, several insurance policies, and liability issues. A skilled car accident lawyer has the experience and knowledge to ensure the best result.
- Maximize your compensation: Insurance companies offer small settlements to clients without an experienced car accident lawyer. Not getting an car accident attorney immediately increases the risk of falling for a $2,000 settlement offer when you can be owed 20 times more. But you won’t know that if you don’t talk to an attorney immediately. Your car accident lawyer knows how to value your claim accurately and negotiate with stingy insurance adjusters.
- Investigate the accident: The other party’s insurance company won’t accept liability without a fight. This means proving that the other party violated their duty of care, injured you, and caused injuries and damages. Your attorney is highly skilled in investigating car accidents and proving liability.
- Negotiate the best settlement: Most auto accident claims are resolved with a settlement. You stand the best chance of obtaining a higher settlement with a lawyer experienced in negotiating with the insurance company. If the insurance company doesn’t offer enough money, your attorney will know to make a counteroffer. This process may continue for a few weeks until the insurance company makes its final offer.
- Win your case in court: If the insurance company refuses to provide a fair settlement, your car accident lawyer is a skilled litigator who can win the case. They’ll prepare your case for trial to convince the jury that the other party caused your injuries. It’s up to you to take what the insurance company offers or go to court. It’s smart, however, to listen to what your experienced auto accident attorney recommends about settling or going to trial.
- Assist with medical care: Many car accident attorneys network with professionals who will provide necessary medical care on a medical lien basis. This means you don’t have to pay upfront for treatment. They will care for you and wait for payment until your case is settled.
- Handle all insurance and court filings: Your attorney and their staff are paid to handle every aspect of your accident claim. Hand over all the responsibility for the case to them. All you need to do is provide any evidence and documentation you collected after the accident and give it to your car accident lawyer. Then, you can concentrate on improving your health and recovering.
Retaining an experienced auto accident attorney promptly after a severe car accident is imperative. The longer you delay, the harder it may be to obtain a positive result. Injured parties frequently say or do something to negatively affect their claim, such as telling the at-fault party’s insurance company that they ‘feel ok’ after the accident. These statements should never be made to the insurance company because they undermine the argument that you suffered an injury.
Also, the longer you wait to hire an attorney, the harder critical evidence from the crash can be to find. Having a skilled negotiator and litigator in your corner from day one after the accident increases your chances of obtaining the best settlement. Also, all states have a statute of limitations for car accident lawsuits. Your statute of limitations can be only two years from the accident. Many top-notch attorneys won’t take a car accident case if the statute of limitations runs out.
Can I Handle My Case Without An Auto Accident Attorney?
Dealing with a severe accident claim without a personal injury attorney isn’t recommended. Injuries and related accident damages are usually much more expensive than people initially realize. The best chance to receive maximum compensation is to retain an attorney immediately.
Your attorney is paid by a contingency fee, which means they are paid from your settlement or jury award. You do not need to pay legal fees during the case, probably when you aren’t working. Many personal injury attorneys also cover the case expenses, which are paid back at the end of the case.
Speak To A Car Accident Attorney Now
You should immediately speak to a personal injury lawyer if someone’s negligence hurt you. As a car accident victim, you can receive ample compensation for your medical bills, lost work time, and pain and suffering. Your auto accident attorney will not charge legal fees out of your pocket; you only pay if you win the case.
James Wayne Holliday
James Wayne Holliday has been practicing law since 1995. He has been named as a “Best Attorney” Lifetime Charter Member in Florida, an honor awarded to less than one percent of the nation’s lawyers.
Mr. Holliday has earned a reputation as a relentless trial lawyer because of his outstanding work ethic and thorough preparation of his cases for trial.
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