If you are injured, no excuse is good enough to stop medical treatment.
If you are like most, you already have too much going on as it is. Between jobs, families, the holidays, social activities and the like, adding “doctor’s appointment” to your to-do list may seem overwhelming. Unfortunately, even if you have a legitimate reason for missing a medical appointment or stopping medical treatment altogether, you will devalue your accident case and you may not receive just compensation for your injuries if you stop medical treatment or miss doctor’s appointments. The reason is simple- The insurance company will not compensate you for the injuries you claim to have sustained in an accident unless they are documented on paper through your medical records. there are a few precautions you can take to make sure you do not devalue your case if you must miss an appointment:
- If you must miss an appointment, call your doctor and reschedule the appointment for the next day or as soon after as the doctor can see you;
- At your next appointment, tell your doctor why you had to miss the previous appointment, so that your doctor will include this in your medical records;
- If you doctor is planning to release you from further medical treatment, tell him/her immediately if you are still in pain;
- Tell your attorney. If you continue to have pain after the doctor has released you from further treatment, your attorney will know what steps to take to ensure your rights are protected. Your attorney should know what to look for in your medical records to ensure that the extent of your injury and/or any future medical treatment you may require is adequately documented.
For the full article on the importance of medical treatment in your injury case, click here.
