How Long After a Car Accident Can You go to the Hospital?
How Long After a Car Accident Can You go to the Hospital?
Being involved in a vehicle accident can be a terrifying experience, but not everybody goes to the hospital right away after the incident occurs. However, there are times in the aftermath of an accident when a person may think that they do need medical assistance when they actually do. Some accident injuries are immediately noticeable when a crash occurs. Here, our Riverside injury lawyers want to discuss how long you have after a car accident to take yourself to the hospital.
Why Seeking Medical Care Quickly is Important
If you are involved in a car accident, the number one course of action is to seek immediate medical care. There are various reasons why this is incredibly important. First, you need to ensure your well-being after a vehicle accident occurs. The signs and symptoms of many car accident injuries do not appear until hours or even days after the incident occurs. You do not want hidden injuries to go untreated for very long. Additionally, car accident insurance carriers are looking at your actions after the incident. If you do not seek immediate medical care, this can make it more challenging to recover compensation.
Car Accident Injuries Can Appear Later
Even though insurance carriers will put up a fight when it comes to providing compensation for those who did not seek medical care right away, they do know that there are times when car accident injuries do not appear until later.
The fact of the matter is that signs and symptoms of many vehicle accident injuries do not appear until hours, days, or weeks after a crash occurs. If you or somebody you love has been involved in a vehicle accident and begins to experience delayed injury symptoms, you need to seek medical care as soon as possible. Again, the quicker medical care can be obtained, the easier it will be to link the injuries to the crash.
Some common examples of late-appearing injuries include soft tissue injuries and traumatic brain injuries. One of the most common soft tissue injuries after a vehicle accident is whiplash, an injury that occurs when the muscles and ligaments of the upper back and neck are stretched due to the back-and-forth motion caused by a vehicle accident. Additionally, a concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that may not show any signs or symptoms for quite some time after a crash occurs.
If you were in a truck accident, you will want to seek medical attention as soon as possible and reach out to a Riverside truck accident attorney.
Will Delayed Treatment Be Covered?
Even if you think you may be seeking medical care too late after an accident occurs, you still need to go to the emergency room or a doctor to receive treatment. Under no circumstances should you let the possibility of not receiving compensation keep you from ensuring your well-being after a crash.
As we mentioned above, insurance carriers will most certainly put up a fight if you decide not to seek medical care right away, only to go to the doctor later on. In fact, the insurance carrier may try to say that you were injured in another way during the period between the crash and the injuries you are reporting. However, a skilled car accident attorney in Riverside will be able to step in and help establish a timeline of events that links the injuries to the vehicle accident. You need to speak to an attorney as soon as possible after a vehicle accident occurs so you can receive guidance on the best steps moving forward for your particular case.