So, you don’t have medical insurance, or your policy has a very high deductible or co-insurance rate. That could mean that you don’t want to spend the money on a medical examination after a car crash. After all, you’ve already got to worry about missed work and fixing your car. You probably don’t want to worry about medical bills on top of all of those other financial concerns.
If you don’t have any obvious injuries, such as broken bones, you might feel tempted to just move on with your day after the crash and avoid the costs of going to your physician or the hospital.
However, the more severe the damage to your vehicle and the faster you or the other driver were going at the time of the crash, the greater the overall risk for injuries. There are multiple reasons why seeking medical evaluation sooner rather than later will likely be in your best interest.
Not all injuries are obvious after a car crash
Your body responds to the trauma of a vehicle crash by treating it as an emergency. It is common for your brain to pump you full of adrenaline, getting you ready to either fight or flee. Of course, you don’t really need to do either of those things, so the adrenaline won’t benefit you. In fact, it could actually harm you. The adrenal rush you experience after the crash could cover up the symptoms of your injury, meaning you don’t notice the pain because of the adrenaline.
Some of the most serious injuries a person can suffer in a crash, including traumatic brain injuries and internal bleeding, don’t produce obvious and immediate symptoms. Medical evaluation is necessary to diagnose you and make sure you treat these potentially deadly or life-altering injuries.
Faster treatment can improve your prognosis
If you do have an invisible injury such as internal bleeding or a brain injury, time is of the essence. The longer the injury goes untreated and continues to bleed, the worse the overall effect will be on your health. When doctors can immediately find and diagnose these injuries after a crash, your prognosis improves.
Brain injuries, in particular, could worsen and produce new symptoms if not treated after a crash. Internal bleeding, as well, might reach a point where it causes severe, lasting injury before a person knows to go seek medical care for it.
Prompt diagnosis can connect your injuries to the accident
Insurance companies love to be able to pass the buck to someone else. If you can’t conclusively tie your injury and the medical care you’ve received to the crash caused by another driver, the insurance company may claim the injury is not a result of the collision.
In other words, having a physician review you for injuries and symptoms shortly after the crash will make it easier for you to file an insurance claim, negotiate for a better settlement or take civil action against an insurance company or the driver who caused the crash.