Who Pays For Car Accident Pain?

After an auto accident, you might be left with a lot of pain from whiplash. Getting compensation for your pain is a bit of a complex process, but here are some of the steps you can take.

Get a Medical Evaluation

The first thing you should do is get a medical evaluation. This will document very clearly that you sustained some injuries directly after the car accident. You might also discover new injuries that you hadn't sought treatment for. In the case of whiplash, there can be hidden spinal damage that doesn't emerge for a long while after the accident unless you visit a chiropractor and get an x-ray. If you continue to seek chiropractic treatments for car accident pain, your initial medical evaluation will be the key to getting compensation for those ongoing treatments.

File an Insurance Claim

When you file your insurance claim, there are a few different outcomes. Sometimes it can be difficult to get coverage for medical bills if there was a no-fault accident. The insurance company will need to see clear documentation of your expenses and medical prognosis when they are evaluating an insurance claim. Based on their investigation, they will offer you a settlement for what they think is fair compensation.

Evaluate Whether the Claim Is Fair

Finally, you will have to decide whether to accept what the insurance company offers or go for higher compensation. If you have to go to many follow-up chiropractic or other specialist visits, make sure that these are accounted for in the numbers that the insurance company offers you. Sometimes an insurance carrier will try to lowball you when you file an insurance claim, in which case you will need to decide whether to pursue a personal injury case.

The benefit of filing for personal injury is that it is often a more comprehensive settlement. It will include all of your medical bills, plus compensation for other losses, including time that you had to take off work for your injuries. It may also include a pain and suffering multiplier. This basically means that the judge will multiply the cost of your tangible losses (such as medical costs) by several times, depending on how the severe your injuries are, to compensate you for the emotional loss associated with pain and suffering. If you think it would be worth your time to pursue this kind of a settlement, contacting a car accident attorney is a great idea.

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