An Overview of Medical Treatment after an Auto Accident in California

Justin H. King, personal injury attorney in the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino County, California), talks about medical treatment after an accident/injury.

The Significance of Seeking Medical Attention in the Aftermath of a Vehicular Accident and Other Important Factors to Consider

Undergoing an auto accident can be one of the most traumatic experiences a person can endure. Whether the accident is minor or catastrophic, seeking medical aid for an injury is important. This is particularly true if the accident victim is considering filing a personal injury claim. In fact, seeking medical care after a car accident is one of the most important pillars in presenting a strong personal injury claim.

If you or someone you know has recently been involved in an auto accident, consider seeking the legal expertise of a skilled attorney who understands the importance of obtaining medical attention. As a victim, it is likely that you will have questions concerning medical care, contact the support of a trusted attorney who can answer your questions.

Attorney Justin H. King is highly proficient in the field of personal injury claims regarding auto accidents. He has dedicated his career to helping auto accident victims obtain the financial compensation they deserve in the aftermath of an auto accident.

Seeking medical care involves several important factors that you, as the injured victim, should consider. This article will help to explain some of the most vital elements you should understand in order to safeguard your rights.

Seek Medical Attention Early

Contingent on the events surrounding your case, you may or may not require the aid of emergency medical services. If an accident involves seemingly catastrophic injuries, it is likely that the victim will be rushed to a nearby hospital. In other cases where an injury is not immediately apparent, the victim will need to independently seek medical attention.

If you do not require the need of emergency medical services, for whatever reason, it is important that you understand that many injuries will not be apparent straightaway. There are a number of factors that can contribute for the lack of sensitivity to an injury. For instance, a victim can typically fail to recognize whiplash in the aftermath of an accident due to the sudden adrenaline rush. Furthermore, there are a multitude of other medical ailments that can take days to surface. For these reasons, it is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible after an auto accident.

Seeking medical attention as an injured victim is imperative in seeking financial compensation for the injuries sustained. A person who fails to obtain a medical record can find that his or her case will likely not be successful. Similarly, an individual who has obtained medical attention but has done so several days or weeks after the accident can find little credibility to his or her claim. Many courts can place blame on the victim for their lack of urgency in seeking aid, which could have potentially made the ailment worse.

Maintain Diligence When it comes to Medical Aid

Identifying that a medical ailment has transpired as a result of an auto accident is not the only important factor when ensuring a strong personal injury claim is filed. It is important that accident victims maintain and follow up with their medical care after the initial doctor’s visit. Just as delaying medical care can have a negative impact when seeking financial compensation, not following up can also affect a personal injury claim. For instance, a person who has failed to continue physical therapy sessions can find that a court will determine that his or her lack of care has caused the ailment to become worse.

Seeking Health Care Coverage from Your Healthcare Provider

Unfortunately, there is the common misconception that when an auto accident has occurred, the victim cannot seek medical attention from his or her primary health care provider. If you have health care coverage, you have every right to be medically cared for by your primary healthcare provider.

When you have sustained injuries as a result of a negligent party, it is likely that you will try to obtain financial compensation for the injuries you have sustained. Upon a successful claim, you will be able to pay for your medical expenses; however, you should not wait to obtain monetary compensation. Seek medical attention from your provider as soon as possible. You may have to pay certain fees such as co-payments but these and other medical-related fees can be fully compensated by the negligent party.

Once you have sought the help of an expert attorney, keep track of your medical expenses as your case progresses so that the bills are covered by the negligent party’s insurance company. A lawyer with the right expertise can guide you through what important documents you should collect so that you have a greater opportunity at obtaining a successful personal injury claim.

Important Factors to Consider When Using Auto Insurance Medical Payments Coverage

Many auto accident victims will have medical payments coverage under his or her auto insurance policy. If you have medical payments coverage, this coverage can help you pay for out-of-pocket costs which can later be reimbursed by the negligent party. Typically, medical payments coverages will allow for up to a $5000 limit. Consider speaking to an attorney who can help you obtain financial compensation for your injuries.

Seeking the Aid of a Doctor Rendering Aid on a Lean Basis

One of the most common questions asked by auto accident victims is if he or she should seek medical attention from their primary healthcare provider or one recommended by his or her attorney. This will vary depending on the circumstances but for the most part, auto accident victim should seek medical support from their primary health care provider.

Generally, auto accident victims should seek medical attention from his or her primary health care provider to ensure that the doctor is overseeing the medical treatment needed, not the attorney. An auto accident victim should seek the support of a healthcare provider who is not interested in the outcome of the case.

Regrettably, many health care providers will solely seek to treat the illness at a surface level without running proper tests to determine if further injury has occurred. When a victim cannot obtain the necessary medical treatment from his or her primary health care provider, it is important that he or she speaks to an attorney who can direct him in obtaining the appropriate medical care. Similarly, accident victims who do not have health care coverage should let their attorney know.

Seek the Legal Guidance of a Proficient Personal Injury Attorney

A person who has undergone an auto accident can suffer injuries that can range anywhere from minor cuts and abrasions to catastrophic injuries. For a majority of all personal injury cases, accident victims will find themselves with high medical costs and oftentimes, with the inability to earn an income. If you or someone you know has suffered injuries as a result of an auto accident, seek the legal expertise of a proficient attorney who has experience in dealing with auto accident claims.

Attorney Justin H. King has dedicated his career to helping auto accident victims obtain financial compensation for their injuries. Attorney King is highly experienced in the field of auto accident claims. Personal injury claims in the State of California are highly time sensitive; seek legal expertise as soon as possible.

Transcript: My name is Justin King and I’m a personal injury lawyer here in the Inland Empire. I want to talk to you today about just a few things involving your medical treatment after you’ve been involved in an accident. One, it’s important that you get medical treatment early. On the day of the accident. Sometimes that’s just happens because you’re transported by an ambulance to a hospital or something like that. If you’re not, get yourself to the doctor immediately. It’s important that you document the fact that you were injured in the accident and what physically happened to you as a result.

The next thing is make sure that you follow up with your medical care. If the doctor sets an appointment for you to come in or have a diagnostic test, you need to show up to those appointments. If you don’t, it will later be used against you and they will argue, the other side will argue that you didn’t do all that you could to get better. The next thing is I often have clients come to me and say that their health provider has told them that they can not bill their health insurance because they were involved in an accident. That is completely inaccurate. That is why your health insurance is there, and the healthcare provider can bill your health insurance.

What happens is the health insurance will provide you the care immediately up front. It does take some time for you to get compensated for the other driver. So, while that process is ongoing, you can get your medical treatment from your health insurance and your provider can bill your health insurance directly. Throughout the process of getting medical care, you may have things like co-pays or coinsurance that you have to come out of pocket. Again, it does take some time to get fully compensated from the other driver, the other insurance company and we don’t want to resolve your case early on because all that does is one, it leaves us in a position where we may not know yet what is going on with you medically because you haven’t gone through your medical care.

The second thing is is all those medical bills that you’re incurring, those are costs that we can get from the other insurance company. So, if we resolve your case early, then we’re kind of leaving money on the table for you and we don’t want you to do that. So, if you do have co-pays or coinsurance that you have to come out of pocket for, just keep track of those and when you do retain a lawyer or if you already have a lawyer, provide receipts or credit card bills or documentation of those out of pocket expenses because your lawyer can then go and recover those costs from the insurance company on the other side.

You also want to be mindful of the fact whether you have what’s called medical payments coverage under your auto insurance policy. Many auto insurance policies provide for med pay coverage. Usually it’s up to about $5000 but sometimes it can even be higher. That’s what med pay is there for. It’s an immediate no fault remedy for you to or for your lawyer for you to get money from your auto insurer up to the limit of the $5000 limit or whatever your limit is so that you’re not out of pocket in the meantime for those co-insurance payments or those co-payment while we pursue the action to get money back from the other driver.

The other thing is, clients always ask me, “Justin is it better to treat with a doctor that you recommend to me on the lean basis, which means they treat now and they get paid later after the case settles or is it better to go through my health insurance coverage?” I always tell my clients it’s better to go through your health insurance coverage and there are multiple reasons for that. The first one is just simply a biased thing. If I refer you to a lawyer or if the lawyer is referred by me, it looks like me as the lawyer is directing your medical care and I don’t want that. I want your doctor to be directing your medical care and I want the jury to ultimately believe that your doctors are driving your medical care and your medical decisions.

The second thing is that medical treater who treats on a lean can then be said to be financially interested in the outcome of the case because they only get paid when the case resolves. So, I want to avoid that and I want clients to get treatment through their health insurance. Now, that doesn’t always work. Sometimes health insurers are very conservative with their treatment and they won’t do the necessary tests that are needed to find out fully what is going on with you physically. Another thing kind of creeps in and that is the medical treaters tend not to really care why or how your injury happened. They just want to treat your injury itself. So, they may not do various diagnostic tests that will show why or how your injury happened.

Now, for you personally and for your lawyer and for your case, it is critically important why and how your accident/injury happened. Therefore, if you are getting medical treatment and you are facing either of those two conditions where you don’t feel like you’re getting complete care from your provider or they aren’t doing the diagnostic test that they need to to find out how or why your injury happened, then talk to me, or talk to a lawyer whoever your lawyer is, and tell them that because we do have medical providers that are very qualified, very good medical providers that can treat on a lean. We do interact with various X-ray and MRI facilities that will do those kinds of tests on a lean and we can do kind of a hybrid of treatment where you’re getting some care on a lean and some through your health insurance and that way you’re getting complete care for you and we’re getting all the information that we need to document your case and prove that your injury was caused by the accident.

If you do not have health insurance, please tell your lawyer. Tell me if I’m your lawyer. I will send you out to a doctor to treat on a lean basis because that is your only option if you do not have health insurance. These doctors are good doctors. They will give you good care, but ultimately I come back to the major point that if you are getting solid comprehensive treatment through your health insurance, it is important to keep it that way for the reasons I’ve already talked about and the last reason is this. The medical providers that treat you on a lean, they’re going to ultimately want to get paid back from your settlement. Your health insurance company, they have a contractual right to get payback for what they pay for your healthcare.

I have as a lawyer a lot more legal leverage against your health insurance company to drive how much they are reimbursed. Sometimes up to 50, 60, and sometimes even 70% reductions on what they get paid back at the end of the day and I have some leverage against these lean doctors but I don’t have as much. So, if you can get your treatment through your health insurer, that’s great. Please do that. Obviously if you’re not getting the care you need then we can look at different options. If you have any questions or you’re concerned about your rights after an auto accident, please give my office a call. I’ll be happy to speak with you. Visit my website. There’s information on there and I wish you the best of luck.

Categories : Auto Accidents, Medical Treatment, Personal Injury Misc.

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By Justin H. King, Esq. | Posted on December 27, 2018

Melinda Jordan

09:02 18 Dec 22

I went from feeling like a basket case from all the stress to feeling calm and collected after talking to Justin. He is a phenomenal personal injury lawyer and is a truly calming and reassuring presence. This firm helped me in ways I can't even adequately put into words, other than to say Thank You, Justin, to you and your awesome team.

Marjorie Harris

04:14 18 Dec 22

After an auto accident, I felt really nervous calling an attorney because I had never worked with one before. But from the first conversation I had with Jessica, I felt so at ease. Justin then called me and was so easy going and we had a nice conversation too. The entire staff took great care of me and I am very happy.

Sheila Hughes

03:45 18 Dec 22

I was in a car accident that was not my fault two years ago. A friend of mine had a family member who had been helped in the past by Justin King, and they suggested I call him. I'm so glad I did! Justin and his team took great care of my situation and got a great settlement for me. I highly recommend them if you have been in an accident. You will be very happy with what this firm. They are smart, hard-working, honest, and take great care of their clients.

Margaret James

04:43 01 Dec 22

Justin's entire staff is the best car accident lawyer team in Rancho Cucamonga. Justin, Oliver, Jessica, and Garrett all provided me with excellent service and treated me like family. They are all such great people, and always so honest and responsive to me. I gladly recommend them to anyone needing the services of a car accident lawyer in the Inland Empire.

Wm Holland

06:13 17 Nov 22

When I needed a lawyer following a car accident on the Interstate 15 Freeway in Rancho Cucamonga, Justin King, and his team were there for me. I appreciated how his entire staff always seemed happy to answer my questions and were so good about returning all my phone calls and emails. I could tell this firm has immense experience in helping people get their life back after an unfortunate car crash. I was so happy with the outcome of my case and the results Justin obtained from the insurance company on my behalf. I have recommended their office to all my family members and neighbors. I hope you never need to call them. But if you need the best car accident lawyers, I can vouch that they are excellent.