Imagine that you have just been involved in some sort of an accident. If you're like most people in California and around the country, your first thoughts probably turn towards your wellbeing. You likely assess your injuries, checking to see if there are any physical signs like cuts, bruises or even pain. If you believe that you are injured, your next thoughts may turn to compensation for your medical expenses. You may even consider talking to your lawyer if you encounter some legal challenges.
If you're like a lot of our frequent readers, you know that not every injury suffered in an accident may be visible initially. Injuries such as whiplash and brain injuries may not present symptoms right away, giving accident victims the false impression that they are fine when in fact they need medical attention.
As you can imagine, injuries that take awhile to emerge can create major problems for accident victims because they can greatly affect how much compensation they ask for from the at-fault party. To illustrate this point, consider what would happen if you waited too long to seek medical treatment for a brain injury.
If you filed for compensatory or even punitive damages, the compensation you could ask for might be reduced because you waited to seek treatment. Early treatment might have reduced the damage you suffered as well, which could also play a factor in compensation as well.
Most people probably don't think about this aspect of a personal injury claim until it's too late, which is not a mistake we want any of our Sacramento readers to make. That's why we want all of our readers, including those outside of Sacramento County, to know that talking to a lawyer after an accident is an incredibly good idea because they can point out things you might miss, such as early medical treatment that could play a factor in your claim later on.