Personal injury attorneys often warn their clients that compensation is never a guarantee because there are so many factors that could affect the outcome of your case. One of these factors is gaps in medical treatment after an accident. How will this affect your case? Here’s what you need to know:
Types of Gaps in Medical Treatment
There are two types of gaps that the insurance company may use against you. The first is a gap between the time that you were injured and the first time you received medical treatment. In this situation, the insurance company may argue that your injuries were not sustained in the accident, because if they were, you wouldn’t have waited so long to get treatment.
The second type of gap in medical treatment is the time between your first and second visit to a doctor. This could affect your ability to recover compensation in some cases. For example, let’s say you visit a doctor immediately after the accident and are told to come back for a follow-up visit in one week. If you wait two months to return to the doctor, this is a huge gap in your treatment. The insurance company will have access to your medical records, so they will see that the doctor requested a follow-up visit in one week, but you chose to wait a month. This shows the insurance adjuster that you did not follow doctor’s orders, which means you could have made your injuries worse because you failed to do what you were supposed to do.
Provide Explanations For Gaps
To prevent these gaps from lowering the amount of compensation you are able to recover, it’s important to provide explanations for any gaps in your medical treatment. For instance, if there was a death in your immediate family, let the insurance company know that this is why you had to push back your follow-up appointment with the doctor. If you went to get a second opinion after your first visit with your doctor, make sure you provide these records as well so the insurance company sees that you were still seeking treatment elsewhere during the gap between the first and second visit. If you don’t have an explanation for any gaps in your treatment, the insurance adjuster will most likely point these gaps out during negotiation process.
Insurance companies will use any excuse they can find to lower the value of your claim, but the personal injury attorneys at Reisch Law Firm won’t allow this to happen. Contact our attorneys today if you have been injured due to the negligent acts of another person. Schedule a free consultation by calling 303-291-0555 or filling out this online form.
