Injured | 7 reasons to see a doctor and fast!

As a busy mother of two I’ve spent a few long nights at accident and emergency in the hospital. Most injuries have been for my son, now nine, who as a regular boy has got himself into all kinds of trouble. Just to name a few my son cut his thumb open with a blade once and also walked into a door, which resulted in a large egg-shaped bump protruding from his forehead. Thankfully, he was OK.

While it’s unlikely you will need to seek advice for a bleeding kid, other than to get the poor soul fixed, an adult injury has even further complications in terms of compensation depending on the circumstance.

1. Don’t delay medical attention

While it is obvious to most mums like me to rush to emergency when a kid is bleeding it is astounding the number of people who delay medical attention for all kinds of reasons.

Here, we will detail why it is important to seek medical attention and why your personal injury lawyer will likely advise that you should be assessed by an expert to provide a report on the injuries you sustained in order to support your claim for compensation.

2. Identifying your injuries for your own sake

From a medical point of view most importantly, it is beneficial to seek immediate treatment so that any injuries can be properly identified by a medical professional and treated to ensure the best recovery possible.

3. Get some legal advice for compensation sake

From the point of view of a personal injury lawyer who is looking to protect your legal right to compensation it is vital that a person seek medical attention early to establish a link between the injury and the accident in which it occurred.

4. See a Doctor immediately

Put simply, delaying medical attention because of a fear of doctors, inconvenience or being stoic will make it more difficult to prove that the accident was the sole cause of your injury or the cause of your injury at all. A delay could mean that an Insurer or a Court may question whether another event aggravated or even caused the injury, which has the potential to severely impact your claim for compensation. It is also important to report to your doctor all of the symptoms which you are experiencing when you are experiencing them and be honest about any pre-existing conditions or injuries you have.

5. Your insurer might request it

It is not uncommon that an Insurer will choose to request you undertake a further examination by a doctor of their choosing. Pursuant to the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 you must comply with request to undergo such an examination at the Insurer’s expense as long as such a request is not “unreasonable or unnecessarily repetitious” (s46A(3)).

6. Select the right specialist

When selecting a specialist for an Independent Medical Exam (IME) is very important to select specialists who are considered experts in their particular field so that they can be confident that we are obtaining a report from a person whose evidence could be relied on in a Court. You also need to consider the unique circumstances of your claim, the type of injuries you sustained and the experience of the medical professionals consulted.

Once you have chosen your specialist, you should also provide the independent medical examiner with all the documents and information that is relevant to the injury such as medical certificates, witness reports, employer reports of injury and any other clinical notes/report.

7. Consider getting a lawyer

Obtaining a report from an expert medical specialist can be costly and timely but when you choose an expert personal injury lawyer, like Sinnamon Lawyers , who operate on a “no win, no fee” basis you can be certain that during the claim you will not be out of pocket for the cost of the examination and report.