Documenting your injuries is essential to ensuring that you can prove the defendant is responsible for your injuries and the value of your damages. Documenting your injuries involves seeking medical care, being honest with your healthcare providers, accounting for future care needs, and demonstrating how your injuries affect your daily life and functioning.
Seek Immediate Medical Attention
Seeking prompt medical attention is essential to protecting your health. It also helps to create a clear link between your injuries and the accident. Insurance companies will scrutinize your medical timeline and blame your injuries on delayed treatment or other causes if your immediate attention was not immediate.
Continue Your Medical Treatment
You should continue your medical treatment to further document your injuries and improve your recovery. Be honest with your healthcare provider about your continuing symptoms and pain. Listen to your medical provider’s restrictions, including taking necessary time off work. Keep all of your appointments. Consistent treatment is key to building a strong San Antonio accident claim.
Keep All Medical Records
Keep an organized file with all of your medical records, including the following:
- Diagnostic tests: Keep records of diagnostic tests, imaging tests, and test results, including X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and lab work that show your injuries and diagnosis.
- Treatment records: Keep your emergency room records, records from follow-up appointments, doctor’s notes, and other medical records that describe the nature of your injuries and your recommended treatment.
- Progress notes: Progress notes can help detail your injuries over time. They can also highlight the need for ongoing medical treatment and future care needs.
- Specialist evaluations: Keep records detailing any visits that you had with orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, physical therapists, neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, pain management doctors, or other specialists.
- Prescriptions: Keep a list of your prescriptions and receipts for all medication you have taken as a result of your injuries.
- Medical devices: Keep documentation recommending that you use medical devices and your receipts for them.
Depending on your particular situation, these additional insurance offerings can be highly useful, but each adds more money to the daily cost of your rental.
Further Document Your Injuries
Don’t rely solely on your medical records. These may not provide the human aspect of your situation. Keep a daily journal in which you document your struggles, concerns, and differences in your life pre- and post-accident. Ask coworkers, friends, and family members to prepare statements about how they think the accident has changed your life. Ask your employer for pay stubs or a letter detailing your missed time from work due to your injuries. This information can further bolster the value of your San Antonio personal injury claim and prepare it for maximum compensation.
Contact Us for Help with Your Medical Documentation
After a serious injury, you have enough to worry about without thinking about whether you have enough paperwork to support your claims. George Salinas Injury Lawyers can help gather the evidence that you need and handle communications with insurance companies. We help ensure that your evidence tells the whole story about how your injuries have affected you. Contact us today to take advantage of a free consultation.