If you don’t notice immediate signs of an injury, a car crash can seem incredibly inconvenient. You think all you have to worry about is property damage, but you have to wait for hours to make a report to the police and arrange for the transportation of your damaged vehicle to a shop or a junkyard.
The last thing you want after several hours of frustrated waiting and red tape is to go sit at a hospital or doctor’s office, waiting for several hours more. However, drivers involved in high-speed crashes or collisions that cause significant damage to their vehicles will almost always benefit from seeing a doctor after a crash.
Why would you need to see a medical professional if you don’t notice any signs of a serious injury?
People don’t always have symptoms at the scene of a crash
Whether you have an abdominal injury from your seatbelt preventing you from flying out of the vehicle or a head injury from hitting your head on the window, you could have severe internal injuries without realizing it.
A traumatic brain injury or internal bleeding into the abdomen will continue to get worse if you don’t seek timely diagnosis and treatment. These injuries could have worse symptoms or even prove life-threatening if you don’t get the proper care.
You cannot conclusively rule out internal injuries or a hairline fracture without medical help, and seeing a doctor as soon as possible will get you the diagnosis and treatment you need.
A quick diagnosis helps build your case
Insurance companies will look for any excuse to minimize how much they owe an individual after a car crash. If they can claim that you suffered the injury elsewhere or worsened it after the crash through bad decisions, you may not get the full compensation you deserve for those injuries.
The sooner after the crash you see a medical professional, the easier it will be for you to prove to an insurance adjuster or the courts that the injury is the result of the wreck.
Rather than going about your day and hoping for the best, seeing a doctor to rule out or diagnose serious injuries after a car crash is a better option for protecting yourself.