Gaps in Treatment: How Skipping Doctor Visits Hurts Your Claim

Gaps in treatment and delays in getting medical care can hurt your personal injury claim. The insurance company can use your treatment gaps and missed appointments to argue that your injuries weren’t severe or weren’t caused by the accident. Even if you suffer permanent injuries and chronic pain, the insurance company will use any available evidence to dispute your claim or reduce your damages.

After an injury accident, seek immediate medical attention and follow your doctor’s advice so you can show you did everything you could to mitigate your injuries. Contact a local personal injury attorney for legal advice on getting the right medical care.

Importance of Doctor Visits for Your Medical Record

In a personal injury claim, you must prove the defendant caused your injuries and that you suffered actual harm. Causation and harm are two of the elements of a negligence claim. You need evidence of causation and harm to recover compensation in an injury accident. You can show causation and harm with evidence, including:

• Medical records
• Imaging studies (CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays)
• Videos and photographs
• Eyewitness testimony
• Medical expert testimony

Your medical and hospital records are some of the most important types of evidence in a personal injury claim. Getting immediate medical attention and imaging that shows physical injuries after the reported accident provide strong evidence that the accident caused those injuries.

Regular treatment creates a continuing medical record showing therapies, recovery progress, patient complaints, and follow-up care. This gives medical experts a clearer record to evaluate the extent of the patient’s injuries and helps juries understand the ordeal the patient suffered because of the defendant’s negligence.

Medical treatment can also prove the extent of your injuries and support your economic and non-economic damages in a personal injury claim. Injury victims generally have a duty to mitigate their damages. If the injury victim doesn’t get proper medical attention or follow medical recommendations, the insurance company can argue the victim worsened the injuries, which can reduce compensation.

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How Does the Insurance Company Use Gaps in Treatment Against You?

Gaps in medical treatment can show you didn’t follow medical recommendations and may make you partly responsible for your injuries. It may not seem fair that the driver who caused the accident blames you for your injuries. However, you have a duty to get proper medical care and follow medical advice if you want to recover your full compensation.

For example, another driver rear-ends you in an intersection, causing neck and back injuries. You go to the hospital, and they recommend a course of treatment. Your doctor recommends physical therapy twice a week and schedules surgery to repair damaged tissue in two weeks. However, you are too busy to take time off work and only go to half of your physical therapy and delay surgery for three months.

If you suffer chronic pain and permanent nerve damage, the insurance company can use evidence that you did not follow the doctor’s orders as a contributing factor to your injuries. The insurance company may claim that skipping physical therapy and delaying surgery worsened your injuries. They may claim you could have fully recovered from your injuries but for skipping care and delaying treatment.

What If I Already Missed Scheduled Appointments?

If you already missed a scheduled appointment or multiple appointments, schedule a new appointment as soon as possible. Also, keep a record of why you missed a scheduled appointment.

An explanation shows a justifiable reason for not going to the doctor, not just that you didn’t think it was necessary. Getting back on track can help you obtain the medical records you need to support your case.

Who Pays for Medical Treatment If I Can’t Afford It?

Medical care in the U.S. is among the highest in the world. Even routine care can cost thousands of dollars. Medical debt is one of the most common causes for seeking personal bankruptcy. Seeing a doctor and getting recommended treatment can cause serious financial hardship.

Injury victims without health insurance are responsible for their own out-of-pocket costs of care. Patients with health insurance may still have high co-pays. Doctors may delay care until they receive assurance of payment through a medical lien or agreement that secures their claim to compensation.

Your own health insurance can initially cover your medical care. Your insurance company then uses subrogation to seek reimbursement from the at-fault party’s insurance. If your doctor or healthcare provider will not continue providing care without being paid, your attorney can negotiate a Letter of Protection (LOP) to pay the doctor after you receive a settlement or jury award.

Talk to your health care provider about other ways to lower care costs or set up a payment plan to help pay your medical bills until you settle your claim.

Seek Medical Attention After an Injury

Many slip-and-fall or car accident injuries have delayed symptoms. Head, neck, and back injuries may take days to develop before the victim begins to understand the seriousness of what happened.

Accident victims may go home and feel fine, only to wake up the next day with confusion, neck and back pain, or limited range of motion. Not only can delayed medical treatment make injuries worse, but it can also complicate your personal injury claim.

Going to the emergency room after an accident ensures that a medical professional examines your injuries, provides a diagnosis, and begins immediate treatment to reduce the risk of permanent damage. An ER visit also establishes a medical timeline and shows a clear causal link between the accident and your injuries.

Justifiable Gaps in Medical Care

There are many justifiable reasons why you may miss an appointment with your healthcare provider or delay getting follow-up care. You may still need to explain why you didn’t get the recommended medical care and whether it affected your overall injuries, but a judge or jury may understand your reasoning.

Accident victims still have the real-world problems of balancing competing obligations with limited time. Patients may need to work long hours to pay for medical care. Injury victims also have childcare, family care duties, and work deadlines they need to manage, while taking time off to get physical therapy.

Some injury victims recover temporarily only to have the pain return. Stopping care too early can make it seem like your recovery is complete. Follow your doctor’s medical recommendations until you reach maximum medical improvement.

Be prepared to address your reasons for skipping appointments and show how missing those treatments did not change your overall recovery. Your attorney can use medical experts to show that the defendant caused your injuries and is liable for all your damages, including medical expenses, pain and suffering, and continuing medical care.

Get Legal Advice To Support Your Injury Claim

Immediate and ongoing medical treatment provides evidence to support your personal injury claim. The insurance company can use evidence of missed appointments or treatment delays to reduce your damages. For legal advice on getting the right medical care for maximum recovery, talk to a local personal injury lawyer.