Johnson, Younce, Moore & Moseley, lawyers in Greensboro, NC, North Carolina

Steps To Take After An Accident

1. Get medical treatment as soon as possible.

If you have been injured in an accident, go to an emergency room to have an emergency room physician perform a physical examination. Often, a person who is in an accident is in a state of shock, and is not aware of the severity of their injuries. As a result, it is quite common for people to feel only minimal pain right after the accident, only to wake up the next morning with pain so severe they find it difficult to get out of bed.

2. Contact your insurance agent, whether the other driver is insured or not.

It is your obligation to contact your insurance company after an accident. The company will then send you an Application for Benefits which you must complete and return to them in order for them to start paying for your medical treatment. It is our recommendation that the Application for Benefits form be completed with the advice of an attorney.

3. Follow up with any medical treatment that is recommended for you.

Very often, the emergency room doctor will take x-rays and if they show that nothing is fractured, release you with some pain prescriptions, medical devices, and a recommendation that you seek follow up treatment within one day to one week with your family doctor. Make the appointment as soon as you get home from the hospital. If you do not have a family doctor, find a doctor who specializes in physical injuries to accident victims and make an appointment with that doctor.

4. Tell your doctors every place you are hurting.

You must be careful to tell any doctor who treats you every part of your body that is hurting you, so that the information becomes part of your medical records. Very often, if one part of the body is hurting the very most, a person will only mention that part of the body to the doctor. Only months later, after the problem with that part of the body has been addressed and they are feeling better, the person will mention that a different part of the body hurts. It is very difficult to persuade an insurance company that the injuries to the parts of the body that are not mentioned in medical records until months after the accident were caused by the accident.

5. Get a doctor?s disability note for any time off from work.

If you need to take time off of work because you cannot perform the duties of your job as a result of your injuries, make sure that your doctor prepares a disability slip and notes in his records that he has placed you on disability, and bring or send the slip to your employer. Any earnings that are lost, whether through actual deductions of pay or through the use of vacation or sick time, are recoverable, but only if they have been documented in the medical records and employment records.

6. Ask a family member to take photos of your injuries, your car, and the scene of the accident.

Take photos of all of your injuries a few days after the accident, which is when the bruising may be more visible. The photos of you and your car will prove to be extremely valuable when you try to settle your claim, because they will be the best proof possible of the damage you suffered as a result of the accident. The photos of the scene of the accident may be important for purposes of reconstructing how the accident happened some time later on, when signs and road marks may have changed.

7. Get Information.

Write down the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all drivers and passengers involved in the accident and all witnesses to the accident. Write down the make and model of each car involved in the accident, as well as the license plate number. Also, get the name and address of the insurance company of any other driver involved in the accident. This information is especially crucial if the police don?t come to the accident scene, but even if they do, you can?t be certain that they got the names of everyone - particularly witnesses.

8. Consult with an attorney who specializes in automobile accidents.

Very often, you will be contacted shortly after an accident by either your insurance company or the insurance company of the person who owns the vehicle that hit you for a statement. In addition, you will have to fill out forms from your insurance company in order for your insurance company to start paying for your medical treatment. Do not give any statements written or oral to any insurance company without consulting with a lawyer. Any representative of an insurance company has loyalties to their own company and not to you. If an insurance company representative feels he can get to you without legal representation, he may try to ask you suggestive questions that lead you to give an inaccurate statement of the facts or of your injuries that will later seriously damage your claim. Consult with an attorney before giving any statements. Since all reputable attorneys specializing in automobile accidents cases provide these consultations for free, it costs you nothing to consult with the attorney.

Every business owner owes a duty to the public to keep both the inside and outside of their property in a reasonably safe condition so that members of the public do not suffer harm as a result of entering onto the property, However, too often, individuals who slip and fall in a business establishment immediately pick themselves up, brush themselves off and tell any bystanders (i.e. witnesses) that they are OK. After all, it is embarrassing. The person then walks away happy to leave the scene of such embarrassment and hoping that no one they know saw such a humiliating event. Moreover, people often think it was their own fault that they fell. However, when that person gets home or maybe the next morning, they realize that they are in pain and have suffered an injury as a result of the fall. They may take a couple of Tylenol or Advil and hope the soreness goes away. They may call in sick to work, hoping a day of rest will resolve their discomfort. A couple of days later, the individual realizes that the soreness or discomfort they are feeling is not subsiding, and (in many instances) seems to be getting worse. Only then, often many days after the accident, does an injured victim seek medical attention. And yet, even then, many of these individuals seek medical care with their family doctor who is usually ill equipped to deal with such traumatically induced injuries. Oftentimes, a family doctor will prescribe analgesics, and perhaps a muscle relaxant, along with bed rest for such injuries. Unfortunately, time and again such victims discover that their injuries are far more significant, possibly permanent and will require extensive (and expensive) medical care, including possible surgical intervention. It is at this point that many such individuals seek legal advice from an attorney. Unfortunately, in the foregoing scenario, there may be little an attorney can do to help such an injured victim due to the lack of needed evidence.