The minutes and hours after a truck crash are a blur. Some folks are rushed off in an ambulance, but the majority of folks wait around for the police to arrive and to check out the damage to their cars. They want to deal with what’s in front of them and want to get home safely. If there is pain, that is something they will deal with later or tomorrow.
And for many of those folks, that pain will go away after a few days and life will go back to normal once the property damage is sorted out.
But for some, the pain will linger, get a little worse, and never really go away.
So, let’s take a look at how to get medical attention after a truck crash.
– For those who are taken to hospital, they are immediately under medical care. The ambulance records will usually record the initial complaints and if the patient is conscious. The emergency room will usually do some x-rays and look for cuts and bruises. However, that is where most of the care ends unless there is an immediate problem that requires hospitalization. Most emergency rooms want you out of the hospital and to follow up with an outside doctor.
– For those who go home and experience a lot of pain, they often decide to go to the emergency room or to an urgent care. Again, this is usually only limited medical treatment where they do some x-rays and recommend that you follow up with an outside doctor.
– Some people will wait and make an appointment to see their regular doctor if they have one. Usually, this will be limited treatment also because your regular doctor does not specialize in treating truck accident injuries such as spinal injuries. You can ask that doctor for a referral.
– Most truck crash victims end up seeing doctors, physical therapists and chiropractors who are used to handling car accident cases. This makes sense for a number of reasons. They have the network to refer you to different specialists. For example, a pain management doctor will get you to an MRI facility or orthopedist quickly if you have knee pain. Also, their offices are set up to handle payments from car and auto insurance companies which is different from the health insurance companies your regular doctor is used to. That will save you a lot of headaches.
Dealing with these medical appointments can be frustrating and takes a lot of time and travel out of your life. Here are a few things to remember:
– Getting medical treatment will help you. Even if the pain does not go away, it usually gets less painful and the medical providers will teach you exercises and ideas to help you ease the pain after the treatment ends.
– If you have a standard automobile policy, you probably have good medical coverage that will cover most of the treatment and won’t leave you facing enormous medical bills.
– If your injuries do not get better and you end up filing a lawsuit, the medical treatment is a guide of how you were doing in the weeks and months after the crash. This can be very helpful in explaining your injuries to a judge and jury.
