If you’ve sustained a personal injury, whether due to an accident or negligence, your ability to collect for damages and to receive adequate care relies on your injury report. If you wait too long to make a report, an insurance agent, judge or jury may see that as a sign that your injuries aren’t serious. In addition, some states with high insurance fraud rates automatically disqualify people from making personal injury claims if they’ve waited too long to seek medical care.
Prompt Medical Care and Reporting Ensures the Accuracy of Your Claim
If you have to make an insurance claim or sue in a court of law in order to collect money for your injuries, reporting and seeking immediate medical attention will make sure that all your injuries get documented correctly. Putting everything in writing as soon as you can ensures you won’t forget any important details or injuries later. You can always add more to a report later if necessary. Braithwaite Boyle Accident Injury Law, personal injury lawyers in Calgary, advise reporting a personal injury promptly and accurately.
More Documentation Helps You Build and Potentially Win Your Case
When documenting a personal injury, more is always better. Not having important information in writing makes it more difficult to prove your case and may result in a loss or a settlement for far less than your actual damages. The more information you can include, the better, so remember to not only document your injuries but also to discuss things like poor road or building conditions if they apply to your claim.
Waiting Too Long or Not Reporting Can Appear Suspicious
If you don’t make a claim or wait an excessive amount of time to make a report or seek medical attention, an insurance representative or a court of law may suspect that you’ve made a false or fraudulent claim. If you choose not to make a report, prepare yourself to offer a detailed explanation as to why you didn’t report your injuries. Additionally, the party you hold responsible for your injuries may claim that your injured yourself elsewhere.
Reporting Protects You in Case Your Injury Worsens
Correctly reporting your injuries and reporting them in a timely manner safeguards you in the event that your injury gets worse with time. By documenting your initial injury and symptoms, you have a record of the injury’s progression. It’s difficult to trace a severe injury back to its origins if there’s no original record of it.
Reporting a personal injury may seem like the last thing you want to do after recovering from a traumatic event. In the event that you should need to seek monetary compensation for your injuries, having as much evidence as possible can help you win your case.