Were you or a loved one severely injured after being hit by a vehicle in Florida? Read these Pedestrian Accident Tips and contact us today.
After a Pedestrian Accident
Sometimes, we get asked what to do after a pedestrian-automobile accident has occurred and a client’s been hit by a car. Ironically, the answer to that question is get medical care. That is head and shoulders the first thing you should do.
This case will be over at some point and time. It will be done. Everyone will go on with their lives. You are left with your injury. If you don’t get medical care and get it early on, you jeopardize your ability to maximize your recovery. No one wants to be seriously hurt. No one wants to walk around with a permanent injury. You can help your circumstances by getting medical care. Get it early on. Then follow up with what your doctor tells you to do.
Typically, the first trip is to the emergency room. The emergency room refers you to secondary care, whether it’s an orthopedist, whether it’s your primary care doctor or other healthcare practitioner. They recommend that. You should go get treated, maximize your ability to recover. The longer you wait, the smaller your chances are of maximizing your recovery. Then do what the doctors tell you to. One of the worst things you can do to your lawyer is when he gets your medical records, he sees the word non-compliant. That means you’re not doing what the doctor’s telling you to do. That is deadly to your case.
You don’t want to do that in the first place, but as far as your case is concerned, it throws a dagger into it. Do what the doctors tell you to do. There is every good reason for that. That’s the very first thing you should do is get medical care, follow up, do what the doctors tell you to do. Secondly, get a lawyer involved early on so he can help navigate you through this process, which quite likely is the first time you’ve ever been involved in this situation. Our practice is virtually exclusively personal injury work. We know what needs to be done. Get us involved in the process early.
Common Mistakes in a Pedestrian Accident Case
In looking over cases where pedestrians have been hit by cars, we often see mistakes that they’ve made— unintentionally, most of the time. One of them is they don’t get treated. There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as a minor pedestrian-automobile accident. Sometimes, every so often, someone will get hit, and they don’t think they’re hurt as badly as they are, so they don’t get treated.
They don’t go to the emergency room. They don’t go to their primary care doctor until later. Many times, the injuries don’t manifest themselves or you don’t feel them for several days or weeks later. In these kinds of cases, pedestrians are prone to receiving traumatic brain injuries. Those signs and symptoms don’t surface for weeks and weeks sometimes. If you don’t get a full range of treatment early on, that can be missed. Medical evidence is gone. It’s just a mistake; unintentional, but it’s a mistake. Another is not getting a lawyer involved in the process early on. Preserving evidence is another reason to get the lawyer involved early. Cars typically are not seriously damaged when they hit a pedestrian. They’re repaired and typically repaired pretty quickly. If a lawyer is not involved early on, that’s a piece of evidence which will be gone because no pictures were taken.
Differences Between Pedestrian And Car Accident Cases
What are the differences between an injury case involving a pedestrian versus and one with two automobiles? For one, pedestrian cases are typically more serious cases. There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as a minor pedestrian-automobile accident case. One of the things that is different medically is that so many times, there is a traumatic brain injury that does not manifest itself immediately. We haven’t found a case yet where a pedestrian’s been wearing a helmet. If they get hit, they can strike everything imaginable, including their head.
Traumatic brain injuries can manifest themselves later. That’s why it’s important to get treated completely immediately after the accident. That’s one of the major differences. There are differences connected with insurance as well. If you’ve got that situation where you’ve been hit by a car as a pedestrian, call us. Get us involved early on so that we can help navigate you through those different waters. We’ve been in practice in the Northeast area for 38 years.
Were you or a loved one severely injured after being hit by a vehicle in Florida? Read these Pedestrian Accident Tips and contact an experienced Nassau County pedestrian accident lawyer at Paul Boone Law today for a free consultation and case evaluation.