As you can well imagine, if at the site of an accident, you fail to tell anyone about your pain, that will come back to haunt you in a personal injury case. In fact, all of the people you need to convince including judges, juries and insurance carriers, may doubt your credibility if you were too stoic right after you got hurt.
Some people are just that way. Some people, even though they are hurting, are too traumatized or frightened and they do not want to get in an ambulance or be examined at the hospital. Then, later on, they realize the extent of their injuries and want to pursue a case.
However, if you then choose to sue for compensation, it may be difficult for those who influence the outcome of your case to believe you. They might believe:
1. Your injury could not have been that serious if you were able to leave the scene on your own, without medical attention; and
2. Any injuries you now claim could not have been a result of that recent accident since they did not manifest themselves at that specific time.
This may seem unfair, but look at it through the eyes of jurors who may never have been injured in an accident. Delayed pain or symptoms may not seem so obvious to them. You could, for example, have suffered from brain trauma, which unfortunately, is not always evident right after an injury. In fact, that is precisely what makes brain injury so dangerous. It also is why immediate medical evaluation is so critical, not only to prove your case but also, in some instances, to save your life.
Brain injury is a more extreme example, but you also could have a broken bone or a spinal injury that would not immediately cause you discomfort. Remember, often when you suffer the trauma of an accident, adrenalin is amped up, and you don’t always realize the damage until much later. In the case of any kind of soft tissue injury such as a herniated disc, the damage could be significant and not reveal itself for days, months or even years. The only way to assess your physical condition after an accident is to be examined by a doctor and have the diagnostic tests the doctor deems necessary.
If, however, you make the mistake of avoiding a medical examination following an accident, that does not mean you will not prevail. An experienced personal injury attorney will take that into consideration and work hard to show those who need to know that you do, in fact, have serious injuries as a direct result of that specific accident. Still, though, keep this advice in mind.
