Understanding the Time and Frustrations of Personal Injury Claims
Of the frequently asked questions I get and of the occasional frustrations that we have with our clients, one of the things that is frustrating to us and frustrating to them is why is my case taking so long. My name is Mike Ashworth. I’m with TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro and I want to explain that because it’s frustrating as all get out to everybody. The way things are when you see advertisements for law or when you talk to a lawyer, you think to yourself this really shouldn’t be complicated, it shouldn’t take long.
It can take months and months and months and months even in relatively simple cases because if the case involves personal injury and if the case involves being treated by a health care provider of some kind, whether it’s for relatively minor injuries, major injuries, catastrophic injuries, what happens is medical bills are being generated and medical records are being generated that are essential. For that case, when we make a demand letter, when we send a letter of representation to a defendant’s insurance company, we can represent what we know at the time but what we don’t always have at that moment is all of your records. What we are finding is it is taking sometimes months to get certain types of records from certain vendors. So there’s some disagreement.
Some disagreement is that we’ll wait until we get to the end of trying to figure this case out and determine what our demand will be. Or you can become a self-archivist and get your records as they go. I recommend the latter. Keep on top of your records because it’s a lot easier for you to get those records than it is for us to get them. Even with medical authorizations, even with our experience and expertise, it’s tough.
Why Government Agencies and Insurance Companies Delay Personal Injury Claims
Where it’s even tougher is when government agencies get involved and they file what’s called liens. And now with social security-type issues, we have to determine that there are no social security ramifications in a settlement. So we have to rely on government agencies to get records that are essential to settle the case. In addition to that, insurance companies are generally not going to settle a case until they get a chance to look at your medical records medical bills, and all the other available evidence. Because how can they evaluate the case if they don’t know what the case is all about? So that can take a considerable period.
And more likely than not, when I did insurance defense, which I did for several years, they’re not going to settle the case until they can take your deposition. Well that doesn’t sound complicated, does it? Well, here’s where it gets complicated. It gets complicated when after the event happened to you causing harm, if you’re continuing to treat, then they don’t want to take your deposition because they don’t know the full extent of what potential damages are. So you’re continuing to treat, continuing to treat, and that can be months, depending on the nature of your injuries. So that delays the process.
Why Quitting Treatment Can Harm Your Personal Injury Claim
Well, then you might be tempted to say to yourself, you know what, if that’s going to happen, if it’s going to slow things down, I’m going to quit treating. That’s a big mistake. And I see it over and over and over because here’s what’s difficult to explain. If your doctors are saying you need to do X, Y, and Z, you need to see this specialist, you need to keep doing these exercises, you need to keep taking these medications, here’s what I think, you may need some long-term or potential surgery down the road. And you sit there and say, well, I want none of that. I’m just going to stop treating so I can get my case settled.
When you do that, the value of your case is going to plummet because now there’s going to be a huge gap in treatment if you go back and treat. And if you settle the case and there’s a potential for future medical, if six months later or a year later you have called caveat emptor, buyer’s regret, you can’t go back and say, well, I didn’t, you know, I was wrong, I need to go ahead and get the surgery. Nope. That is not going to happen. If you do not continue to follow the reasonable medical advice of your care providers, of your medical providers, insurance companies are not going to do it. Once you sign the dial-up line to collect that check and settle the case, then the case is dismissed. That’s it. It’s game over. Please don’t make that mistake.
Contact Us for a Free Consultation
Contact me at TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro or call me at 918-924-5528 but listen to your medical providers.
