If you or somebody you care about sustains an injury caused by the actions of another, you will want to do anything you can to recover maximum compensation. Perhaps the most important aspect of this process is continuing all medical treatment recommended by a doctor. Medical bills are one of the largest expenses that individuals face after sustaining an injury, and the continued treatment of that injury plays a crucial role in the case.
After an injury occurs, it is not uncommon for an individual to go to the hospital or to their primary care physician for treatment. Any person who sustains an injury, or even a suspected injury, caused by the careless or negligent actions of someone else needs to go to the doctor, even if they do not feel any pain right away. The signs and symptoms of some injuries do not show up until hours after an incident occurs in many cases, but this delay in medical treatment could be a signal to the insurance carriers that the pain and suffering a person who claims did not actually happen in the original incident.
However, one mistake that some individuals make is that they discontinue medical treatment soon after the initial incident, even against the advice of the doctor.
When there is a potential personal injury claim or lawsuit, or if a lawsuit or claim has already been filed, injury victims must continue all medical treatment recommended by their doctor. Even if a person starts to feel better, this does not necessarily mean that they have fully recovered. Best tempting as it can be to end medical treatment and get back to living a normal life, this is typically not the best route towards recovering maximum compensation for an injury. Discontinuing care could jeopardize the entire claim.
When a doctor is treating a personal injury victim, they are going to do everything they can to ensure a person fully recovers. Often, a full recovery means just that – that a person is back to normal, in the same state they were before the injury occurred.
However, full recovery is not always possible after a person sustains an injury. Some injuries are so severe that individuals will not recover to the point that they are the same as they were before the incident occurred. For example, if a person sustains a spinal cord injury as a result of a vehicle accident, and this injury leaves them with left-sided weakness, this will significantly affect their ability to carry out day-to-day activities or work their job.
What the doctor is looking for in these situations is something called maximum medical recovery (MMI). A person will reach maximum medical recovery if the doctor determines that they have recovered as much as possible with the currently available medical care. This does not necessarily mean that they have fully recovered. It just means that they are not going to recover any further, and continued medical treatment is likely not necessary.
Maximum medical recovery is important because individuals should not settle their claim until a doctor says they have reached this point. Settling a claim before a person has reached MMI could jeopardize total compensation amounts. Call us today to speak with an experienced Denver personal injury lawyer.
