What Do I Do if I Think I Have Whiplash?

One of the most frequently occurring injuries that people get from a car accident is whiplash. Happening most often as the result of a rear-end collision, whiplash is the popular nomenclature for referring to “a range of injuries to the neck caused by a sudden compression and extension of the ligaments of the spine.” When someone is diagnosed with whiplash, it means that the ligament has either been hyperextended (stretched beyond its normal range of motion) or torn altogether. The tiny discs located between the vertebrae can also be torn, resulting in what is referred to as a disc herniation.

If you are in California and you have been injured in a traffic accident that has left you with painful whiplash that is going to take a while to heal, it is in your best interest to get in touch with a licensed personal injury attorney as soon as possible. In the meantime, there are two important things you should do:

Seek Immediate Medical Attention

Injuries we receive from traffic accidents can take hours or, oftentimes, even days before they are bad enough to let us know that something is wrong. It is critical to your lawsuit that you seek medical attention promptly after your accident, even if you don’t feel like you have suffered any injuries. A lot of injuries that involve damage to the soft tissue, such as whiplash, are not immediately obvious and present with delayed onset of symptoms. When given all of the facts concerning how your accident took place, what kind and degree of pain you are in, and where you are feeling the pain will help your doctor to get a clear picture of what is going on and see if a diagnosis of “whiplash” is valid under your circumstances.

In the best interest of your injury claim, the first evaluation of your physical health after the accident has to come from a licensed medical professional. This means that you must not make any observations concerning how you are feeling while at the accident scene. After you have been properly diagnosed by your doctor, make sure you maintain and file any paperwork that is given to you at the hospital and get in touch with your California personal injury attorney as soon as you can.

Document Your Medical Expenses

This is one of the most prudent things that you can do to further aid your claim and give your personal injury attorney a leg up. Make sure that you retain a file that includes every single piece of medical paperwork you have received during the course of your treatment. You would do well to also make copies of all the paperwork and keep a backup file stored with your personal injury attorney, just in case something should happen to any of the original documents.

Ensure that you are keeping track of all the times you were required to miss work due to any doctor appointments, therapy, pain from the injuries themselves, all of the miles you have had to drive to accomplish these tasks, any prescription costs, physical or emotional therapy costs, and other costs you may have incurred for home care providers or necessary medical materials.

Whiplash injuries that result in lawsuits are often dismissed as fraudulent claims by slick insurance companies that only have profit in mind. When you have an attorney from the Los Angeles Injury Group on your side you can feel confident that your rights will be taken seriously and that we will endeavor to get you compensation for every damage that you have suffered. If you think you would be interested in a free consultation with one of our qualified attorneys, please give us a call today at 310-954-7248 and find out what we can do to help you.