Knowing how to seek compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash is crucial for ensuring you don’t incur financial responsibilities that don’t belong to you after a collision. Delaying medical treatment can significantly complicate a rideshare accident claims process or lawsuit. However, several reasons for delaying medical care exist, such as the many injuries that don’t always present symptoms immediately.
Consult an experienced rideshare accident attorney if you suffered an injury and need to seek compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash. After discovering the specifics of your case, they can provide valuable legal insight into how to proceed and potential settlement amounts. Schedule a free consultation.
Reasons for Delayed Medical Care After a Rideshare Crash
When injuries are obvious and warrant immediate emergency care, an ambulance transports a rideshare crash victim from the accident scene, and insurers don’t typically contest those healthcare costs. However, when a rider delays seeking medical care after a rideshare crash, it gives insurance companies leeway to allege they’re not injured, allowing them to deny valid claims. Still, an injured party may delay seeking medical care after a rideshare crash for many reasons, including the following:
- Shock and Adrenaline: Shock and adrenaline are powerful pain deterrents. They often temporarily mask or reduce the ability to feel the full extent of injuries following a rideshare collision. Adrenaline triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response, lessening the ability to feel pain. This is a standard reason why an injured party may postpone seeking medical care after a rideshare accident.
- Underestimating Injury Severity: Even without the masking effects of shock and adrenaline, people may underestimate the severity of their injuries. It’s typical for people with a substantial threshold for pain or who already rarely go to the doctor for illnesses and injuries to delay medical care after a rideshare crash.
- Busy Lifestyle: When injuries aren’t apparent, most Americans find it unfeasible to spend an entire day and night in the hospital for an evaluation. Between the hustle and bustle of meeting parent scheduling demands and work deadlines to deciding what’s for dinner for the umpteenth billionth time, a busy lifestyle makes it easy to postpone medical care—especially when injuries aren’t obvious.
- Lack of Health Insurance: Injured parties without health insurance face a significant financial dilemma. From the ambulance ride to the accident scene to hospital stays, imaging, and prescription costs, healthcare expenses are astronomical in the U.S. Often, injured parties prioritize personal finances over health and injuries.
Another reason injured parties delay medical care after a rideshare crash may involve a combination of these reasons—while also hoping their symptoms will subside within a few days. It’s not uncommon for people to wait symptoms out for a few days to see if they get better or worsen. Once they worsen, they seek medical care and sometimes discover severe or life-threatening injuries. Despite these valid reasons for an injured party to delay medical care, proving them after a delay can be more complicated. Talk to an experienced rideshare accident lawyer to discuss legal strategies and possible outcomes for your case.
Injuries That May Require Delayed Medical Care After a Rideshare Crash
Not all accident-related injuries present equally. While many are apparent, several injuries resulting from rideshare accidents may be hidden or have a delayed onset of symptoms—from days to weeks to months. Standard examples of injuries that may require delayed medical care after a rideshare crash are as follows:
- Whiplash: Whiplash is a neck injury commonly associated with car accidents. Delayed symptoms can include neck stiffness and persistent pain, dizziness, blurred vision, and headaches, primarily at the base of the skull. It may also cause tingling in the arms, memory issues, sleep disturbances, and difficulty concentrating.
- Infections: Cuts and lacerations inadequately treated after a rideshare accident can lead to severe infection. It’s easy to dismiss a cut as minor, wash it with soap and water, and call it a day. However, the more a person prolongs treatment, the more serious an infection may become—it may even become fatal.
- Concussions: Concussions are the most common type of traumatic brain injury and commonly occur following motor vehicle accidents. They can affect a person’s cognitive function, physical body, sleep, emotions, and feelings. Symptoms of concussion can begin immediately. However, it may take several days to experience symptoms.
- Spinal Cord Injuries: Adrenaline, swelling, and bleeding may delay the symptoms of a spinal cord injury. Depending on the severity, injury symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or weakness in the extremities may take several days to show up, causing a delay in medical care.
- Soft Tissue Injuries: Soft tissue issues include contusions (bruises), sprains, strains, stress injuries, and muscle and ligament tears in places like the shoulders, back, and legs. Pain may be minimal initially but becomes more significant with time, rendering delayed medical care.
- Internal Injuries: Internal injuries without obvious symptoms are hidden and, while they may not be immediately apparent, are serious and require prompt medical treatment and care. Internal injuries include damage to organs—primarily the kidneys, liver, and spleen, collapsed lungs, fractured ribs, and internal bleeding.
- Psychological Injuries: Psychological trauma may manifest as acute stress disorder (ASR) from two days to a month after an accident. When ASR symptoms persist longer than a month, it is classified as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both disorders have symptoms that develop later and are legitimate reasons for seeking compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash when accompanied by physical injuries and actual damages, such as medical bills.
Many injuries associated with rideshare crashes have delayed symptoms. Insurance companies know this and usually attempt to secure a recorded statement from you before the onset of injury. If they can get you to say that you are not injured or do not believe you are injured, they can use it as evidence of you exaggerating or faking your injuries. Do not provide a recorded statement to insurance companies. If you’ve already provided one, contact an attorney to discuss what it might mean for your case.
What to Do if You Delayed Medical Care After a Rideshare Crash
When you have never been in a motor vehicle accident, you have little reason to know that delaying medical care can be costly. There is no reason to beat yourself up or halt moving forward with undergoing medical evaluation and treatment before filing a claim for delayed medical care. When you recognize the need to see a doctor, always get an assessment and follow prescribed treatment. Keep detailed records of monetary losses and pain and suffering, and consult a rideshare accident attorney to discuss strategies for securing a substantial settlement for your injuries.
Seek Medical Care
Delaying medical care doesn’t negate the need to seek medical attention once you realize you have injuries. Your health is your top priority. Go to the doctor and explain the nature of your condition. Be transparent about why you didn’t come in immediately following the collision, and do not exaggerate injuries. Your primary doctor or treating physician will order diagnostics and imaging deemed pertinent after providing a comprehensive medical exam. Documenting the accident and the following symptoms in your medical records is essential for seeking compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash.
Keep Detailed Records
Making and maintaining appointments for medical treatment and rehabilitation services, like physical therapy, is a significant part of ensuring detailed records. Consistency is crucial for establishing a legitimate need for medical care. Rideshare crash victims should keep copies of all medical bills, invoices, receipts, estimates for property damages, lost income statements, and other documents demonstrating monetary losses. Injured parties must keep a post-accident journal to prove non-economic or intangible losses. Journals should include entries outlining the following:
- Overwhelming feelings of emotional distress
- Sleep disturbances, like insomnia or nightmares
- Limitations on the ability to perform daily tasks and chores
- Your level of pain, including the time, location, and duration
- Symptoms of psychological trauma, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD
Your post-accident journal is also where you document a loss of enjoyment of life—including limited or inability to participate in hobbies, sports, and other extracurricular activities that you enjoyed before the rideshare crash.
An attorney will use your detailed medical records, expert witness testimony, and journal to corroborate the extent of your injuries and non-economic damages.
Hire a Rideshare Crash Attorney
Seeking compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash involves addressing complicated legal questions, including potential challenges to liability. Trying to handle this without a qualified lawyer generally results in denied or significantly undervalued claims. Consult a rideshare accident attorney to protect your legal rights, including the right to seek compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash.
How a Rideshare Accident Lawyer Can Help Seek Compensation for Delayed Medical Care After a Crash
Most rideshare accident attorneys work on a contingent fee basis, meaning there are no out-of-pocket expenses. Contingency allows injured parties to focus on recovery while trusting an experienced lawyer to handle the legal aspects of their claim. Having an attorney significantly benefits your case by properly documenting delayed medical care, establishing liability, and negotiating with insurance companies on your behalf.
Documenting Delayed Medical Care After a Rideshare Crash
Rideshare accident lawyers rely heavily on detailed medical records to document delayed medical care properly. They consult medical experts to review records, ensuring proper documentation, including diagnoses, appointment dates, treatment plans, physician notes, and other relevant details. They may also gather correspondence records between you and treating physicians relating to concerns about delays and requests for expedited patient care.
Establishing Liability
Determining liability after a rideshare crash can be complex and may involve investigating multiple parties. In the event of multiple liability, your attorney will negotiate with all liable insurance companies to secure compensation for delayed medical care and other damages. Parties who may be liable for injuries and damages following a rideshare crash include:
- Rideshare Drivers: The driver of the rideshare vehicle is liable when their negligence causes the accident—for example, being impaired, distracted by a text message, or ignoring traffic laws.
- Rideshare Companies: When drivers are in-app and available or actively providing a ride, rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have third-party liability insurance covering them. Most coverage has higher limits when drivers are actively transporting a passenger. Rideshare companies may be liable if they fail to conduct proper background checks or ignore a driver’s poor driving history, such as having a record of DUIs.
- Other Motorists: Other motorists’ negligent actions or intentional wrongdoings hold them liable in the event of a rideshare collision. For example, if a rideshare vehicle is rear-ended or sideswiped by a distracted or aggressive driver.
- Pedestrians and Cyclists: If a pedestrian or bicyclist causes a rideshare crash, their insurance companies may be partially or entirely liable for injuries and damages.
Local municipalities or government agencies may be liable when hazardous road conditions contribute to or cause a rideshare crash. Dangerous road conditions may include large potholes or sinkholes, insufficient lighting, malfunctioning traffic lights, and missing or inadequate road signage. Securing a settlement from the government is considerably more challenging and requires the assistance of an experienced attorney.
Negotiating With Insurance Companies
Negotiations are usually the final stage of the insurance claims process and can involve several exchanges before agreeing on terms. Your lawyer will send insurers a demand letter for damages. When there are multiple liable insurance companies, the process can be slower. However, insurers will issue your lawyer a check once all parties agree to the terms. Your attorney will collect their contingency fee, negotiate with medical providers to reduce your costs, pay medical liens placed against your settlement from providers, and issue a check for the remaining compensation.
Consult a Rideshare Crash Attorney
Consult a personal injury lawyer to explore possible strategies and outcomes for seeking compensation for delayed medical care after a rideshare crash. You’ll want an experienced legal professional to assess and value your claim’s full potential. Schedule a free case evaluation today.