I didn’t go to the hospital after my car accident. Can I still file a personal injury lawsuit?

In Illinois, there is no law requiring you to go to the emergency room after a crash in order to file a lawsuit. In fact, we’ve had many clients with successful cases over the years that refused an ambulance and didn’t seek emergency room treatment immediately following an accident.

There are many reasons people do not seek immediate medical treatment. Oftentimes, our clients are intimidated by the expense of an ambulance trip or ER visit. Other times, they believe that their injury is temporary and will go away over time.

We’ve even had clients who refused medical treatment because they were more concerned about being there for a spouse or a child who was also injured in the crash.

Despite these reasonable explanations for you may not seek emergency medical treatment, insurance companies will often try to use the lack of immediate treatment as an indication that the person wasn’t actually injured, or at least not to the extent claimed. It’s nonsense.

Sometimes, your injury doesn’t appear right after a car accident

Consider this example which we’ve seen countless times. Someone is rear-ended in traffic. Right away, the rear-ended driver feels pain in her mid-back, but it’s not overwhelming.

The adrenaline floods her body to mute the pain receptors. After exchanging information and filling out a police report, she goes home thinking she has a minor back strain. About a week later, however, the pain in the mid-back has not gone away.

At this point, she decides she is going to see her primary care doctor. Her PCP prescribes some painkillers and asks her to follow up in a couple of weeks if she still has pain. After a few weeks, the painkillers have not worked so she returns to her PCP.

She is referred to an orthopedic specialist who thinks that she will benefit from some skilled physical therapy. After four weeks of PT, the pain in the mid-back has not gone away. When she goes back to the orthopedic specialist, he orders her an MRI.

Almost two months after her car crash, the MRI reveals what has been causing her pain this entire time: a herniated thoracic disc, an injury commonly associated with rear-end vehicle collisions.

In the above example, the injured person thought she had a minor or mild injury at the scene of the crash. That’s why she didn’t seek treatment on the day of the crash. Unfortunately, she was wrong. She had a permanent injury that will likely cause her problems for the rest of her life.

There is no law preventing you from filing a lawsuit in Illinois

The Illinois legislature recognizes that this type of fact pattern plays out all the time. As a result, the legislative body has never instituted any sort of lawsuit preclusion for individuals who wait and see if their injury would resolve on its own before seeking medical treatment.

None of this is to say “hold off on receiving medical treatment as long as you can.” In fact, it is the opposite.

If you are in pain, talk to your doctor. Even if a doctor’s visit is just a short visit to explain your symptoms, it is worth it. It will be more difficult for an insurance company to claim that you were not injured in the crash if there is medical treatment close in time to the crash.

Be aware, however, that you may still have a case even if you did not seek immediate treatment. In either case, it is a good idea to contact an attorney to discuss your potential claim and explore all avenues of possible recovery.

Injured in a car accident? We can help.

If you or someone you know was injured in a car accident, contact the experienced attorneys at Shannon Law Group today. Our offices are located in Chicago and Woodridge in Illinois. We’re ready to help you no matter where you live in Illinois. We will personally review your case, at no cost to you.

Call us 24/7 at (312) 578-9501 or fill out the form at the bottom of the page to get started.