National news outlets have been watching one of the state’s largest murder cases involving Dr. William Husel, 46, who worked as a nighttime physician at the Intensive Care Unit of Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
From February 2015 to November 2018, Husel was known to prescribe extremely high doses of fentanyl painkillers to his patients. Over the course of two and a half years, numerous deaths of patients occurred, which were documented by the Columbus Dispatch. The ages of the patients who died ranged from 37 to 82.
After questions were raised about patient care, Husel was fired on December 5, 2018. At that time, the hospital notified the State Medical Board of Ohio and met with the Franklin County prosecutor. After an internal system, the hospital system said it fired 23 nurses, pharmacists, and managers.
In the nine-week murder trial which concluded earlier this month, jurors considered whether Dr. Husel was providing compassionate “comfort care” to patients near death or was intentionally overdosing them to hasten their deaths. In their opening argument, Franklin County prosecutors stated that the case was not about “comfort care” but about a doctor’s abuse of sick people.
Ultimately, after six delays of deliberations, Husel was acquitted on 14 counts of murder. Although he had been charged in 2019 with 25 counts of murder, a county judge had dismissed 11 of the charges, for reasons that are still not clear.
Husel was defended by Jose A. Baez. If the name sounds familiar, Baez famously represented high-profile defendants Casey Anthony, Aaron Hernandez, and Harvey Weinstein. Baez argued that there was “no such thing as a medical murder case.”
For the family members of all of Dr. Husel’s victims, the verdict is disappointing. However, he still faces civil liability related to his patients’ deaths. The civil justice system often plays a significant role in bringing victims closure, albeit a different type of closure. The burden of proof in a civil case is different than that in a criminal case. In the criminal cases, the prosecutors had to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt, that Dr. Husel intended to kill his victims. In a civil case, the plaintiffs, who are the estates of the deceased victims, will have to prove that more likely than not, Dr. Husel’s decisions and actions were negligent and that his negligence was the proximate cause of the victim’s deaths.
A common example of exoneration in a criminal trial but a different result in civil court is the OJ Simpson case, where Simpson was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman but ended up with a $35 million verdict against him in the civil case. Although Dr. Husel did not testify in his murder trial, he will most likely be deposed in his civil case.
In Dr. Husel’s case, the hospital’s involvement is significant, particularly their administrative action of firing 23 other employees. If the hospital’s negligence, or the negligence of their employees, contributed to the death of patients, they may also be liable for their actions. In the end, the families who lost loved ones who were in the care of Dr. Husel and/or Mt. Carmel will have a second opportunity to seek justice in Ohio’s civil justice system.
We will be closely watching the development of the civil case and the implications for Ohioans, especially the most vulnerable of all needing critical care.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, you may be wondering how your settlement will be handled by a claims adjuster and calculated by an insurance company.
What is the settlement value of a personal injury case?
What factors go into the decision?
How do they calculate the compensation and/or damages you are eligible for?
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how car accident settlements are calculated and the factors that may reduce the settlement value of your case.
How Do Insurance Companies Calculate a Car Accident Settlement in Ohio?
Historically, a claims adjuster would manually take down your information and provide the calculations for your car accident claim. The modern approach to calculating a car accident claim and settlement value doesn’t quite have the same human element it used to.
Today, when a claims adjuster takes your information, they enter it into a specialized piece of software. The software runs an algorithm that automates most of the accident claim assessment and valuation process for them.
The program is able to provide a settlement value based on high-level data the insurance adjuster provides it — vehicle information, policies, driver information, accident reports, etc. Note: This can include any call recordings they have of you discussing the details of your accident with them as well as medical records from your doctors.
These programs can take this information and reference it against hundreds of thousands of other “similar claims.” Insurance companies use software to streamline and automate processes, which saves them a lot of time and money. Using a software program also eliminates human sympathy or rationale that a claims adjuster may have.
Unfortunately, profit is their top priority. Far more so than taking care of the health, well-being, lost wages, pain, suffering, and accident-related expenses of car accident victims. Insurance companies will always put their profits before people.
The problem with an automated settlement calculation is that there is no room for nuance.It likely won’t factor in critical information that may be totally unique to your claim vs. others in their database, such as…
The variety and severity of your injuries
Current and future medical care expenses for your injuries
What you’ve personally lost in wages while being injured and out of work
Critical details of how your accident impacts your personal and professional life
All of these elements play a major role in putting together the full scope of economic and non-economic losses you have suffered from your car accident that are totally unique to you and your claim.
If insurance adjusters’ best interests are in preserving capital, and they (and their software) don’t factor in all of these data points and unique aspects of your accident, how can they possibly offer you a fair settlement?
How Do You Respond to a Low Settlement Offer?
We highly recommend you do not speak to a claims adjuster on your own, negotiate your claim, or accept an offer before youcontact a personal injury attorney.
The best way to respond to a low settlement offer (or any settlement offer) is with experienced legal representation from our attorneys.
In our experience, it’s rare to see insurance adjusters make fair initial settlement offers to any car accident victim.
In fact — because of the company’s financial interests — it’s commonplace for them to downplay accident victims’ injuries and expenses. This leads them to propose inadequate settlement offers that are far less than what is necessary to cover the damages, lost wages, and expenses incurred by victims.
This is especially true if they are aware that you do not have legal representation.
If you choose to negotiate your claim on your own, you could be missing out on tens of thousands of dollars that you may not only be entitled to by law, but that you may need to cover critical expenses and losses associated with your accident.
Insurance companies are also aware that not all personal injury attorneys or firms are the same. Some firms have reputations for accepting first offers or refusing to file a lawsuit for their client. Insurance companies track these firms and know just how little it will take to resolve claims with them. At GB Law, we have a reputation of being true trial attorneys who will file a lawsuit and go to trial, which equates to better settlement offers because insurance companies know we are not bluffing.
Don’t go into debt over your car accident injury.
Our Ohio personal injury attorneys have decades of experience in representing our clients’ best interests — fighting for fair settlements in negotiation, renegotiation, and litigation against the insurance companies.
A personal injury attorney should negotiate your claim or case for you.
Our injury attorneys work closely with all our clients to put together a full scope of the unique economic and non-economic losses they have and may have experienced as a result of their accident, without leaning on generalized outputs from claims software. Each claim, case, and settlement we work on and build is totally unique to each of our clients.
To further support our clients, our attorneys can discreetly reference detailed records of similar claims and cases we’ve worked on in the past. We can use this along with professional insights from doctors, engineers, vocational experts, economists, and/or other specialized experts we have worked with in the past to help us gain a better understanding of the nature and severity of your accident, and the current and future damages you may incur as a result.
These resources can give us indispensable leverage in building the value and validity of your claim.
To help our clients even further, our firm works on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will not have to pay for anything of our legal services unless we are able to successfully settle your claim or case.
Get the Car Accident Settlement You Deserve with GB Law
If you’ve been injured in an accident, you may be wondering what the next step is. Our personal injury attorneys realize that navigating the legal and insurance process can be daunting.
Unless you’ve been through the injury claim or case process in the past, the legal vocabulary can be difficult to navigate.
Many of the questions we receive from our clients include:
What is a personal injury claim?
What’s the difference between a claim and a case?
What is a settlement?
What is a verdict?
In this blog post, we will explain what personal injury claims are along with some of the key steps in the personal injury case process.
What is the Difference Between Personal Injury Claims vs. Cases?
What is a Personal Injury Case?
The nomenclature can be a little different depending on who you speak to. We often refer to a “case” as when a client seeks legal representation in the process of filing a claim and/or seeking legal recourse with their insurance company.
Some firms may use “case” or “legal case” interchangeably with “lawsuit.” From a technical standpoint, your case doesn’t become a lawsuit until a personal injury attorney files a lawsuit against an insurance company.
What is a Personal Injury Claim?
Filing a claim with the insurance company is the initial step car accident victims take toward seeking compensation for lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, and damage to their vehicle that were a direct result of the accident.
An insurance claim is the report submitted to an insurance provider after an accident. A claim may be filed with the at-fault insurance company, your own insurance company, or both. When a claim is reported, they often ask for the details and circumstances surrounding the event of the accident and for information about the extent of the injuries you incurred.
The claims process can vary depending on the insurance company involved. If you have claims with your own car insurance provider, the type of claims may vary depending on the coverage or insurance you have purchased. Insurance companies assign each claim a claim number, which is open from the moment they take record of it.
Note: In general, we recommend that you do not speak to a claims adjuster and/or open an insurance claim without consulting with a personal injury attorney first. Here are some other tips on How To Talk To Insurance Claims Adjusters in Your Injury Case.
What’s the Difference Between a Settlement and a Verdict?
Cases will typically end in one of two ways:
Settlement
Settlements require all parties involved to agree on a specified payout amount. The settlement process involves your lawyer communicating with the insurance company to negotiate what is fair and reasonable compensation for the economic and non-economic losses related to your claim or case. Settlements can occur before a lawsuit is filed or after. Settlements after a lawsuit has been filed are often times reached through a mediation process.
Keep in mind: Insurance claims adjusters’ primary goal is to lower or diminish the value of your claim by any legal means possible.
At GB Law, our experienced personal injury attorneys can work with you and advise you on whether the settlement the insurance company offers you is reasonable or not.
Unlike some personal injury law firms, our attorneys at GB Law work off of a contingency fee-based structure. We will not take a dime for any legal services rendered unless we are able to recover a settlement in your case.
When parties cannot agree on a settlement offer, the case will go to trial. There, a jury or judge will determine the outcome of the case and payout amount to the claimant (and possibly other issues, such as who was at fault or negligent, etc.). That final determination of a case is known as a verdict.
Many personal injury law firms strongly prefer reaching a settlement to avoid litigation at all costs. This is due to the fact that many firms lack litigation and trial experience in pursuing insurance companies in court.
Our attorneys have decades of experience in not only successfully reaching settlement agreements outside of court, but also in taking insurance companies to trial on behalf of our clients when necessary.
In fact, The National Trial Lawyers (an invite-only organization of premier trial lawyers) lists GB Law as one of its top-100 trial law firms.
If you’ve suffered one or more injuries from a car accident, calculating the amount of money as compensation for your pain and suffering is a major part of putting together yourpersonal injury claim.
However, this process is more complicated than it sounds. How do you calculate the full scope of physical, mental, and emotional pain and suffering caused by a car accident?
Our car accident attorneys have over 40 years of experience in calculating and factoring in pain and suffering in order to build full, fair, and reasonable claims.
Today, we will provide an overview of how to calculate pain and suffering in a car accident claim, taking into consideration key aspects of your lifestyle that help inform these damages.
What are Pain and Suffering Damages?
Pain and suffering damages are types of compensatory damages that are awarded to plaintiffs who have been injured in accidents.
These damages are intended to compensate the injured person for the physical pain and mental anguish they have suffered as a result of their injuries and trauma.
Pain and suffering damages also take into account how your injury and trauma impact activities in your daily life, such as your sleep, relaxation, hobbies, and your ability to do the activities you enjoy.
Because these are non-economic damages, pain and suffering damages can be more difficult to calculate an exact value of your pain vs. economic damages like lost wages and medical bills which have a precise dollar amount.
What is Considered Pain and Suffering in a Car Accident?
Pain and suffering from acar accident can include (but is not limited to):
Pain interrupting your work activities, leading to poor performance reviews or frustrated employers
Difficulty remembering tasks
Severe anxiety and stress, such as when getting back behind the wheel of a car or being overwhelmed by doctors appointments
Inability to do activities you enjoy, such as exercising for health or social interaction with friends
Pain that keeps you awake at night
All of these things can affect your ability to live your life to the fullest, and to the full extent that you could prior to the accident.
How Can I Prove Pain and Suffering?
While it’s easy to calculate property damages and medical expenses, current and future pain and suffering damages can be challenging to figure out on your own.
Fortunately, our personal injury attorneys can help calculate them for you.
Our attorneys can help you document examples of how your injuries and trauma are impacting your work, daily life, and activities you enjoy.
Medical Records for Emotional Distress and Physical Pain and Suffering
A personal injury lawyer can also review medical records and doctor’s notes that can bolster proof of any pain and suffering you’ve experienced. These are crucial pieces of evidence our attorneys can use to paint a picture of your health, mental health, activities, and quality of life before and after the accident.
Pay Stubs and Timesheets for Lost Wages
Your pay stubs and work timesheets may be good resources to prove some of the financial losses you’ve incurred from any pain and suffering your injury caused. Any communication from your employer regarding your quality of work before and after the accident can be useful in settlement negotiations with insurance companies as well.
How Do You Calculate Pain and Suffering Damages?
While a pain and suffering calculator can estimate the value of your claim, it may not take into account more specific, special damages.
A calculator cannot pin down the severity of the pain and suffering you have endured following the accident and your injuries or how your injury affects the ability of things you like to do.
Using a simple web tool to calculate a pain and suffering settlement amount also means the historical data of cases like yours, if any, would be limited, and you might not be getting fair compensation.
Our attorneys can discreetly review previous, similar car accident injury claims and other personal injury cases we’ve worked on in the past –– as a reference for calculating pain and suffering for your claim.
This historical data from other car accident cases can serve as a valuable resource and benchmark for estimating the non-economic losses you have suffered.
Along with these records, the skilled personal injury lawyers at GB Law may also use the following methods of calculating pain and suffering:
Multiplier Method
We can calculate pain and suffering damages by multiplying your economic damages (i.e., medical expenses, lost wages, etc.) by a factor depending on the level of pain you’ve suffered. If your pain is more severe, then we’ll use a higher multiplier.
Per Diem Method
The per diem method sets a daily rate of compensation based on the days of pain and suffering that you have endured (and may continue to endure) following an accident.
Note that these are simplified explanations of how we can calculate damages for pain and suffering. It’s important to work with attorneys practicing personal injury law. GB Law’s team has more than 40 years of experience seeking compensation for pain and suffering.
You are entitled to a fair amount of compensation for your pain, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that you receive as much compensation as possible.
What Should I Ask for in a Settlement for Pain and Suffering?
Your negotiated settlement amount should factor in pain and suffering (non-economic losses) as well aseconomic damages like lost wages, medical treatment, and rehabilitative care.
Our experienced attorneys can help you calculate the economic and non-economic damages you have suffered from your accident.
We can then review the insurance company’s initial settlement offer to let you know if it is fair or not. If it isn’t, we will put together a formal counteroffer and help you renegotiate your settlement, continuing to fight for what you deserve.
How Much Can You Claim for Pain and Suffering Compensation in Ohio?
Since 2005,Ohio has been subject to tort reform, which put a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering claims.That sum can be as high as $350,000 depending on the amount your economic losses for items like your medical bills and lost income.
However, this limit does not apply to catastrophic physical injuries or some permanent injuries that prevent a client from being able to care for themselves.
Why Do I Need a Personal Injury Attorney?
Our experienced personal injury attorneys know how to locate and obtain the evidence needed to prove both the economic and non-economic damages of your case.
Preserving the evidence needed early and comprehensively will enable us to fight for the full and fair settlement you deserve.
If you’ve been in a car accident, you will likely have to talk to an insurance claims adjuster. Though speaking with them may sound simple, this process is often deceptive, challenging, and daunting.
Navigating this process alone could mean missing out on tens of thousands of dollars — or even hundreds of thousands — in economic and non-economic damages that you may be entitled to by law.
Fortunately, our personal injury attorneys can guide you through this process. Our top priorities in working with our car accident clients are building a comprehensive claim, avoiding common pitfalls set by claims adjusters, and pursuing a fair settlement for your case.
The auto insurance companies should be notified of the location of your car as soon as possible. We recommend that someone immediately tell the auto insurance companies where your car is located so that the damage can be inspected as soon as possible. This means that you, your lawyer, or a family member should provide the location of your car to the at-fault driver’s insurance company and your own auto insurance company. However, you should never give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurance company.
Continue reading to learn more on how to talk to insurance claims adjusters and what they are looking for in a car accident claim.
What are Insurance Adjusters?
An insurance claims adjuster is a professional who works for an insurance company. Their job is to review car accident claims and determine how much money the company should pay out. They will also be your primary contact working with you to settle your claim. You may have several different adjusters to deal with; one for the damage to your vehicle, one for your bodily injury claim, and even another one for your medical payments coverage claim. You must be very careful in dealing with all of them.
Initially, insurance adjusters will make it sound like they have your best interests in mind. To you, it may seem like they are working with you to ensure you get a full and fair settlement that accounts for the economic losses, expenses, pain, and suffering caused by your accident.
However, insurance claims adjusters are not out for your best interests.
In fact, their job is the exact opposite. They are out for the best interests of their employer, the insurance company, and it is in the best interests of the insurance company to pay you as little as possible.
Their “script” will include things like:
“There’s no need to contact an attorney.”
“We will pay your medical bills.”
“As your insurance provider, we’ll handle everything for you.”
Meanwhile, they’ll put your bills in a file and opt for inaction during the claims process, as your lost wages, medical expenses, therapy, and rehabilitation bills start piling up.
What Does an Insurance Claims Adjuster Look For?
Insurance claims adjusters actively listen for anything they can use to
Create doubt in your injury claim, and;
Reduce your total settlement.
Even the smallest details can affect your ability to get full and fair compensation for your car accident injury or personal injury claim.
For example: Say you mention to the insurance adjuster that your treatment seems to be helping and you are starting to feel better. However, after you get back to all of your normal activities, your condition declines because you still aren’t fully healed.
The insurance adjuster will use your comments about getting better as evidence that your accident injury had healed and that something else was now causing it to get worse. This seemingly innocuous bit of information can often be enough for them to either substantially lessen your claim or throw it out entirely.
What Should You Not Say to an Insurance Adjuster?
Do Not Sign Any Medical Authorization Forms for the Insurance Company
One of the worst things you can do is give medical authorizations to an insurance claims adjuster. Signing a medical authorization gives the insurance agency full access to all your medical records, even those not related to your injury claim.
Again, they will use anything they can find in your records to cast doubt on whether or not the accident was the sole source of your injury and trauma in an attempt to reduce the cost of your settlement.
Our attorneys can guide you through this process and away from the common pitfalls that car accident victims fall prey to when speaking with insurance adjusters on their own. Once you hire one of our personal injury attorneys, more often than not, you won’t even have to talk to an insurance claims adjuster. We do the talking for you.
Do Not Share Details About Your Injuries with the Claims Adjuster
Mentioning anything related to your health or injury is a huge risk. Remember: sharing the smallest detail with the claims adjuster can weaken your claim and decrease your settlement amount.
Do Not Share Details About Your Prior Medical Conditions or Old Injuries
You may have seen your primary care physician or other doctors before the accident for numerous medical conditions that have nothing to do with the car accident. Do not share this information with the claims adjuster. The claims adjuster will use any information that you provide about medical treatments you had before the accident to undermine your injury case.
Do Not Tell the Adjuster Details About the Accident
Do not share any information about the accident, either. In some cases, sharing too much information (or any information) about the accident itself may result in the insurance company claiming you’re the at-fault driver when that may not be the case.
For example: You mention to the insurance adjuster that, as you approached an intersection with a green light, you noticed the at-fault driver in the opposite direction, in the left turning lane, waiting to turn left. You then say you continued to proceed toward and through the intersection because you had the right of way, and all of a sudden, the at-fault driver turned left in front of you, causing the collision.
Believe it or not, a slick insurance adjuster will use your “admission” that you saw the other vehicle getting ready to turn as an admission that you failed to keep a proper lookout and, therefore, the wreck is partially your fault. Yes, that is ridiculous, but it is used all of the time by insurance companies to devalue your claim.
What Should I Say to My Insurance Adjuster?
Before speaking with an insurance adjuster, you should contact our office first for information. Insurance adjusters handle claims all day every day. Level the playing field by finding out how to protect yourself rather than falling victim to traps you otherwise wouldn’t be able to avoid. If you decide to hire one of our attorneys, you won’t have to speak to an adjuster at all.
Our attorneys will take your insurance claims adjuster’s contact information, and serve as their direct point of contact as we guide you through the claims process.
There’s a saying that goes, “A person who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer.” This directly applies to personal injury claims and cases.
Don’t get taken advantage of by insurance adjusters. A seasoned personal injury attorney or firm are the only parties qualified to negotiate with an adjuster and formally handle your claim or case.
In addition, trying to negotiate with an insurance adjuster on your own is, in itself, another common mistake that can quickly devalue your claim. In circumstances like this, we see insurance adjusters fall back on, “If your accident was so injurious or traumatic, how are you healthy and able to represent yourself?”
Our injury attorneys have decades of experience in avoiding these pitfalls, speaking with insurance adjusters, and representing clients through the injury claims process. We know what to look out for and will fight for our clients and the settlement they deserve.
How Do I Get the Most Out of My Insurance Claim?
To get the most out of your insurance claim, contact GB Law today.
Later this month, the Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Amanda Brandt v. Roy Pompa. Ms. Brandt, who as a child was repeatedly raped and assaulted by Pompa, bravely sued him for the lifetime of pain and struggling she suffers as a victim of trauma. During the trial, the jurors heard extensive evidence about what Ms. Brandt had gone through and how her life was forever changed by this abuse. The jury found Roy Pompa legally liable to Ms. Brandt for the extensive pain and emotional suffering he caused her.
After the trial, Pompa successfully invoked Ohio Revised Code Section 2315.18 to reduce his legal liability to Ms. Brandt. This law places an arbitrary cap on the non-economic damages that a jury may have evaluated as higher or worth more than what the cap provides. Although the creators of this law candidly admit that the law was never intended to protect rapists, there is nothing written in the law to make a distinction for courts to follow.
As a result, Amanda Brandt has appealed the Ohio Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of this Ohio law. The Supreme Court has the authority to review laws and ensure that they “bear a real and substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the public and not unreasonable or arbitrary.” As evidenced by this case, a law that allows a rapist to shield themselves from legal culpability is not in the best interest of Ohioans’ public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
A considerable number of groups representing corporations and insurance companies, including the United States Chamber of Commerce and Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys as well as Ohio Attorney General David Yost, have also filed amicus briefs in support of Roy Pompa.
Why Would the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or Ohio Attorney General Yost File Briefs in Favor of a Rapist?
It is likely that large corporations and insurance companies want to avoid legal responsibility for claims for which they may be liable. As evidenced by higher profile cases in other states, it is not uncommon to find out that employers such as medical practices, university, schools, and religious organizations fail to act when confronted with evidence of sexual abuse. These failures lead to more abuse and more devastating consequences of their inaction. However, if this Ohio law is upheld, they can protect themselves should cases against them arise in the future.
Is Anyone Challenging This Law?
Adding additional interest to this case is the fact that four of the justices that will be deciding this case will also be on the ballot this November in Ohio. Justice Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, is running to become Ohio’s next Chief Justice, replacing Republican Maureen O’Connor, who is ineligible to run for re-election. In a bipartisan approach, both Justice Brunner and Chief Justice O’Connor voted to re-examine the constitutionality of this law. Republican Justices Sharon Kennedy, Patrick Fischer, and Patrick DeWine voted against reviewing the statute, thus upholding the decision of the lower court to allow Roy Pompa to avoid the verdict rendered against him.
Judge Marilyn Zayas, a Democrat from the First District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, is challenging Republican incumbent Justice Pat DeWine, who is also the son of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Judge Terri Jamison, a Democrat from the Tenth District Court of Appeals in Columbus, is challenging Republican Pat Fischer. It is likely that the Ohio Supreme Court will issue a ruling in Amanda Brandt’s case before the November election.
Injuries from a car accident cause a world of pain and stress.
Between your physical pain, emotional trauma, doctor’s visits, bills, work, time off, insurance, and mounds of paperwork — it’s hard to know where to begin.
Figuring out what to do after a car accident can be overwhelming. Fortunately, a personal injury attorney can help guide you through the stress and red tape involved with your car accident injury and personal injury case.
At GB Law, our attorneys have more than 30 years of experience helping people like you get their lives back on track after suffering from car accident injuries. We will work with you every step of the way to ensure your legal needs are met during this challenging time.
To provide some helpful guidance, here are 4 things you should do immediately after you’ve been injured in a car accident.
1. Call the Police
If you believe you’ve been injured in a car accident, call 911 immediately. Tell the 911 dispatcher that you are injured if you feel any physical discomfort or if you are experiencing confusion. The 911 dispatcher may tell you to exchange information with the at-fault driver if you do not report an injury. In that case, the police will not go to the scene and make a police report, and the at-fault driver and their insurance company may deny fault.
This should be your first call regardless of how mild or severe you believe your injury may be. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve sustained an injury, you should call the police.
The police will be able to create a safe area around the vicinity of your accident, while also recording detailed reports and testimonies from you and other parties involved in and/or witnessing the accident.
It isn’t uncommon that other drivers in the accident won’t want to get the police involved, especially if they are uninsured or believe they are at fault. Consider: The at-fault driver may ask you to not call the police because they want to avoid a ticket or because they do not have auto insurance.
Don’t let the at-fault driver stop you from calling the authorities, especially if you feel like you’ve been injured. Even the most straightforward incident can get complicated when there isn’t a report taken.
Health, safety, medical documentation, and evidence like photographs from the scene of the accident are all imperative to your car accident personal injury case.
Contact the police immediately so they can document the accident. If the authorities or 911 operator tries to argue the necessity of their presence, state your case and be persistent until they agree to arrive. Take photographs of the cars at the scene or ask someone else to do that if you are not able to do so. Write down the name and phone numbers of all witnesses who saw the accident.
This will further help you and your personal injury attorneys gather the first critical pieces of evidence in building your claim.
Handling the aftermath and repercussions of a car accident is overwhelming, especially if you’re injured, stressed, and in pain.
A personal injury attorney can help reassure and guide you through the processes of:
Gathering the police reports and documentation surrounding the car accident.
Reporting and filing with your insurance company.
Compiling current and projected future medical bills and expenses caused by the accident.
Helping you calculate lost wages if your injury prevents you from working.
Negotiating your settlement for all current and future health and economic damages caused by your injury, to make sure you are offered a fair settlement.
It’s commonplace for the insurance provider to take advantage of car accident victims who don’t seek representation from a personal injury attorney. Unfortunately, insurance providers see your accident as a business transaction.
Their goal is simple: offer you as small a settlement as possible. More often than not, this leaves unrepresented injured drivers, like yourself, with a fraction of the damages and compensation they are entitled to by law.
Our team of Ohio personal injury attorneys at GB Law fight for our clients to get the damages and recompensation they deserve for all current and future damages and expenses created by the accident.
3. Take Photos of the Accident and Scene
Collecting relevant evidence is paramount to pursuing your car accident personal injury case. Photos, videos, and police reports are all crucial pieces of evidence your attorney can use to strengthen your case.
They provide a clear visual of the damage, results, and potential causes of a car accident and the injuries you sustained. They can also help determine the fault or the causes of an accident
From a legal perspective, they can help our attorneys demonstrate the nature and severity of the wreck to insurance agencies, the defense, jury, etc.
Photographic evidence is also valuable for our attorneys when reaching out to expert witnesses. Other professionals like engineers can be called in to assess photographic evidence of the damage and nature of an accident, which can further assert the credibility and justification for your case.
Be sure to get pictures of the following, for all vehicles that sustained damage in the accident:
Dents.
Dings.
Scrapes.
Scratches
Deployed airbags.
Broken glass.
Be sure to get photos from multiple angles, as safely as you can.
You should expect opposing insurance agencies to look for any opportunity they can get to push back on or minimize your case. Photos depicting all the vehicles involved in the crash will provide your personal injury attorneys with fundamental evidence to help fortify your case.
4. Go to Your Doctor Immediately
After the accident, we advise seeing a doctor immediately. Seeking physician assessment and treatment for your injury as soon as possible is not only important for your health and safety, but for your personal injury legal representation as well.
Remember, insurance companies and their attorneys will challenge your case and minimize your settlement by any and all means.
A key tactic they can take is exposing gaps in your story. One of the easiest ways they can marginalize your case is by highlighting any delay between the date of the accident and when you first sought medical treatment after the accident.
Even a few days’ delay is sufficient for them to put your claim and injuries in question.
Don’t give them that opening.
The bigger the time gap between your accident and a doctor’s appointment for your injury, the easier it is for the defense to create doubt that the car accident caused your injuries at all.
Don’t put off your health or diminish the value of your case. Get medical treatment after your accident as soon as possible.
Other Notes: Doctors Appointments and Documentation
As you may have guessed, doctor’s appointments and medical documentation are also valuable for building your personal injury case.
For that reason, any health or medical care directly related to your accident, including:
General practice and specialist appointments.
Testing, X-rays, scans, MRIs, etc.
Surgeries and rehabilitation.
Medications.
Other forms of treatment like physical therapy, occupational therapy, and chiropractic care.
These can be factored into the total damages you’re eligible to receive for your case.
Physicians’ notes, documentation, receipts, and medical bills are all critical components that help your personal injury attorney develop your claim.
Keep the Conversation to the Injury at Hand
When seeing a doctor for your car accident injury, keep the conversation exclusively to the injury and pain caused by the accident.
Why is that?
Physicians can document anything and everything you discuss during your visit.
For that reason, discussing any health problems or medical issues you’re dealing with unrelated to the car accident could jeopardize your personal injury case.
Once again, insurance companies and their attorneys are looking for ways to weaken your claim. Even the off-hand mention of family history medical issues, prior injuries, osteoarthritis, neck, or back pain can cast doubt on the car accident being the sole cause of your injury.
This isn’t the time to discuss your complete personal and family medical history.
At GB Law, our team of experienced personal injury attorneys goes above and beyond in helping our clients.
Unlike other personal injury firms, our attorneys work ona contingency fee basis, meaning you won’t have to pay our attorneys for any legal services rendered unless we can successfully settle your case
If you or someone you know has been involved in a car accident, has been injured, and hasn’t contacted a personal injury attorney — it’s not too late.
Medical care, medicalreports, and documentation are not only imperative to your health and safety but are also fundamental in building your car accident case or claim.
If you believe you have been injured in a car accident, go to the doctor as soon as possible. Current and future medical care costs are some of the most significant damages you may be entitled to as a car accident victim. These costs serve as the foundation of your case.
Yet, there are certain nuances to navigating medical care after an accident that can either be a benefit or detriment to you receiving full and fair compensation for your injuries.
Our personal injury attorneys can guide you through this stressful process and help build your claim while steering you away from common pitfalls that could unnecessarily reduce the damages and medical expenses you are entitled to.
Continue reading to learn more about what you should and shouldn’t do while seeking medical care in your car accident case.
Do: See a Doctor Immediately
Whether you believe you have a serious injury or not, you should see a doctor immediately.
In most cases, you will be immediately aware of bodily pain, injury, or harm caused by the accident. However, this isn’t always the case.
The adrenaline spike and state of shock in the wake of a car accident can mask pain and the signs of a new injury. Mild to severe injuries such as soft tissue or muscle tears, fractures, back pain, neck problems, and even concussions can be overshadowed by the mental and emotional trauma of a car accident.
Seeing a doctor immediately is not only critical for your health and safety in identifying and treating car accident-related injuries early on, but can also give our personal injury attorneys valuable medical evidence for strengthening your claim or future car accident case.
Don’t: Wait to Get Medical Care
Any time there is a gap between the accident and your initial doctor’s appointment, it can turn into a major hindrance to your claim or car accident case.
Seeing a doctor days or weeks after an accident makes it easy for the insurance company you’re filing against, and their attorneys, to downplay your claim.
The insurance adjuster will say: “If you suffered injuries in the accident, why didn’t you go to a doctor sooner?”
Their goal is to minimize your claim and settlement by any legal means necessary and they will use in delay in seeking medical treatment against you.
Any delay in seeking medical care is all they need to cast doubt on your claim and knock your settlement down to a fraction of what you may be entitled to by law. More importantly, this can prevent you from securing what you need financially to cover all your current and future medical expenses.
This unsuspecting, but common mistake often results in car accident victims settling for much less than they need to cover all their current and projected accident-related medical expenses.
It can also lead to car accident victims paying out of pocket and/or going into debt over medical bills they could have easily been compensated for, had they gone to the doctor immediately.
Don’t wait to get medical care. Look out for your health, safety, claim, and potential car accident case by getting medical care immediately.
Do: Discuss the Pain and Injuries Caused by the Accident Thoroughly with Your Doctor
When you’re sitting on the exam table at your doctor’s appointment, you should discuss with your doctor the pain and injuries caused by the accident.
Your doctor’s focus should be on the diagnosis, analysis, treatment, and care for those injuries, and nothing else. Keeping the focus of your appointment on accident-related injuries will ensure you get the best care and treatment possible.
From a legal perspective, it will also help simplify the medical documentation and reporting for your car accident case, while avoiding the mistake of addressing other medical conditions that are unrelated to the accident.
Don’t: Discuss Other Pain, Injuries, or Chronic Conditions
When you go to see your doctor for your car accident-related injuries, keep in mind that your doctor should document every symptom that you report in your medical records.
That information can be used for you, or against you. As such, this is not the time to discuss:
Details regarding the events surrounding the accident
Any acute or chronic injuries or health conditions you had prior to the accident
And your personal or family medical history
Once again, insurance companies will use any and all information they have access to (including medical records and reports) to challenge the validity and value of your claim.
We’ve seen the settlement value of car accident claims greatly reduced because clients disclosed irrelevant facts to their doctor. We’ve also seen claims diminished or thrown out because clients discussed pre-existing injuries or medical conditions unrelated to the accident. In these scenarios, insurance companies and their representation can underscore you had prior conditions that may have been exacerbated by the accident but were not a direct result of it.
Keep the conversation with your doctor about your pain and injuries caused by the accident. Do not use this time to rehash details of the accident or discuss other historic health or medical issues.
Do: Have Your Doctors Communicate with Your Personal Injury Lawyers
Depending on the nature of your injury, you may have to see different types of medical and rehabilitative care providers throughout this process. Family practice physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, and orthopedic surgeons are often involved in treatment and recovery for car accident injuries.
To put your car accident case in the best possible position, your personal injury attorneys should be in contact with all of the medical care providers and specialists involved in your treatment and care. Your lawyer will request your doctor’s medical records and may sometimes ask your doctor to prepare a medical report.
Good communication between your lawyer and doctor is important. However, you should never tell your doctor that your lawyer advised you to see the doctor and you should never tell your doctor that your lawyer asked you to discuss certain things with your doctor.
Your lawyer will ask you to sign a medical authorization in order to obtain copies of your medical records and bills from all of your care providers. Your medical records, reports, and bills are all critical to building your claim.
Don’t: Hide Anything from Your Personal Injury Lawyers
It isn’t uncommon that car accident victims avoid embarrassing health issues or injuries, caused by the car accident. Don’t do that.
No matter how awkward or embarrassed you feel about your injuries or conditions, do not withhold that information from your accident attorneys. The more information our personal injury attorneys have, the better equipped we will be to get you a full and fair settlement for your current and future medical expenses.
What you share with your attorney is privileged information protected by the attorney-client relationship. Rather than keep secrets that you think will hurt your case, it’s better to tell your lawyer so they can plan and be prepared should those things come up by others in your case.
Our attorneys are compassionate and understanding. Your health, safety, and privacy are our top priorities. At GB Law, you can always expect a professional, discrete, non-judgmental atmosphere.
Contact GB Law for Representation in your Car Accident Personal Injury Case
If you have any questions or concerns about your doctor appointments or the medical process during the car accident case or claim process, do not hesitate to contact our personal injury attorneys at GB Law immediately for a free case review.
Attorney and GB Law Partner Scott Bowman went “back to school” to teach a law school class at Capital University’s law school for a day. Friend and colleague attorney John Gonzales teaches a trial advocacy class at Capital University’s law school and asked Scott to teach his class for a day. Professor Gonzales asked Scott to walk the class through an actual case and share with his students what it is like to be an attorney who represents victims of negligence. Scott was more than happy to help out and walked Professor Gonzales’ class through an actual case that he has litigated.
Both Scott and Capital University’s law school class seemed to enjoy the experience and both learned a lot from each other. Scott was particularly impressed with the questions that the students had. “They were very insightful and through a lot of questions my way which showed me they were engaged, wish was great,” Scott said.
At GB Law, we not only fight passionately for our clients but also work in the community to help others and to spread the word about how important our civil justice system is to everyday Ohioans.
A much-loved GB Law tradition is back again for the 2021 holiday season. This week, we wrapped and delivered presents to Franklin County Children’s Services for their holiday wish program.
