Sunday, December 4, 2011

Should I Wait To Heal Before Settling After Being a Victim in an Auto Accident?

By Richard Greene


After being a victim in a car accident, there is a "bite" taken out of your life. You will have car damage, bodily injury, and missed time from work. It may seem like a small "bite" to an insurance company, but to you it upsets your natural baseline of the world in which you were living.

The post accident existence for you will consist of physician visits, physical therapy, potentially procedures, and medical bills that continue to rise. The physical and mental injuries sustained in your accident may take years to heal.

Unfortunately you will need to deal with phone calls and estimates to body shops and auto repair centers, as well as dealing with insurance companies. Nobody would call this a fun time, and an experienced personal injury larger can help significantly with all of these issues and your case against the other party. A veteran personal-injury attorney can help recommend when would be the appropriate time to settle your case.

An excellent question is whether or not you should wait til you are fully healed to seek settlement money or is it proper to do so earlier? The reality is it is probably in your best interest to wait as long as possible. Why? Sometimes injuries take quite a while to present themselves, such as posttraumatic stress disorder situation or the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury. Due to these issues, settling too soon may leave money on the table with the insurance company.

If you are patient, it will help you to receive an appropriate settlement that you will not look back on with regret. This is tough to continue, especially with the significant "bite" taken out of your existence. But being patient will help you feel somewhat more whole again by being able to potentially get a higher settlement.

This is one reason they may be pushing you to settle too soon. What you want to do is reach a point of "maximum medical improvement" prior to settling. What does this mean? This is the point where a physician says the healing is complete and your recovery is as much as possible. You will have a good understanding of what your life-long limitations and care needs will be.

If you are not healed completely, there are calculations to predict future medical expenses which can be added to all of the medical expenses incurred to date. With all of that calculated, the settlement process can be initiated with more realistic figures. If you are patient enough to allow realistic settlement calculations to be accomplished, then you will have the best chance of making yourself whole again.




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