Understanding Medical Bills After a Tractor Trailer Accident
What you do or don’t do with medical care and follow-up after an accident with a tractor trailer can have enormous consequences. Ward Black Law has extensive experience with cases like these in North Carolina, and we have outlined what you should be mindful of right now. The last thing you want to do in these confusing and painful days is to make a mistake that will cost you in the long run. Read our post for details about advice from your doctor, medical bills and settlements, how your legal team should be helping you navigate paying hospital expenses, and more.
Responsibility for Medical Bills
After a tractor trailer accident, the medical bills and expenses can quickly pile up. The stress of how to pay for those bills now leads many victims to accept a smaller settlement than they are owed. Of course, you want to move on and put this terrible thing that happened behind you. It would feel so good to have life get back to normal.
If you have health insurance or Medicare/Medicaid, they should be able to help you cover the costs of medical treatment now until you can be fully compensated. However, even if you don’t have insurance, it is essential to seek full compensation for your injuries, damages, and suffering. The cost of recovery may well exceed what a quick, smaller settlement will cover—and then the rest of that expense will be a burden to you and your family.
Follow Your Doctor’s Orders
Documenting your injuries and recovery are critical to receiving the compensation you deserve. Another crucial thing to keep in mind is that you should be following all of your doctor’s orders fully and precisely as ordered. Here’s why.
- Your health and long-term wellness depend on it. Injuries may still be healing, even if you start to feel better. Following all of your doctor’s instructions and keeping all of your follow-up visits is not something you can afford to take lightly.
- If you pursue compensation after a tractor trailer accident, the legal team for the defense will be sure to look for what is known as “gaps in treatment” or “gaps in care.” If you miss scheduled medical appointments or do not follow through on your medical team’s recommendations for treatment, there is a high likelihood that this information will be leveraged against you and your case. It might appear that you are not really injured, or that your suffering and recovery are smaller than they seem.
How Medical Bills Affect Accident Settlements
Settlements and compensation in lawsuits are based in part on pain and suffering. Because it can be challenging to measure what your pain and suffering cost, in the legal realm, we often rely on less subjective means for calculating these things. Your medical bills and the cost of treatment for your injuries are a significant part of that compensation.
Medical bills could fall into any or all of these categories:
- Emergency Treatment: this includes things like ambulance transportation, ER care, and other treatment immediately following your crash
- Rehabilitation: expenses in this category include physical or occupational therapy and follow-up surgeries
- Palliative Care: check-ins and treatments you have to prevent health setbacks or long-term damage fall into this category and include massage, medications, and chiropractic adjustments
Find a Legal Team That Understands Medical Billing
Part of what you should depend on your legal team for in the days and weeks ahead is help understanding how to pay for your medical expenses as you are seeking a settlement. Many people do not fully understand how different tractor trailer accidents are from regular car accidents.
Truck accidents often involve more complex litigation, and it is crucial that you partner with an attorney who has experience investigating accidents like these and representing your best interests. There are many sources that compensation can come from in these kinds of cases, and only a seasoned team will know how to help you receive full compensation.
How Ward Black Law Can Help
At Ward Black Law, we have built our practice on genuinely caring for each client. Our long track record of success and expertise with tractor trailer accident cases in NC are important assets for you right now, but so is the compassion and thorough, personal attention you will find with us. You probably have many more questions about what you should be focusing on after you or your loved one have been involved in a crash. Read more about what you should know and do after a truck accident, and remember we are here to support you, each step of the way.
