MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR INJURIES
The Vital Importance Of Immediate Medical Treatment
Occasionally, an injury victim delays or completely avoids getting medical care and treatment for accident related injuries. Instead, he just keeps “gutting it out” in the hope that eventually he will get better. This can have adverse effects both medically and legally.
A person who has been injured must use ordinary care to mitigate or lessen the person's damages. This duty to mitigate damages requires an injured person to use ordinary care to seek medical and surgical treatment and to submit to and undergo recommended medical or surgical treatment within a reasonable time to minimize the damage from physical injuries. "Ordinary care" is the degree of care usually exercised by a person of ordinary intelligence and prudence under the same or similar circumstances.
An injured person is only required to submit to those medical or surgical treatments to which a reasonable person would have submitted. A person is not required to undergo treatment if it will not improve his condition. Also, a person is not required to undergo treatment if it is unreasonably dangerous or hazardous or is not reasonably within his or her means.
Lack Of Medical Care
If an injury victim does not get reasonable medical care and treatment, he cannot be compensated for any amount for consequences of the injury which could have been avoided.
Additionally, the insurance company involved will look at the lack of medical care and jump to the conclusion that there must not have been any injury or there would be doctor care. The lesson is that it does not pay to be tough to the point of avoiding reasonable medical care.
The following articles about personal injury law may also be of interest to you:
You & Your Personal Injury Claim
Answering Questions About Accident-related Injuries
At The Accident Scene, What Should I Do?
But My Insurance Adjuster Says I Don't Need A Lawyer
How Much Is My Injury Claim Worth?
Injuries To Children
Product Liability Claims
Herrick & Hart Personal Injury Attorneys, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Please contact us for help with your legal needs or concerns.
The attorneys at Herrick & Hart provide expert advice to people who have suffered a loss or been injured. If you or someone whom you care about has been injured, please call (715-832-3491), e-mail (mike@eauclairelaw.com) to arrange a free initial consultation with the injury lawyers at Herrick & Hart, or complete the online personal injury case assessment form to have your case reviewed by the personal injury attorneys at Herrick & Hart.
The team of personal injury lawyers at Herrick & Hart represent people throughout northwest Wisconsin. They litigate against insurance companies based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and across the nation, and most frequently help clients who were injured in or are residents of Eau Claire county (Eau Claire, Altoona, Augusta, Fairchild, Fall Creak, & Seymour), Chippewa county (Chippewa Falls, Cadott, Cornell, New Auburn, & Stanley), Taylor county (Medford, Gilman, & Stetsonville), Rusk county (Ladysmith, Hawkins, & Weyerhauser), Barron county (Barron, Rice Lake, & Cameron), Dunn county (Boyceville, Menomonie, Colfax, & Downing), Clark county (Abbotsford, Colby, Neilsville, & Thorp), Marathon County (Wausau, Abbotsford, Colby, Brokaw, Evergreen, Marshfield, Mosinee, Rothschild, Schofield, Spencer, Unity & Weston), Portage county (Stevens Point, Amherst, Plover, Rosholt, & Whiting), Wood county (Wisconsin Rapids, Port Edwards, Nekoosa, & Marshfield), Jackson county (Black River Falls, Taylor, Merrillan, and Alma Center), La Crosse county (La Crosse, Brice Prairie, Onalaska, Holmen, & West Salem), Monroe county (Sparta), Douglas county (Superior), Sawyer county (Hayward), Ashland county (Ashland, Odanah), Bayfield county (Bayfield, Mason, & Washburn), Juneau county (Elroy, Mauston, Necedah, Union Center), and St Croix county (Baldwin, Hudson, New Richmond, North Hudson, River Falls, Spring Valley & Wilson), Pierce county (Bay City, Ellsworth, River Falls, Spring Valley).
