3 Things to Remember After a Serious Car Accident

By Matt Lalande in Car Accidents on February 24, 2019

4 Minute Read from Hamilton Car Accident Lawyers

Immediately following a serious car accident, you may no doubt be in a tremendous amount of pain, disoriented or confused. Car accidents can no doubt result in substantial pain and psychological distress, which can cause you to be confused at the accident scene.  From our experience, older adults are at greater risk than younger adults for life-threatening injury after Hamilton car accident, although terrible accidents can no doubt cause widespread pain to a person at any age – especially if the car accident victim suffers severe head, thoracic or lumbar spine injuries. However, when the unthinkable happens to you, it’s important to remember that your number one concern is your physical health and safety.  If you have been involved in a car accident in Hamilton or the surrounding areas, it’s important that you know beforehand the best way to handle the situation.  Here are a few pointers to try and follow –

#1 – Remain Calm with Paramedics

We understand that you may be in a severe amount of pain, but it’s important that you remain calm as you can with paramedics. EMS will assist, treat and extricate patients from the scene of an accident, they can administer drugs and if necessary, perform live-saving procedures, administer IV’s, bandage your wounds, administer medication, perform respiratory  procedures if you have blocked airways, all while transportation patients to the hospital.Critical decisions are often made by paramedics in moments of patient triage to help car accident victims, they will prioritize who is the most hurt, identify serious injuries and make life saving decisions.  It’s important that you remain calm if you were hurt in a car accident, and not cause conflict especially during head and cervical stabilization. In serious car accidents and head-on crashes, severe trauma to the oral cavity and facial injuries are quite common, which can cause significant hemorrhage and increase the chance of airway aspiration.  It’s important that during these critical moments, if you are awake, to not fight positioning or your body or head so that you can allow for oxygenation and ventilation, or the possibility the worsening a possible cervical spinal cord injury.  If you’ve been in a serious car accident, try to remain calm at all times. Paramedics are experts, and highly trained.

#2 – Don’t navigate Ontario’s complex insurance scheme alone.

If you have suffered life changing injuries in a serious car accident, it’s important that you talk to an experienced car accident lawyer as early as you can. It’s important that the lawyer you speak to is specialized in serious car accident claims since the auto insurance regime is brutally complex. Your lawyer can help set up the proper occupational therapists to assist with your transfer back home after your inpatient rehabilitation, ensure that your home is modified to receive your injured condition as well as ensure that any accessible devices are acquired so as to assist your mobility.

The ultimate objective for any car accident victim, even with injuries as serious as a spinal cord injury, is that he or she returns home and plays a positive role in his or her community. Suitable accommodation, the supply of equipment and specific rehab services should be set up to welcome you home – which are not free. Your Hamilton car accident lawyer will ensure these services are funded and paid for, in advance, and make sure that the proper people are set up to be involved in your care. Returning home with serious injuries, or a spinal cord injury, is without doubt a new and challenging situation. Don’t navigate the insurance system without a helping hand. It will never be to your benefit in the end. Finding the right lawyer can be difficult, but retaining the best car accident lawyer is worth the effort. Be wary of lawyers who give you answers you want to hear or promise you how much money you will receive before they even know anything about you or your damages. Be also wary of lawyers that are suggested to you by nurses and orderly – it almost always not an ethical suggestion to make.

#3 – Follow All Medical, Legal, and Disability Policy Advice

You will no doubt receive advice from your doctors and physicians, your lawyers, and other professionals connected to your case. They will advise you on the best decisions and actions to take that will help your case, your healing, and your recovery. For example, we always advise that our clients avoid the use of social media or exercising extreme caution before posting anything to any channel. Insurance companies will investigate your claim, and due to the fact that social media plays a significant role in today’s digital culture, they will examine your social media posts to search for clues that you are actually injured. Therefore, we will advise you to stay away from these platforms, and it is integral to follow this advice.

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Fro a clinical perspective, Car accidents often result in a wide variety of complex symptoms and injuries – and rehabilitation after major trauma is not easy. Once you have recovered sufficiently from a traumatic injury and are well enough return home your rehabilitation will no doubt depend on your individual needs. Whether you are undergoing inpatient rehabilitation or ambulatory (community based) rehabilitation, it’s important that you participate to a plan that is tailored to your needs. Remember – if you are advancing a claim for compensation because someone hurt you in a car accident, you must prove the extent of your injuries. If you chose not to attend rehabilitation despite the funding to do so, it will be difficult for a Judge or Jury to understand your losses. Not only will you satisfy evidentiary requirements to prove your case, but People with serious injuries, and spinal cord injuries nowadays are living longer and achieving greater functional independence as a result of improved medical, rehabilitative, and pharmacological management of their injuries and pains.  Don’t negate the medical treatment that is prescribed and advised by your medical experts. It will not help anything.

Have you been hurt in a car accident? Call our Hamilton Car Accident Lawyers today.

There’s no doubt that serious car accident injuries cause functional limitations, reduced participation in daily activities, and altered quality of life. You may suffer physical and psychological chronic conditions that will not only impede your return to an acceptable quality of life, but also require lifelong management. If you have suffered life changing injuries in a car accident we can help. Contact our Hamilton Car Accident lawyers today.

Contact our offices no matter where you are in Ontario at 1-844-LALANDE or local in the Hamilton / Burlington/ Niagara Regions at 905-333-8888. Alternatively, you can send an email through our website contact form and we would be happy to get back to you shortly.

LALANDE PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS  – HAMILTON OFFICE
1 King Street East, Suite 1705
Hamilton, On L8P 1A4
Local: 905-333-8888
Toll Free: 1-844-LALANDE