Yes, you should see a doctor after any Fort Lauderdale car accident. It’s common to walk away from a collision feeling relatively normal, with no apparent injuries or pain. Your adrenaline is flowing, you’re relieved the accident wasn’t worse, and you just want to move on with your day.
We understand the temptation to skip medical care when you feel fine, but we’ve seen too many cases where this decision led to serious health and legal complications. Our Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers explain why seeking prompt medical attention is crucial, even when you believe you’ve escaped injury.
Reasons to See a Doctor Evenif You Feel Fine After a Fort Lauderdale Car Accident
Many car accident injuries don’t produce immediate pain or apparent symptoms. These “silent injuries” can develop into serious medical conditions if left undiagnosed and untreated.
Whiplash and neck injuries frequently occur in car accidents, particularly rear-end collisions. The force of impact causes your head to jerk suddenly, damaging the soft tissues in your neck. Symptoms such as neck pain, stiffness, headaches, and reduced range of motion often appear 24-72 hours after the accident.
Concussions and traumatic brain injuries can result from your head hitting an object or from the violent shaking motion during a collision. You might experience no immediate symptoms or only mild issues like a slight headache or confusion. More serious symptoms, including memory problems, concentration difficulties, mood changes, and sleep disturbance, may develop later.
Internal injuries pose the greatest risk when you skip medical evaluation. The impact of a crash can damage organs and cause internal bleeding. These injuries might not cause pain until significant damage has occurred, at which point they become medical emergencies.
Other Delayed Injuries
Other common delayed-onset injuries include:
- Back injuries, including herniated discs
- Shoulder and knee injuries
- Spinal cord injuries with gradual symptom progression
- Psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder
- Soft tissue injuries throughout the body
Without proper medical screening, these conditions can worsen over time, leading to more severe health problems and more extensive treatment needs.
The Medical Perspective on Delayed Symptoms
Adrenaline and endorphins flood your system during and immediately after a traumatic event like a car accident. These natural chemicals mask pain and increase your energy, potentially hiding injury symptoms. This biological response helped our ancestors survive dangerous situations, but it can mislead you about your physical condition after an accident.
Also, it can take time for your body to respond to a sudden injury. Inflammation builds gradually, often peaking 24-48 hours after injury. This delayed inflammatory response explains why you might feel worse two days after an accident than you did immediately afterward.
Between your body’s natural stress response and the gradual onset of inflammation, your perception of injury can be quite incorrect. You need to see a doctor even if you feel fine after a Fort Lauderdale car accident.
What Medical Professionals Look For
Medical evaluations after accidents go beyond addressing obvious injuries. Once your doctor knows you’ve been in an accident, they should take steps to test you for hidden injuries. These evaluations typically include:
- Physical examination focusing on areas commonly injured in car accidents
- Neurological assessment to check for signs of brain injury
- Diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs
- Monitoring for subtle signs of internal injury
By identifying injuries early, doctors can implement appropriate treatment plans that prevent complications and promote optimal healing. This proactive approach often results in shorter recovery times and better long-term outcomes.
Legal Implications of Delaying Medical Care
Insurance companies often view delays in medical treatment as evidence that your injuries weren’t serious or weren’t caused by the accident. If you wait days or weeks before seeing a doctor, the insurance adjuster may argue that:
- Your injuries resulted from something that happened after the accident
- Your injuries weren’t severe enough to warrant compensation
- You failed to “mitigate damages” by not seeking timely treatment
These arguments can significantly reduce the compensation you receive or even lead to claim denial. Insurance adjusters are trained to look for reasons to minimize payouts, and treatment delays provide them with powerful ammunition.
Medical documentation created immediately after an accident establishes a clear connection between the collision and your injuries. This documentation serves as objective evidence that can be crucial if your claim is disputed. Without it, proving causation becomes much more challenging.
Two-Week Deadline for PIP
Florida’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance requirements add another layer of urgency. To receive full benefits under your PIP coverage, you must seek initial medical treatment within 14 days of the accident. Waiting longer than this can result in your insurance company denying benefits that you’ve paid for through your premiums.
Common Objections to Seeking Medical Care
Worry about medical costs prevents many people from seeing a doctor after an accident. However, Florida’s no-fault insurance system requires your own PIP coverage to pay for 80% of your medical expenses up to $10,000, regardless of who caused the accident. Your health insurance could cover the remainder, minus any deductible or copays.
Time constraints and busy schedules make it tempting to postpone medical care. However, consider the time you’ll lose if undiagnosed injuries worsen and require more extensive treatment later. A brief medical evaluation now can save weeks or months of recovery time in the future as well as additional medical expenses.
Feeling physically fine immediately after an accident is the most common reason people skip medical evaluation. As we’ve discussed, this feeling can be misleading due to adrenaline and the delayed onset of many symptoms. Medical professionals have the training and tools to detect injuries before they become apparent to you.
Contact Our Team for Guidance After Your Fort Lauderdale Car Accident
Even before you call a lawyer, you should contact 911 to see a doctor after a Fort Lauderdale car accident, even if you feel fine. Beyond protecting your health, your medical record will give proof to your lawyer that you were injured in your accident and help them evaluate your case.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident in Fort Lauderdale, The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can help you. Since 2005, we’ve assisted thousands of accident victims in securing proper medical care and fair compensation for their injuries.
Contact The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine today for a free consultation about your car accident case. We’ll answer your questions about seeking medical care and explain how our legal representation can help protect your rights.
We Can Help.
