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Steps to Take After a Personal Injury Accident
Personal injuries affect millions of Americans every year and many people do not even realize they have a case for which they may be owed. Personal injuries cover a variety of injuries in a variety of situations and many people walk away with injuries and medical bills that they are owed compensation for but never seek justice simply because they do not have all the info they need.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 31 million Americans are injured enough to require medical treatment every year. At least 2 million of these injuries require some level of hospitalization for the injury. Over 160,000 of these injuries, on average, are fatal. With statistics like that, are you sure you’re doing enough to get the money and overall compensation you deserve for an injury? Did you have to seek medical help or miss time from work? Someone may be liable for those costs.
What is Considered a Personal Injury?
Personal injury law covers a lot of different injuries. Among the most prominent are car accidents which can result in 3 million injuries each year and almost 40,000 fatalities. Accidents at construction sites result in 300,000 injuries a year and 1,000 deaths. Medical malpractice kills as many as 98,000 people a year. Other examples include slip and fall accidents, dog bites, defamation cases, and mass tort lawsuits.
Steps to Take After a Personal Injury Accident
First and foremost, seek medical attention for yourself and anyone else involved. It’s important to make sure you and everyone involved is safe. Next, make sure while you’re getting medical attention you keep a record of your injuries, what the medical professionals say about them, and any costs you accrue as a result of seeking medical assistance. Keep these records detailed and handy because you will need them later. Also, take down any notes or evidence you can from the scene of the injury, as much as you can do so safely.
Next, you’ll want to make sure you obtain a police report. Ideally, this should be done as quickly as possible and may be done on the scene if you called 911 for medical assistance. Either way, make sure there is an official police report record of the incident which will help you to prove fault. If a police report is not filed at the scene, you can visit the local police station that has jurisdiction and report the incident, which they will then investigate to build a report.
Your next move will be to meet with an attorney. Most personal injury attorneys offer free consultation to take a look at the evidence in your case and let you know if they think it is a viable one. They’ll be with you every step of the way after this, helping you collect and preserve evidence, gather witnesses, and build a case against the guilty party. An attorney can be a life saver when it comes to personal injury cases. Contact us for your personal injury in Denver today.