6 Things You Need To Do After Getting Injured
Getting injured is one of the things in life that everyone wishes they could avoid. No one wants to spend months recovering from an accident, unable to work or go out with their friends. Plus, everyone wants to avoid the pain of getting injured, period!
Sadly though, sometimes accidents do happen and injuries are unavoidable. Injuries are common in the workplace, on public roads, and in public spaces. No matter how careful you are, there may have been some poor judgments made by someone else, leading to injury for yourself.
1. Notify and Report
No matter where you get injured, there will be a process to follow to ensure that your injury is dealt with properly at the scene. If you are on a public highway, for example, the police must be called to the site of any collision. If you are at work, there will be an incident log that needs to be filled. If you’re at someone else’s workplace, the same will apply.
All of these are important, as they form the initial basis of your evidence as well as proof of an incident taking place. Make sure you follow the correct protocol and report your injury properly.
2. Seek Medical Attention
If your accident causes serious injury, you should call the emergency services or report to an urgent care center right away. Even if your accident is not so bad, or your injuries don’t seem too severe, you should still be checked out by a medical professional as soon as possible. Firstly, you need to make sure that you’re okay! Secondly, once again, these medical reports will become a huge part of your evidence. Make sure you get copies of any doctor’s letters, bills, reports, scans, or any other relevant info.
3. Find a Specialist Lawyer
At this point, you’ll want to reach out to a specialist lawyer. There are tons of awesome lawyers who are uniquely qualified to manage these sorts of cases. If you are in NYC, finding a New York personal injury law firm would be perfectly helpful for you.
Why a specialist? Because they’ve been trained their whole careers in this field of law. Managing a personal injury claim is very different from looking after a commercial property law dispute. Seek a specialist; they’ll know exactly how to help.
The best thing about these kinds of lawyers is they will often work for free – to start with. An initial consultation will be free. It’s at this meeting where they’ll explain how an injury claim works and what they can do for you. Usually, you won’t pay a dime until after the case has settled – and only if you win!
4. Tell Your Employer
It’s also vitally important that you tell your employer about your injury as soon as possible, especially when you need time off work. Your medical reports and doctor’s notes can serve as evidence for your employer. Depending on where in the country you work, you may be entitled to sick pay. If you are not, you may be able to claim benefits or grants from the government. Either way, be honest with your employer and layout the timeframe for your return to work. It can be scary, but taking time off can be essential for recovery. Don’t rush back and hurt yourself more.
5. Gather All Evidence
Your legal team will do most of this for you, though they may ask for a little help here and there. The evidence gathered is key in gaining compensation. They’ll seek those initial reports from your incident, your medical information, plus any witness testimony or CCTV evidence available. If anything is hard to reach, your legal team may use a subpoena to get hold of important information.
6. Seek Compensation Where Possible
Once the case is all put together, you can look to get compensation. This could be from an insurance company if the accident is covered by a car, liability, or employer’s insurance policy. If the injury was the fault of someone else’s negligence, you may also be able to sue them directly for personal damages, injury expenses, or long-lasting aftereffects of your injury. Your attorneys will explain the best course of action and will only settle on an amount of compensation that they believe is fair and they know you are happy with.
Following these six steps will ensure that you are looked after properly and – hopefully – fairly compensated for the incident and any injuries caused. Remember to take time to look after yourself and heal. Find a great lawyer and they’ll do the rest of the hard work for you.
