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Will I Need Long-Term Medical Care After My Car Accident?

If you get into a Louisiana car accident, there’s a good chance you’ll suffer pretty serious injuries. You may end up in the hospital for weeks or even months. It depends on what kind of injuries you suffer. It also depends on how serious your car accident is.

There are certain injuries that require you to receive long-term medical treatment. For example, if you suffer a back or neck injury, you will need surgery. But you’re also going to need physical therapy. It can take years to really resolve these types of injuries.

When it’s time to calculate your damages, your Lake Charles car accident lawyer has to take this into account. It could cost thousands of dollars in future medical care. If you don’t demand these damages as part of your lawsuit, you’ll be left to pay them on your own.

When you first meet with your attorney, there’s no real way to know if you’re going to need future medical care. This is why Louisiana gives you one (1) year to file your legal claim. The statute of limitations in Louisiana is one (1) year. This means that if you don’t file your claim in that timeframe, your claim will be forever barred.

How Long Will It Take to Determine Your Physical Injuries?

When you first go to the hospital, the doctors are going to perform all kinds of tests. These tests will help determine what kinds of injuries you’ve suffered. Some of these tests are:

  • MRI
  • CT scan
  • X-Ray
  • Ultrasound
  • Neurological testing
  • Physical Exam

These tests will give your doctor a better idea of how serious your injuries are. It will also let them know if you need surgery or not. Certain injuries are more likely to require surgery than others. Some of these more serious injuries include:

  • Back injuries
  • Neck injuries
  • Internal bleeding
  • Organ damage
  • Spinal cord injuries
  • Burns
  • Traumatic brain injuries

If not treated properly, these injuries can be life threatening. They can also cause long-term medical issues. For example, if you don’t get the back surgery you need, you may have back pain for the rest of your life. It can even cause you to be permanently disabled when you get older.

The real problem is this – you have no idea, in that first year, just what the future holds. This is why your Louisiana car accident attorney will need to rely on medical experts to help make this determination.

How Do You Predict and Estimate Future Medical Issues?

Your Lake Charles injury lawyer can do a lot of things, but they aren’t a doctor. They have no idea what your future medical treatment may be. Sure, they’ve handled dozens of cases just like yours. They may be able to give you an estimate of what kind of medical care you’ll need in the future.

Louisiana car accident lawyers typically hire medical experts to help determine your damages. A licensed doctor will be better able to determine what kind of future medical care you may need. Some of this care may include:

  • Physical Therapy – If you hurt certain parts of your body, you’ll need physical therapy. Following back or neck surgery, your doctor is going to want to slowly get you back to a normal life. You may need weeks or months of physical therapy to make this happen. Depending on your physical restrictions, you may not be able to return to work right away.
  • Chiropractic Care – A lot of car accident victims need chiropractic care following their injuries. You may only need this for a year, or you may need it for the rest of your life. This can be very expensive. Even if you only have to pay a co-pay, that’s still hundreds of dollars a year. And, if your primary insurance refuses to cover it, you’ll be paying out of pocket for these visits. This can run you thousands upon thousands of dollars.
  • Occupational Therapy – Depending on your injury, you may not be able to return to work right away. If you do physical labor, you may need to find another trade. Or, you may need to find alternate ways of doing your job that doesn’t cause further strain on your injuries.

Your Lake Charles car accident lawyer will hire the necessary people to do this for you. Call Veron, Bice, Palermo, & Wilson today and schedule your free initial consultation.

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Lake Charles, Louisiana

337-310-1601

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