Suffering a personal injury can immediately turn your life into a big blur. One minute everything was fine and the next life is completely altered. Perhaps permanently. As humans, we try not to think about these painful situations. Yet it’s important to know what to do if you or a loved one ever suffers a serious personal injury. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
• Try to relax – After a personal injury, you’ll find that you have more worries than ever. Serious questions will fill your brain, not allowing you to sleep, much less think correctly. Questions like, how will you pay your bills if you’re unable to work? Do you need to get a lawyer and if so how in the world will you afford him? What about your employer-are they going to fire you? Will anyone believe your story?
All good questions, but questions you won’t have the answers to. For that reason, you need to contact a personal injury lawyer fast. At this point, don’t even think about the cost. Your first meeting with the attorney will be free. This is typically standard in the industry, although you definitely want to check on this before you meet with the attorney.
• Visit a physician as soon as possible – The worse mistake you can ever make after an accident is deciding not to see a doctor. Even if you think you’re perfectly fine, you should always go in for a checkup. Far too often accidents occur in which the individuals think nothing is wrong, only to find out a little ways down the road that they had an undetectable personal injury. But guess what happens if you don’t go in and get that physician’s report?
• Find an attorney quickly – As soon as you get out of the doctor’s office, immediately find an attorney to discuss your personal injury with. Remember, the clock is ticking faster than you think. The longer you wait around, the more likely that the facts related to your story will get blurred in your head. And if your injury happened at work, you had better bet your employer is preparing to defend against a lawsuit as soon as you report your injury. Don’t let them get a step ahead of you.
• Don’t leave anything out – When you meet with your attorney, tell him the whole story. Never try to hide anything. And certainly don’t leave out a piece of the story just because you don’t think it has anything to do with your personal injury. Let your attorney be the judge of that. Just tell him everything that happened surrounding the accident.
As a matter of fact, before you go in to see him, you may want to sort out your facts. Determine when the accident occurred and exactly where it happened. Think about what was happening around you when you suffered the personal injury, as well as what you were doing. Were you performing a task which made you feel uneasy or unsafe? And furthermore, why were you doing what you were doing?
If you’re the victim of a personal injury, you don’t have to be afraid. But you do need to act quickly. Follow the above steps and receive the compensation you’re entitled to.
