Choosing the right medical care after a car accident is crucial for your health and potential legal claim.
Getting into a car accident can be a very traumatic experience. When it first happens, right away we usually enter into a mild state of shock, not knowing what to do. After we get our wits about us, we then assess what has happened and how serious the accident must have been. Usually, we are hurt, even if we don’t think we are at first. The adrenaline caused from getting into an accident may have numbed our ability to feel pain when injured. This is why it is always crucial to seek medical attention (even if you don’t think you need it).
Your Medical Options After an Accident Injury: Urgent Care vs Emergency Room in NJ
If you are given the choice of whether to go to the urgent care or an emergency room, there are several factors you must consider. First and foremost, how serious are your injuries? Emergency rooms are more capable than urgent cares in treating serious injuries or serious pain. If you make the wrong decision in going to an urgent care to treat a major injury, all they can do is refer you to the emergency room, and maybe call you an ambulance.
Is Urgent Care Right for You? Know the Pros and Cons
An urgent care is a healthcare facility just like any other doctor’s office, however they treat minor emergency injuries, or minor illnesses. Think of going to a convenience store for a gallon of milk instead of a large grocery store in your town. These centers have shorter wait times, cost less than the emergency room, and are located almost everywhere. However, what the urgent care boasts in convenience they lack in capability. For example, urgent care facilities can only treat certain injuries.
Understanding the Limits of Urgent Care Services
Urgent care centers can treat common and minor injuries. They can treat bruises, strains, sprains, fractures, and minor lacerations. Urgent cares can treat most non-life threatening injuries. For example, if you get into an accident, and you have a possible broken arm, or minor laceration, an urgent care can help with that. Most urgent cares have imaging capabilities and can see fractures. They can also help stitch up any lacerations that require it. Most external injuries suffered as a result of a car accident can be treated at an urgent care. This would include most fractures, minor lacerations, possible concussions, or even whiplash. However, if you want to be thorough, and ensure that the best possible treatment is available to you just in case something else is wrong, it is highly advisable to go to the emergency room.
The Hectic Day-to-Day Life in Emergency Rooms
Emergency departments at hospitals, or emergency rooms, are the department of the hospital treating all emergencies from everyone in the vicinity of the hospital. Typically, these rooms are extremely crowded, and patients are seen based upon the severity of their injury or complaint. Certain complaints become prioritized. I’m not sure if you have been to an emergency room lately, but they are very busy places.
Treating Everything From Minor to Life-Threatening Injuries in the ER
The emergency room is used by people with serious injuries, some of them are life-threatening, but most of them are not. For internal injuries, shortness of breath, dizziness, major concussions, chest pain, major pain, serious fractures and the like, a trip to the emergency room would probably suit you better than going to your local urgent care. The emergency room has many resources at their disposal including specialists on call 24/7. The emergency room also has comprehensive diagnostic tests, and the ability to treat more medical issues more quickly than urgent care without giving a referral.
Financial Considerations for Urgent vs. Emergency Care
The cost disparity between the emergency room and urgent care is very apparent. You will be paying more money for the emergency room for a number of reasons. First and foremost, you will have access to many more resources at the emergency room in the case that you need them. You have a much higher level of care, more personnel, more testing available at your disposal and when you need a specialized doctor in a particular practice area of medicine, they will be available almost immediately to you.
Urgent care is another story. You have access to your very basic medical needs. Urgent care is based more on convenience and availability. It costs much less than the emergency room mainly because the urgent care has much less overhead costs than an emergency room, which is located and attached to a larger hospital network.
The Legal Ramifications of Delayed Medical Treatment in Middletown, NJ
Certain injuries will heal, or get worse over time. It is very important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. If you don’t, there is a chance the injury will not properly be documented, making it more difficult to hold responsible parties accountable. Also, the injury might heal improperly.
Most obviously, if you do not immediately get medical treatment, injuries that you may not know that you have will get worse. They can worsen to the point that it is too late to get any substantial treatment to fix this issue. If there is another party who is at fault for your injuries, such as a negligent driver who you are suing or planning on suing, you will need medical evidence to prove your case and obtain compensation. Negligent parties can be mandated to pay all of your medical expenses and other costs associated with the accident and its effects, but your injuries must be properly documented.
Discuss Filing a Lawsuit for Your ER or Urgent Care Treatment Costs with an Accomplished Car Accident Lawyer in NJ
If you are injured in an accident and subsequently seek medical care at either an emergency room or urgent care, the next step should be to speak with a knowledgeable personal injury lawyer regarding your situation and possible claim against a negligent party. An experienced accident lawyer is absolutely crucial to have on your side in order to properly represent your interests while seeking medical treatment. At Chamlin, Uliano & Walsh, we can review your case, assemble the necessary evidence to support your claim for compensation, and work to secure payment from a negligent party or insurance company.
If you are entitled to money damages, our personal injury lawyers will not only find them, but make sure you enjoy the full benefit of them. When you enlist our assistance, you receive over 50 years of experience in the realm of personal injury law working to ensuring that all expenses incurred as a result of your injuries will be documented and demanded from the negligent party. From our local office in West Long Branch, NJ, we assist clients who have been injured in car accidents, motorcycle crashes, truck collisions, slip and fall incidents, dog attacks, pedestrian accidents, and other cases throughout the Ocean and Monmouth County area, including Middletown, Holmdel, Red Bank, Freehold, Long Branch and Howell. Call 732-440-3950 or reach out to us online to request a free consultation. Our accomplished team of New Jersey injury lawyers will investigate to determine who can be held responsible.