When trying to learn about an accident victim’s injuries, the insurance company looks at the same victim’s medical record.
Nature of possible gaps in that same record
Initial gap: This should show how much time passed from the date of the accident until the date when the victim first saw a doctor, or went to a clinic or a hospital.
A victim with a condition that had slow-to-emerge symptoms would probably have a large gap. The doctor’s comments should help to explain the reason for the gap’s presence.
The existence of pressing plans might also explain the reason for the gaping “hole” between the date of the accident and the date of the victim’s first scheduled appointment with a treating physician. Some victims might have scheduled some minor surgery for the time-slot that followed the accident. Some victims might have made plans for a visit to family members, during the same time-slot.
Personal injury lawyers in Lindsay know that gaps that show up during the treatment period:
—Any of those would suggest that the victim had failed to attend a scheduled appointment.
—The gap’s significance could be minimized, if the victim were to arrange for a new appointment, one that could take place soon after the date of the missed appointment.
Do victims have the ability to control the creation of gaps?
Victims must realize that a doctor’s comments ought to reveal the reason for the any gap in their medical record. In the absence of such comments, the insurance company would have a reason for questioning the reports about an accident-related injury.
If a minor were to become the victim of an accident-linked injury, then the victim’s parents would need to arrange for any visit to a physician’s office, or to a clinic or hospital. Parents that had retained a lawyer could arrange for an extension of the period prior to the filing deadline, if the same parents had considered suing the responsible party.
If parents had failed to take a child to a doctor’s office, or to a clinic or hospital, because he or she did not seem injured, that same victim could suffer the effects of the injury, without a means for controlling the creation of gaps.
What sort of condition might have the greatest effect on a young victim’s life?
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) might have that effect on any younger victim. Sometimes parents miss the symptoms of a TBI go unnoticed. Some of those symptoms could look like the behavior of a hormone-filled teenager,
That resemblance could encourage a parent’s view that a teenaged child’s behavior reflected the habits of other teenagers, and should not be seen as the symptom of an accident-linked condition. Sometimes, parents fail to see a connection.