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Faq

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is A Personal Injury Claim?

Understand the Injuries A personal injury lawyer will help you identify and understand your injuries. Medical records will be collected and reviewed. They will help you to understand your injuries and the effects they may have on your life.
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What is a Soft Tissue Injury?

Soft Tissue Injuries In a car accident, the back and neck are typical problem spots for soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue includes the muscle, tendons and ligaments. Soft tissue injuries are the most common complaint from persons involved in car accidents, especially low impact car accidents.

The impact can force the person’s neck or back to stretch in an abnormal way, resulting in injury. The neck can whip forward and then back causing whiplash. Research shows that approximately one-half of the persons injured in a car accident suffered from whiplash.

Although soft tissue injuries are common in car accidents, they are not detectable with x-rays. It may take hours or days before an accident victim begins to experience symptoms. Once the accident victim becomes symptomatic, he or she may begin to experience constant pain.

Cat Scans, MRI and Ultrasound can be used to show soft tissue injuries. That is why it is important to keep your doctor informed of the pain that you are experiencing. If only x-rays have been performed, yet the pain is constant, perhaps a different diagnostic test such as the Cat Scan, MRI or Ultrasound can provide a more comprehensive view to validate the soft tissue injury. This is important for your insurance claim.

1. What Happens if You Stop Treating with Your Doctor

Many who apply for disability do not have insurance to receive treatment or the extra money to pay for treatment out of their pocket. There are low cost and no cost clinics that can provide treatment. Since the medical records are your evidence, without this evidence you lose. A judge will ask if you were so sick, why did you not visit the emergency room? Some claimants will stop treating with their doctor because they feel there is nothing more that can be done. Your medical documentation is the evidence you must supply the judge to prove your disability claim. Without ongoing treatment the judge will find that you must not be that sick or otherwise you would have been seeing your doctor.

2. Ignoring Mail from Social Security Administration Can Be Lethal to Your Claim

While it is understood that you do not feel well at this point and time in your life, ignoring mail from the social security administration could result in closure of your claim. Social security has very strict deadlines. If a letter is ignored or left unopened, you may miss your deadline and lose your claim. Your attorney is supposed to receive a copy of the correspondence you receive from SSA, but this doesn’t always happen. Be sure to open and read every letter. Check with your attorney and make sure they received a copy of the same letter you received.

Pay close attention to any mail you receive from SSA.

3. Self Medicating Can Hurt Your Claim

Sometimes claimants will medicate themselves with a street drug or illegally obtained prescriptions because they are unable to afford a doctor. This type of behavior hurts your claim tremendously. This is illegal behavior and is likely to ensure a denial in your case.

There are free clinics that are available to assist with the medications you need. Charity hospitals provide treatment and prescriptions to those who can’t otherwise afford it.