Personal Injury
Personal Injury Law in Everett, WA
Are you unable to work due to an injury? Do you have medical bills that you aren’t sure you can pay? Let us help you. You can get the legal counsel you need to ensure that your rights are represented in court by professionals who care. With the knowledge and experience of our team on your side, you can expect excellent and personalized legal support from Styles Law.
Experienced & Skilled Injury Attorney
When you hire an injury attorney from our firm, you can rest assured that we will take the time to get to know you and go over the details of your situation with a fine-tooth comb. We never treat our clients like a case number, because personal relationships are important to us. Being able to facilitate your best possible result is always our end goal. Contact us today to find out more about how our legal services can help you.
Call us today at 425-448-7246 to find out more about our legal services. We are proud to serve Everett, WA.
How to Prove Whiplash and Handle a Claim for Neck Injuries from a Car Crash
When you’re involved in a car crash, neck injuries, like whiplash, are very common injuries—and it can be serious. Unfortunately, it’s also an injury that many people don’t seek out treatment for, or don’t even realize they have until their neck, head or back pain grows worse. By that time, you may have already developed complications or aggravated the injury. This is why it’s vital to know what to do for whiplash after your accident.
How soon after a crash will I notice whiplash?
While some pain or stiffness might be noticeable shortly after a crash, the clear symptoms of whiplash usually appear within 24 hours of your car crash. However, it can take a few days for symptoms to develop. A whiplash injury can last for several weeks. However, others may experience chronic whiplash that can linger for years or for a lifetime.
What does whiplash feel like?
Symptoms of whiplash appear within 24 hours of the initial injury. Common symptoms include:
• Headaches often at the base of the skull
• Worsening pain with neck movement
• Tingling or numbness in the arms
• Dizziness
• Loss of range of motion in the neck
• Blurred vision
• Tenderness or pain in the upper arms and shoulders
• Fatigue
• Neck Pain
Chronic whiplash can last for six months or more. Signs of chronic whiplash include the following:
• Pain in upper and lower back regions
• Severe headaches
• Blurry vision
• Constant fatigue
• Jaw pain
• Irritability
• Ringing in the ears
When should I seek medical assistance after a car crash?
Immediately. Although you may feel fine after a car crash, the rush of adrenaline you get after a crash can mask the injuries your body has just suffered. Car crashes are traumatic experiences. It’s important to be examined and evaluated very soon after an a crash to determine that you don’t have any fractures, slipped discs, deep bruising or other injuries that can worsen over time. Having a clear timeline of treatment from crash to recovery also proves that there was not some other event that might have caused your injuries, a possibility insurance companies often argue if too much time passes between the collision and the first examination.
Allow Time to Evaluate the Full Extent of Injuries
It’s important to file a claim and get the process started immediately. However, you shouldn’t rush to settle or accept early offers to close your claim, especially where injury to the neck and whiplash are involved. It may take months for the full effects of a whiplash injury to become evident. You may need expensive surgeries and other therapies to relieve your pain and address other symptoms. You could be unable to work, care for your family, and generally enjoy life for months or years. You deserve compensation for all of your losses, both financial and emotional, that stem from a car crash caused by another driver’s negligence or carelessness. If you close your claim and settle early, those damages my never be compensated.
Gather Evidence Needed to Prove Whiplash Injury
The pain of whiplash is caused by tiny breaks and tears in the soft tissue that connects and protects the bones of the neck, the cervical spine. Specifically, the damage tends to be concentrated in the facet joints that connect the vertebrae together and allow the head to bend and rotate. In addition to neck pain, other disorders caused by a severe whiplash injury include: loss of range of motion in the neck, headaches, dizziness, and pain that spreads to the arms. None of these problems can be easily proven by X-rays or other objective medical tests. So, other sources of proof will be needed to support a personal injury claim.
Five types of evidence that you should compile include:
• Documentation of the accident, including how fast you were going, where you were sitting in the vehicle, from which direction your car was hit, whether the airbags deployed, and how the headrest was positioned.
• Medical records showing that you sought medical treatment within a few days of the car accident and multiple times since then. Your medical records may include visits to a physical therapist, chiropractor, neurologist, neurosurgeon, or an orthopedic surgeon specializing in the cervical spine. Medical records from before the accident will also be necessary as proof that your neck pain was not a pre-existing condition.
• Pharmaceutical records showing what medications you have taken for the pain.
• Imaging results such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs. These may show damage to the spine itself, beyond the soft tissue injury known as whiplash.
• Documentation of damages, including medical bills–especially the deductibles and co-pays not covered by your health insurance, the cost of travel to all the doctor visits, and lost wages. You should also track days when you were in too much pain to do your normal activities, including being a companion to your spouse and children, because you can include “pain and suffering” as part of your damages.
Contact an Everett Car Accident Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a car crash that may have resulted from someone else’s negligence or carelessness, contact our experienced Snohomish County car accident attorneys to discuss how we can help you obtain full and fair compensation. For a consultation, call the Everett office of Styles Law at 425-654-5969 or our Edmonds office at 425-553-4667.