If your injuries don’t require emergency room treatment after a car accident in South Carolina, you may go to an urgent care facility. Urgent care may be sufficient to diagnose your injuries, refer you to a specialist, and initiate your treatment. Our lawyers help obtain any records and bills resulting from the visit.
You should go to an emergency room rather than an urgent care if your injuries are very serious and painful. Emergency rooms have more resources and are better equipped to handle life-threatening injuries from car accidents. You should seek medical care immediately, though you can go to an urgent care facility if it takes a few days for injuries to appear.
Get a free and confidential case review from Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers when you call our Columbia, SC car accident attorneys at (803) 451-4000.
When Can You Go to Urgent Care After a South Carolina Car Accident?
You can go to urgent care after a car accident if your injuries aren’t life-threatening or especially egregious. Urgent care facilities have somewhat limited resources, so they cannot treat particularly bad injuries.
An urgent care facility might be closer than the nearest hospital and have all the equipment and resources necessary for your injuries. Lacerations, bruises, sprains, and even whiplash may be diagnosed and initially treated at an urgent care facility.
You might get treated faster at an urgent care facility compared to a hospital’s emergency room, depending on the severity of your injury. You might wait to be assessed for a fracture in an emergency room, while an urgent care facility might X-ray you immediately.
You should get medical attention right after an accident, whether that means going straight to urgent care or to the nearest hospital.
When Shouldn’t You Go to Urgent Care for Car Accident Injuries?
You shouldn’t go to an urgent care if your injuries are too serious for the facility’s capabilities. Head and brain injuries, back injuries, bad fractures, deep lacerations, and other injuries call for more intense treatment, which means going to the emergency room.
Urgent care facilities do not have the same extensive resources, medications, equipment, and tools as emergency rooms. Neck and spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, and many others require immediate involvement from specialists. Urgent care facilities often lack the resources and staff to handle severe injuries, so it is best not to waste time going there instead of the emergency room.
Do I Need Follow-Up Care After I Go to Urgent Care for a Car Accident?
If you go to urgent care after a car crash, you may be referred to specialists to continue your treatment. Many car accident injuries require follow-up care with other physicians, and getting that care is crucial for your claim.
All subsequent doctor appointments after your first urgent care visit are compensable. Hospitalizations, X-rays, MRIs, other diagnostic tests, prescription medications, and other medical damages are recoverable.
Get all necessary follow-up care. If you don’t, gaps may form in your medical records, and your injury might worsen. If a plaintiff’s condition worsens, the defendant might refuse to cover additional medical damages in a settlement. Avoid these issues by prioritizing your health and getting all necessary follow-up care after an accident.
What if You Delay Medical Care After a Car Accident in South Carolina?
Do not ignore injuries and intentionally delay treatment after a car accident in South Carolina. Doing so creates gaps in medical records that raise questions about how you were hurt.
If you feel any pain or discomfort after a crash but do not think you need to go to the emergency room, go to an urgent care facility for assessment. You might get diagnosed with a mild sprain, a soft tissue injury, or even a concussion.
If you delay treatment, it’s harder to prove how and when you were injured. In addition to getting prompt treatment, following your treatment plan is paramount. You may have months of procedures, surgeries, and doctor appointments ahead of you, and you must attend all of them.
How to Get Compensation for Medical Care After a Car Accident in South Carolina
To get compensation for medical care after a car accident in South Carolina, call our lawyers about your case right away.
Track Medical Damages
Bills prove how much an urgent care or emergency room visit costs, and our lawyers can arrange proof of these damages for your case. We can continue to track medical damages as they accumulate, which may persist even after our South Carolina car accident attorneys file your lawsuit.
Get Medical Records
We can also obtain medical records from the urgent care facility and any other providers associated with your physical recovery in South Carolina. Medical records prove when you were injured, the extent of your injury, and how much it costs to treat.
File a Timely Case
You must also file your case on time to recover urgent care costs and other medical damages. The statute of limitations for car accident lawsuits in South Carolina is three years, unless a tolling exception applies that delays the deadline.
Can I Go to Urgent Care Days After a Car Accident in South Carolina?
It’s best to get assessed by medical professionals right after you are injured. Not all injuries are immediately apparent, however, with victims often not noticing them for hours or days. Whenever you notice any discomfort or pain, go to an urgent care facility.
You can get assessed, even if it’s been several days since an accident. Tell the doctor how you were injured, describe your pain level, and take their advice. If the doctor discovers serious underlying injuries, you may need more treatment.
Even if you didn’t discover your injuries immediately, you can still go to urgent care to document them, and we can still help you file a lawsuit to get compensation.
Call Our Car Accident Lawyers for Help in South Carolina
Call Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000 for help with your case from our South Carolina car accident attorneys.
