How To Prove Whiplash After A Car Accident
Whiplash is one of the most common injuries seen after a car accident, and it is also one of the most difficult to prove. Whiplash is an extremely painful injury and can greatly limit a person’s mobility. Still, it is not an injury that is detected easily, making it very difficult to diagnose and prove damages to an insurance company or a jury. It is always important to work with a Marietta personal injury lawyer after a car accident, but becomes even more crucial to your claim when you are dealing with less visible injuries, such as whiplash.
What is Whiplash?
According to the John Hopkins Clinic, whiplash is defined as a neck injury that occurs when the neck moves back and forth in rapid succession. This forceful movement tears and strains the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the neck, and even the shoulders. Whiplash is so commonly seen after car accidents because the neck is more vulnerable to the forceful impact of a crash. This injury is also most common in rear-end accidents.
Unlike a broken bone, which shows up on an x-ray fairy readily, whiplash is a soft tissue injury and is not so easily detected. That becomes a challenge when you are trying to prove the injury. Fortunately, there are ways to do it.
Proving Whiplash After a Crash
The most important step you can take after a car accident is to seek medical attention as soon as possible. If you do not seek treatment immediately, the insurance company will use that fact against you to argue that you were not injured. Additionally, without immediate treatment, your injury will become more painful, but physical evidence of the injury may start to diminish.
During treatment, it is important to tell the doctor about any pain you feel in your neck or shoulders so they can look for signs of whiplash. Although an x-ray will not show a whiplash injury, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan will. An MRI will take detailed images of the soft tissue in the neck, which can provide for a faster diagnosis and provide medical documentation to back up your claim. A computed tomography (CT) scan can also provide the same detailed images as an MRI.
Lastly, eyewitness testimony can also serve as evidence in your claim. If the movement was forceful enough, bystanders may have noticed your neck violently moving back and forth. If you had passengers in your vehicle at the time, they may have noticed more subtle yet unnatural movements that could have caused the injury.
Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Marietta Can Collect the Evidence You Need
While whiplash can pose some challenges when proving your claim, there is evidence that will help you do it. Collecting that evidence is not something you should do as you are trying to recover from your injuries, though. At The Strickland Firm, our Marietta personal injury lawyers will gather the medical documents, witness statements, and more that will prove your claim so you can focus on getting better. Call us today at 1-844-GAJUSTICE to schedule a free consultation.
Resource:
hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/whiplash-injury
