Georgia law does not set a deadline for when you must see a doctor after a slip or trip and fall accident, but you should get medical attention as soon as possible. Prompt medical care can help to avoid complications and protect your right to go after money damages for your losses.
Medical Problems You Can Avoid with Prompt Professional Care
There are two categories of injuries from trauma like a slip or trip and fall accident: those that show symptoms immediately and those that exhibit signs later, sometimes not until a day or more later. You should deal with both types of injury after one of these accidents.
Injuries with Immediate Symptoms
With some injuries, you feel pain as soon as you hit the ground. You know that you have hurt your elbow, ankle, or some other body part. You might have heard a pop or snap if you broke a bone. You might not be able to place any weight on one leg or move your arm correctly. Perhaps you hit your head during the fall, and now you are dizzy or nauseous.
With any symptom like pain, confusion, dizziness, nausea, or the inability to move any body part normally, you should get immediate medical attention following a slip or trip and fall accident. These symptoms might be associated with the following injuries:
- With bruising or a broken bone, you might develop a blood clot that could go to your heart, lung, or brain and cause an embolism, heart attack, or stroke. Getting immediate medical attention means the doctor can give you medicine that can prevent blood clots from forming.
- If you have a fracture and you try to go about your routine tasks without treating the fracture, you could worsen the injury by causing the bone to split further.
- With a neck or back injury, moving around could lead to paralysis or death, particularly if the movement causes an object like a jagged piece of fractured vertebrae to penetrate and sever the spinal cord.
These are but a few examples of the reasons to get medical attention right away for any symptoms of injury after a slip or trip and fall accident.
A Hard Fall without Injury Symptoms
Sometimes a person sustains a significant injury, but the signs do not appear immediately. Severe complications can develop, and you could have irreparable harm from the damage before you even realize that you got hurt. For example:
- You could have damage to internal organs. In this situation, you might be bleeding internally, which can quickly become a medical emergency. You are at higher risk for severe internal bleeding if you take certain prescription drugs, like heart medication and blood thinners (anti-coagulants).
- It is possible to break a bone without any symptoms appearing for several hours or days. The fracture could develop complications during that time, like the things mentioned in the paragraph above.
- It can be challenging to know when you have suffered a head injury because the injury itself can affect your ability to perceive and interpret data that would indicate trauma. If you experience confusion following the injury, you might not be able to make sense of your symptoms. You might think that you only need to take a nap, when, in reality, a traumatic brain injury is causing you to experience lethargy.
Any time that you have a hard landing from a slip or trip and fall or you strike an object while falling, you should go for a trauma examination right away.
Protect Your Claim for Money Damages by Getting Prompt Medical Attention
One of the essential elements that we will have to prove to win your slip or trip and fall injury claim is that the fall caused your injuries. A standard way to prove that necessary factor is by using your medical records.
When a person goes to the doctor or emergency room, the intake person asks the patient what happened. The patient tells the intake person how he got hurt and about his symptoms. From the initial medical contact, there is evidence that links the fall to your injury.
If you went to the emergency room or doctor immediately after the trip or slip and fall accident, the link between the fall and the harm you suffered is much stronger than if you wait a day or two to seek medical help. The defendant can argue that something else, not the fall, caused your injuries if you do not go for medical attention right away.
How long do you have to go to the doctor after a slip or trip and fall accident? There is no set time, but do not wait too long: any delay in getting medical care gives the defendant the opportunity to allege that you are exaggerating the extent of your injuries. The defendant can argue that you would have sought medical treatment immediately if your injuries were as severe as you claim. We do not want to give the defense any opportunity to pay you less money than you deserve.
Seeking Legal Aid for Your Slip or Trip and Fall Accident
At S. Burke Law, we treat our clients like family. We can take care of your legal matters so that you can focus on getting better. Call us today at (404) 842-7838 for a free consultation. There is no obligation.