subject: What You Should Do To Facilitate A Personal Injury Accident Claim [print this page] Once you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a road accident, then there are certain things you need to do immediately so that you can get the benefit of any claim. Remember that you are entitled to personal injury accident claim compensation if you are the victim and were not the cause of the accident yourself.
These are some of the steps you must take:
a)If the injury is the result of a road accident, immediately notify the police. If this is not done, the insurance service provider may not take cognisance of your claim since it does not have the backing of a law enforcement agency. This procedure has been put in place to ensure that no frivolous and false claims are made by people.
b)Show the injury to your family doctor immediately. Do not procrastinate even if in your view, the injury is not all that serious. Remember that certain injuries may not appear serious enough at the point they happen but can really become worse overnight and you need to ensure against that. Moreover, when you submit your medical claim to the court in future, the doctor's medical report would be a necessary document and would be asked for by the court.
c)Take care to take and accumulate all possible evidences about the incident and your injuries. It would be useful to take snaps at the site itself and also have a written account of all the things that happened. This would include names, any vehicle numbers and so on. It is better to do this at the spot since you cannot rely on your memory to help you at a later stage and these are important details required when submitting a claim. If you can find witnesses at the incident, take down their names and numbers as well for future reference.
Things are not very different when an accident occurs at the work place. You need to write down an account of what happened and give a copy to your immediate superior. If the workplace has a book where such things can be reported, then do so. This is again very important as the absence of a formal or written report can render your claim invalid.
If you are on your own and happen to meet with an accident, you must report the incident to your local health authority. Again in the absence of this report, you may not be able to get the personal injury accident claim settlement in your favour or to the extent you want.
It may seem an exercise in futility but making the complaint is necessary. Though the procedure might take time, in most cases, you would get an apology back. However, if you wish to take up the issue of compensation, then making the complaint within a week, maintaining proper records and documentation would facilitate a smoother settlement process. The timing is important as beyond a week to ten days of the incident happening, the complaint itself might lose its authenticity and effectiveness.
by: Lawrence White
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