If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence in an accident, covering the attendant medical bills as they roll in can be exceptionally difficult – especially if your injuries also leave you off the job. If this is the very difficult situation you find yourself in, it’s important to know that an experienced Austin personal injury attorney can help you obtain the compensation you need to pay medical bills during your injury claim.
What’s In This Guide
- Common Personal Injury Claims
- Your Medical Expenses
- A Note about Personal Injury Protection
- Pay Medical Bills during the Injury Claim Process
Common Personal Injury Claims
Common personal injury claims run the gamut from traffic accidents of every kind, to slip and fall accidents and other types of premises liability claims. When the injuries involved are catastrophic in nature, the associated medical expenses are that much more serious. Further, there are claims that are very similar to personal injury claims, such as wrongful death claims, that often include medical costs the victim accrued prior to succumbing to his or her injuries.
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Your Medical Expenses
The medical expenses associated with your personal injury claim are one kind of loss (or legal damage) that can be addressed in your legal claim. These medical costs can be extensive, and they may not end with your current medical needs. Serious injuries can lead to ongoing healthcare needs and to ongoing healthcare expenses, which can include:
- Emergency treatment and transportation
- Hospital stays
- Treatment and care from doctors and medical specialists
- Medical procedures, treatments, and tests
- Pain management
- Prescription medications
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic care
- Occupational therapy
- Rehabilitation
- Home health care
- Adaptive physical devices
This list could go on, and the prices attached are considerable.
A Note about Personal Injury Protection
If the accident that leaves you injured is a car accident, you may be able to turn to your own personal injury protection (PIP) while your claim is pending. In the State of Texas, car insurance providers are required to include personal injury protection in their policies, and the only way to avoid purchasing the coverage is by waiving your right to do so in writing. In other words, you are very likely to have some PIP coverage that can help you address both your mounting medical bills and your lost earnings – as you move forward with the claims process.
Pay Medical Bills during the Injury Claim Process
The personal injury claims process is legally complicated and can be quite lengthy, which makes the question of how you will pay your medical bills that much more pressing. In order to bring a successful claim that compensates you fairly for the losses you’ve suffered, you’ll need to prove the other party’s fault in the matter, clearly demonstrate the extent of your losses, and skillfully advocate for your claim’s favorable resolution. These are tasks that are best left in the very capable hands of your personal injury attorney.
Proving the Other Party’s Fault
Proving the other party’s fault in relation to the accident that leaves you injured generally comes down to obtaining relevant evidence, which can include accident recreations, eyewitness testimony, and expert testimony. Other examples of the kind of evidence that may play a role in your personal injury claim include:
- Photos and/or videos taken at the scene of the accident
- Footage from cameras that are installed nearby
- Police reports
It’s important to note that, in the State of Texas, even if you share fault for the accident that leaves you injured, you’re not barred from seeking compensation (the way you would be in some other states). As long as you are not determined to be more than 50 percent responsible for the injury-causing accident, you can seek the percentage of compensation that the other party is determined to be responsible for. So, if the other guy is deemed 80 percent responsible for the accident that leaves you injured, you’ll receive 80 percent of the total losses you are determined to have experienced.
Demonstrating the Extent of Your Losses
Your personal injury claim will be predicated on your losses, which in addition to property damage to your vehicle (if the accident in question is a car accident) and your medical expenses (as discussed above), can include the following:
- Lost Earnings – While you are recovering from your injuries, you are very likely to experience a decrease in pay. This pay loss is difficult enough, but if it extends to a decrease in your earning potential into your future, the matter is that much more serious. Because our careers are so closely tied with our identities, such losses can also have an emotional component.
- Physical and Psychological Pain and Suffering – The pain and suffering that you are likely to endure as a result of being injured by someone else’s negligence can be more difficult than you realize and can have long-lasting effects, such as PTSD-like symptoms.
Skillfully Advocating for Your Claim’s Favorable Resolution
Your trusted personal injury attorney will fill all the following roles in his or her focused efforts to advocate for your claim’s favorable resolution:
- Skillfully negotiating with the insurance company on your behalf
- Building your strongest claim, by gathering all relevant evidence and ensuring that your complete damages are well represented
- Thwarting any less-than-forthright practices on the part of the insurance company
- Helping you make the right decisions for you and your claim along the way
- Preparing for court (in the event that the insurance company refuses to negotiate fairly)
[Learn More] Importance of Being Consistent with Your Statements to the Insurance Company in Austin
Don’t Wait to Reach Out to an Experienced Austin Personal Injury Attorney
If you are worried about how you are going to pay medical bills during the injury claim process, you have come to the right place. The compassionate Austin personal injury attorneys at The Patel Firm are committed to harnessing the full power of their legal skill and experience in their focused efforts to help you obtain fair compensation that covers your full array of losses, including your medical expenses. We are on your side and here to help, so please don’t delay contacting or calling us at 361-400-2036 for more information today.
