Were you recently involved in a car accident? Were you injured on the job? Maybe you slipped and fell while visiting a friend or business? If you sustained significant injuries through no fault of your own, getting on with life can be a stressful, uphill battle. As your injuries have placed your day to day activities on hold, the world is still functioning. You need to know how you can reduce your recovery time while also providing for your loved ones. Below are a few bits of advice on how to move past the aftermath of an accident.
Visit Your Doctor Often
Your doctors and other required medical specialists will be your best resource for recovering from your accident. They will first diagnose your health issues and then work together to come up with a comprehensive treatment plan to help you recover. It will be imperative for you to maintain your medical appointments to speed up your recovery.
File a Claim
Since the injuries you’ve sustained were the direct result of someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, you’re entitled to file a claim for damages. If it was an auto accident, you’d need to file an insurance claim, a workplace accident would require you to feel out a workers comp claim, and if you were injured while on a commercial property, you’ll need to fill out a personal injury report for them to submit to their property insurance provider. The sooner you get these claims in the better as there is a statute of limitations on personal injury cases.
Consult an Attorney
After (or maybe before) you’ve filed your insurance claim it is highly recommended that you talk your case over with an attorney. You’ll want to talk with a legal representative in the area you were injured. So, if you got hurt in Manhattan, you’d hire NYC personal injury lawyers. They are well-versed in personal injury laws where you were hurt and are best equipped to help you with your claim.
A personal injury lawyer will review your case to determine if you’re targeting all responsible parties. They will help you to gather documentation from the accident including witness accounts, police reports, medical records, photos, and other information that will be necessary to prove you’re not at fault. Whether your case ends up in court or not, your attorney will go to bat for you making sure that you’re paid fairly for your injuries, time lost from work, past and future medical bills, and in some cases, pain and suffering.
File Disability
If your injuries were not the result of a workplace accident and you’re waiting for a settlement to be made on your personal injury case, you may have a lot of outstanding bills to cover. To make sure that you can afford to survive while you’re recovering, you may want to look into options to file for disability. Depending on the severity of your injuries and how long they predict you’ll be out of work, you could receive long or short-term disability payments from your employer or the federal government.
Reduce Stress
As hard as it may seem, it is extremely important for you to reduce the stress in your life. Stress can slow down your recovery efforts which only adds to the drama you’re going through. Talk with your family about your current health. Explain that you’ll need their help with responsibilities that may have once been yours. You should also create a budget, sign up for government-assisted programs, and reduce as many expenses as you can to reduce the economic stress you might be under. If the incident that results in your injuries was traumatic in nature, you may need to seek assistance from the likes of a therapist who can help you to cope.
Being injured for any reason is difficult. However, when you’ve been hurt as a result of someone else’s actions (or lack thereof), it can really be devastating. A few tips to pick up the pieces of your life and get some sense of normalcy is to follow through with the advice mentioned above. Stick close to your doctors and medical professionals, file your claim, consult an attorney, and begin eliminating the stress from your life. This, in turn, should help you to make a speedy recovery.