4.4 million people are injured in car accidents in the United States each year.
If you’ve been in a car accident, it’s important to seek medical care as soon as possible. With so many different types of doctors out there, it can be difficult to know which kind to see.
Keep reading to learn more about your options for medical care following a car accident.
An Emergency Room Doctor
If you are involved in a car accident and it’s immediately clear that you were injured, you may be transported from the scene by ambulance to a hospital. At the hospital, you will be seen and treated by an emergency room doctor.
While this visit can be critical for certain types of injuries, some injuries might not be evident right away. Adrenaline and shock can mask pain and you might not realize you were injured until later.
If you were seen in the emergency room after an accident, it’s important to establish a relationship with a provider who can continue your treatment on an outpatient basis.
Your Primary Care Doctor
Even if you didn’t go to the emergency room after your car accident, you may still have been injured in the accident. Some of the most notorious car accident injury types can take days to weeks to appear.
It’s important to be evaluated as soon as possible by a trusted doctor, even if you don’t think you were injured. Your doctor will be better able to determine whether you were injured in the accident.
A Personal Injury Doctor
A personal injury doctor is your best option for medical care after a car accident. These doctors are chiropractors and neck and spine doctors who specialize in treating car accident victims. Not only do these doctors understand how to identify and treat the most common car accident injuries, but they work closely with other parties like personal injury attorneys who can help advocate for your rights.
Proper documentation is one of the most important elements of proving an injury after a car accident. You can trust these doctors to protect your rights and provide the care you need. If you were in a car accident and may have been injured, you will want to discover more about this kind of doctor.
An Urgent Care Doctor
It’s not uncommon for family doctors to refuse to see car accident victims. This is often because they aren’t set up to bill auto insurance companies or because they are uncomfortable providing care because they could be asked to testify in court.
If this is the case, you still have options. If you feel you may have been injured, you should visit an urgent care clinic. Even if you aren’t sure if you were injured, you should visit a walk-in clinic or contact an urgent care center that specializes in providing care for car accident victims to get checked out.
A Specialist
Depending on your injury, you may be referred to a specialist. This kind of doctor has specialized education and training on a certain part of the body.
Just like their name suggests, these doctors provide highly specialized care and work with your primary care provider to coordinate your care. Specialists can also perform surgery and additional testing.
Were You Injured in a Car Accident?
If you were in a car accident, you may have been injured even if you don’t know it yet. That’s why it’s so important to be seen by a doctor who knows what to look for as soon as possible.
Check out the health section of our blog for more tips for protecting your overall health.