Are My Injuries Serious Enough for a Personal Injury Claim?

If another driver has caused an accident that led to your injuries, you have the right to seek compensation from that driver’s insurance policy. Even if it is just a headache or a minor body pain, you should still consult your doctor and seek compensation. Some injury symptoms are delayed, and you may think you are completely fine on the day of the incident.

However, it is important to understand that your injuries may be more serious than you think. Some injuries get worse after a week or even a month. This is why you should be careful about accepting a lower settlement from the insurance company before understanding the true extent of your injuries. Speak to a personal injury attorney in Ontario today.

Minor injuries can become severe later.

The severity of some injuries may not be known until later. This is why seeking medical treatment immediately after the accident is recommended to understand your injuries better. For example, a brain injury after a car accident may not seem serious at first. Only after a few weeks or months can one understand whether the condition is permanent or temporary.

Additionally, a minor injury for one person could be a serious one for another. Every person has different capacities for enduring pain. For example, a healthy person experiencing a slip and fall accident may recover quickly, whereas the same may be fatal for an 80-year-old man. While the healthy person walks away with only a few bruises and scratches, the old person may be lying on the hospital bed, fighting for their life.

What if your injuries are minor?

It is certainly possible to walk away from an accident with minor injuries. However, you should still file an insurance claim. After all, the accident was not your fault, and you should not be responsible for paying the hospital bills. Moreover, your health insurance company may refuse to cover your accident-related injuries and ask you to file a claim.

In such a situation, you can either pay for your injuries out of pocket or file a claim with the other party’s insurance company.

What are your options for seeking compensation?

There are a few options to seek compensation in Ontario:

Try to work it out with the negligent party and arrive at a settlement. Most people want to avoid court and settle privately to save time and money.
File a claim against your own insurance company. Sometimes you can get compensated even when someone else is at fault. This usually happens when the liable party does not have insurance.