Emergency rooms, hospitals and urgent care facilities often wind up overwhelmed by unexpected surges in patients. A multiple-vehicle collision, for example, could send a dozen people to the same facility within minutes of each other, leaving staff scrambling to engage in triage practices and review everyone’s symptoms.
Unfortunately, some of the most serious injuries that you can suffer in a car accident don’t always have immediate and obvious symptoms. That could mean that rushed medical staff could fail to notice those symptoms or risk factors and leave you in a situation where your prognosis is much worse than it would have been with timely treatment and care.
Both brain injuries and internal bleeding aren’t obvious at first
Some of the injuries people suffer in car crashes are obvious and dramatic, like broken bones or nerve damage that keeps you from standing up or getting out of your vehicle. Brain injuries, on the other hand, can take days before any symptoms arise. The same can be true of internal bleeding. Despite the lack of obvious symptoms, both of these conditions can have long-term consequences for individuals and worse prognosis the longer it takes for someone to secure a diagnosis and treatment.
When you seek evaluation at a medical facility after a car crash, the medical professional who sees you should carefully evaluate your physical condition and your description of the accident to determine if internal injuries or brain injuries are possible. Proper screening and diagnostic testing can help those badly injured avert the worst possible outcomes for their situations.
Anyone who suffers worse symptoms because of a delayed diagnosis may have the right to bring a medical malpractice claim against the medical provider or facility that failed to care for them.