Personal Injury Lawyer
As you may have discovered in the past, health care providers don’t like to wait for payment of their bills. This puts you at a distinct disadvantage if you sustain serious injuries in an accident that someone else causes and wind up with medical bills totaling upwards of $100,000 or more. Obviously, you cannot pay these bills, nor should you have to. Nor, necessarily, should your insurance carrier, assuming you have one.
Suing the Responsible Person
If you sue the person who caused your accident, and therefore your injuries and consequent medical bills, you likely can recover the following economic damages:
- Full amount of your medical costs
- Full amount of any rehabilitation costs you incur
- Full amount of your lost wages or salary
- Reasonable estimate of your future medical costs related to your injuries
- Reasonable estimate of your future loss of income related to your injuries
In addition, you likely can recover noneconomic damages, including the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional and mental distress
- Depression
- Residual scarring
- Loss or decrease of a bodily function, such as sight, hearing, mobility, etc.
Obtaining Legal Representation
Rather than attempting to negotiate the amount of your medical bills with your respective health care providers, your best strategy after sustaining accident injuries that require your hospitalization is to contact an experienced local personal injury attorney as quickly as possible. Why? Because he or she can serve as your advocate, both with your health care providers and with the responsible party’s insurance company. In other words, a good personal injury attorney can take all the financial burdens and hassles off your shoulders so you can concentrate on recovering from your injuries.
Keep in mind that personal injury lawsuits can take as long as a year or more to settle or go to trial. This puts your health care providers in the unenviable position of having to wait that long to be paid. Virtually all of them will agree to do so, however, once they receive a letter from your attorney explaining that he or she has filed a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf. They likely will be even more willing to wait for payment if you and your attorney allow them to place liens on the amount of damages your attorney estimates you likely will recover in your lawsuit. These liens serve as legal claims on your settlement amount or jury award. When your personal injury lawyer in Sebastian, FL, like from Tuttle Law, receives your money, he or she likely will place it in his or her office trust account from which he or she will pay your medical bills and his or her own attorney’s fee before writing you a check for the balance. Everyone winds up happy, even though you and they had to wait for payment.