This is a question that has come up at the law firm and it is a good topic. Just a few years ago, urgent care centers did not exist and the only option if you were injured and needed emergency care was to go to the local emergency room.
If you have been a slip and fall or automobile accident and would like a free consultation, please call the law firm at 561-483-9199; or 954-755-2120; or 305-981-1561. Fees are only charged if money is recovered for you. The principal office is in Boca Raton and satellite offices are in Miami, Coral Springs, Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach.
One piece of advice I often give to clients is to treat an the injury part of a case like you did not have a case. In other words, I do not tell people to go to the hospital, so it will make their injury case better. Indeed, sometimes juries and/or insurance companies may look down upon someone going to the hospital if it is a minor case or if they think the client is exaggerating. So as a general rule, I suggest to treat as though you are treating for an injury and not for a case. Obviously, going to the hospital or to an urgent care center is a personal decision and someone must decide on their own, not based on legal advice. Obviously, there are certain injuries where it is just common sense that you MUST go to the hospital as the injury or medical condition of the patient warrants same.
Bear in mind that in an injury case, the plaintiff has to prove causation, so things like going immediately to a hospital by ambulance versus waiting a month to show up at a doctor make a big difference in proving that element.
In the question above my suggestion would be to go to the place that you would go to if there was not an injury CASE. Certainly, if someone had some catastrophic injury, they would go to the emergency room and not the urgent care center where the things available are not as much as a hospital. On the other hand, if the injury is such that there is not a drastic injury and an urgent care center is the right plance, then that would be okay also from an injury case perspective. If a jury believes that you acted reasonably with your treatment, then you likely would get a fair result as opposed to a situation where the jury thought you did not act reasonably or were exaggerating.
Obviously every case is different and every injury is different. No medical advice is given in this blog, this only from an injury law perspective. The advice in this blog is intended to be general in nature and should not to be construed as specific advice for a case, as the most slight difference in the facts could ultimately change the result. Also, this blog is, as the web site suggests, based on Florida law and the laws of any other states or country could vary significantly from Florida.
If you have been in a slip and fall accident or car accident, please call Drucker Law Offices today for a free consultation at 561-483-9199 for Palm Beach County; 954-755-2120 in Broward County; or 305-981-1561 in Miami-Dade County for a free consultation regarding your rights.
