How
Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help
Personal injury attorneys help their clients get the compensation they
deserve after accidents. If you’ve been injured in an accident, a lawyer can
help you gather evidence to support your claim and take care of the paperwork
so that you can focus on your recovery.
After an
Accident
After receiving medical care, you should contact a law firm that has
experienced personal injury attorneys right away. If the injured person has
severe injuries and cannot contact a lawyer, the person in charge of making
medical decisions for him/her should call a lawyer. Time can be of the essence
after an accident. For example, if the municipality is at fault, you have as
little as ten days to file a claim.
Personal injury attorneys fill out paperwork, take photos of the scene,
interview witnesses, keep track of deadlines and deal with the insurance
company of the person at fault so that you don’t have to deal with the details.
In fact, you’re under no obligation to talk to the insurance company at all and
can forward your answers to the company’s questions through your lawyer.
Your lawyer will also take the time to look at your future needs, since
you may be under too much emotional stress or in too much physical pain to do
so. Immediate out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as medication and
physiotherapy, need to be compensated, as do possible future expenses, such as home
care or extended medical treatments that may not be covered by provincial
healthcare.
Filing a
Claim
According to the
Law
Society of Upper Canada , there are several places where you may be
required to file your accident claim. First, there is the insurance company of
the person at fault. The Financial Services Commission of Ontario’s Motor
Vehicle Accident Claims Fund is an alternative if the person at fault wasn’t
insured.
If you were injured while working, you may be required to file your
claim at the
Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board. The Board compensates workers who were injured
while working.
Personal injury attorneys can help you figure out where your claim
needs to be filed. An experienced lawyer can help you overcome your confusion
and explain the process and what you can expect as your claim makes its way
through the system.
Who Pays
for Health Care Costs?
If you’re looking at a long recovery, the potential costs that aren’t
covered by OHIP or your private health insurance can be staggering. Fortunately,
if you’ve been hurt in an accident, you can expect many of those expenses to be
covered.
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has provided a list
of those responsible for paying for medical expenses for the victim of a
motor
vehicle accident. If you need non-professional health care services, such
as meal preparation, transportation or home repair help, the Ontario Statutory
Accident Benefit Schedule designates the insurance company of the person at
fault as the one responsible for paying. Personal care tasks are also the
insurance company’s responsibility.
The Ministry of Health and Long-term Care pays for other expenses like
doctors, hospital services, air ambulance, mental health care, speech-language
pathology and occupational therapy.
The size of your claim will be influenced by whether the injury is
temporary or has caused a permanent physical disability. Personal injury
attorneys help you gain the compensation you need to avoid financial hardship
and to help alleviate emotional stress.