How much treatment is enough treatment?

People expect me to know EVERYTHING about their injury claim, including how long they need to receive treatment. I always try to answer healthcare questions with the caveat that while I have a doctorate I’m not that kind of doctor so I can’t give medical advice.

But sometimes what clients really mean when they ask about how long they need to treat is how badly do they need to be hurt to justify having an attorney in their claim. That’s a different question and one that I might be able to answer. Sort of.

First, you should understand that the main reason to hire an attorney is to have them deal with the minutiae of the claims process. It really isn’t dependent on your injury or length of recovery, it’s about taking the burden off of your shoulders so you can focus on your recovery. When you look at it that way, the length of your treatment/recovery is really immaterial.

BUT, as an attorney who gets paid a percentage of your settlement claim, I can tell you that the length of your recovery can have a big impact on your claim’s settlement value. Obviously, if pain and suffering is a factor, cases with longer recoveries are worth more than cases with shorter ones. So if you have one urgent care visit and are otherwise unaffected after that, then you may have a hard time getting an attorney to accept that claim as s/he might end up doing as much work on that as they would on a much more remunerative case, and that might be frustrating for them.

If you want to know how long your recovery is going to take, talk to your healthcare provider. But if you want to know if your injury/treatment scenario is worth having an attorney, talk to me. Call me at 919-929-2992.