utah injury doctor

Following Doctor’s Orders

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At our office we represent people who have been injured due to the negligence of another party and it’s our job to ensure that our clients receive the best possible settlement available.  Most of our clients have injuries that require medical treatments—sometimes for extended periods of time—and we emphasize that they must take an active role in their own care.   Because we are not doctors, we do not direct our clients’ medical treatments; we leave that to the medical professionals. If you have been injured, how do you take an active role in your medical care? The best way to do that is to follow the orders of the physician who is treating you.

Mitigating Damages  The law requires that if you have been injured as the result of someone else’s negligence, you must do all within your power to mitigate your damages.  Simply stated, that means that you must take all of the steps necessary to lessen, or make less severe the injuries that occurred because of the accident.  It is up to you to improve your physical condition and recover from your injuries to the best degree that you are able.   We always suggest to our clients that they do these two things:  Keep all doctor appointments and follow the treatment prescribed by the medical providers.

Attend All Your Appointments If your injuries from the accident require regular appointments with medical providers, it is critically important that you show up for all of those appointments.  Let’s take, for example, a car accident victim whose doctor prescribes physical therapy three times a week for two weeks.  If the patient keeps each physical therapy appointment, the physical therapist can observe improvements made over that period of time.  The results are reported back to the doctor who will then decide on the next appropriate level of care.  Let’s say, however, the patient only comes once per week for a total of two visits.  The treatment notes will indicate a “No Show” for the missed appointments or that he missed four out of six visits—2/3 of the physical therapy treatment prescribed by his physician.  Later, when it comes time to settle the client’s case, it is likely that the liability adjuster will read those physical therapy records and take into account that the patient didn’t mitigate his damages. That is, from the records, because it appears that the patient was not serious about recovering from his injuries, it’s likely that adjuster will take the hardline approach and reduce the settlement offer because the claimant didn’t follow through with the prescribed medical care.

It is important to keep all of your treatment appointments.  If you need to cancel a medical appointment, please give as much notice as possible and then re-schedule promptly.

Follow Prescribed Treatment   Over the years we have noticed that it is common for the treating physician to approach a patient’s care with a multi-faceted plan.  Often that plan includes prescribed medications, periodic follow-up visits, and hands-on care such as physical therapy.  Additionally, a doctor may sometimes recommend that an accident victim refrain from working for a period of time. If the patient (our client) does not follow the recommended treatment schedule, his or her case may be adversely affected.   In fact, failure to follow your doctor’s advice or prescribed treatment can be used against you when it comes time to settle your case. Further, this failure can also be used against you in court if your claim proceeds to litigation or a trial.

Contact Our Office  If you or someone you care about is receiving treatment for accident-related injuries, be sure to follow the prescribed regimen from your treating physician.  At McMullin Injury Law we are experienced in working with accident victims in helping them settle their cases.  Contact us at (435) 673-9990 for a free consultation.

At McMullin Injury Law we are… In Your Community and On Your Side.

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Three Reasons to Use Health Insurance to Pay Accident-Related Medical Bills

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At McMullin Injury Law, our focus is personal injury law and one of our goals is to educate our clients about the process of settling a personal injury claim.  To that end, we are happy to answer questions that you might have about your case.  One that we get asked often by new clients is, “If I didn’t cause the accident, why do my medical bills get sent to my health insurance company? We believe this insightful question warrants an in-depth answer.

Determining Options  If, for example, you have been injured in a car accident and we represent you, one of the first things we determine are the options available for paying the medical bills.  Every case is different, but usually accident-related medical bills can get paid using a combination of the following four options:  No Fault (PIP) benefits, your own health insurance, out-of-pocket payments made by you, and the liability insurance of the at-fault party.

Utah’s mandatory No Fault (Personal Injury Protection, or PIP) benefits currently provide a minimum of $3,000 per person in an accident.  Granted, that amount doesn’t go very far these days due to the high cost of medical treatment, but we look to No Fault coverage as the first option for our clients.  After the No Fault benefits have been used up, or exhausted, the client’s health insurance (if they have it) is the next available option for paying those medical bills.  Now to answer the question we started with:  If a person didn’t cause an accident, why are the medical bills paid by their own health insurance?  There are three main reasons:

  1.     When a medical provider’s office bills your health insurance, that provider can be paid throughout the course of treatment. Because you pay for the coverage, and the purpose of health insurance is to pay for medical treatment, it’s beneficial to use it.  While it is likely that you may have to pay a co-pay for each visit, that is far less expensive than paying out of your own pocket for each visit.  Most providers are willing to work with our clients if the treatment lasts over a period of months.
  2. If you get treatment from a provider who is in your insurance network, the charges will be lower due to the contractual writeoffs that the provider agrees to accept as payment in full.  Therefore, each visit will not be as expensive as if you had to pay out of pocket.
  3. When your case settles, a portion of your settlement will go to reimburse your health insurance because the company has the right to be repaid for the treatment you received because your accident was caused by someone else.  While not always the case, sometimes our office is often able to negotiate with the insurance company to accept a lower reimbursement amount.

These are the three main reasons that medical bills generated as the result of an accident are sent to your health insurance company.  If you don’t have health insurance, contact our office to learn about how we can work out other options with medical providers.

As mentioned above, the final two options involve out-of-pocket payments by our clients and, finally, settlements from the liability insurance company.  Because each person’s case is different, we work closely with you and the medical providers when these two options are used.

If you or someone you know has accident-related medical bills and have questions about how to get them paid using health insurance, contact our office at (435) 673-9990.  We have the experience and skills to work with health insurance companies.

At McMullin Injury Law we are… In Your Community and On Your Side.

vintage camera

Picture This: The Value of an Accident Scene Photograph

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You’ve probably played the memory game where you look at a group of objects on a tray for a minute. When the tray is taken away, you are supposed to write down every object that you can remember.   If there are a substantial number of objects, it’s unusual if someone can remember and name all of them.

In a similar way, the details of a car accident can quickly be forgotten.  At our office, much of our work involves documenting the facts of accidents, and that is why we recommend taking pictures at the scene of an accident whenever possible. Photographs show elements that may have been overlooked, but could strengthen a client’s case.

Who uses the pictures from an accident?   Accident scene photos are used by insurance adjusters, investigating officers, attorneys, and accident reconstructionists.  For starters, property damage adjusters use photographs to keep a record of vehicle damage.  Liability adjusters often use photos to compare the amount of vehicular damage to the severity of injuries made by a claimant.

Sometimes investigating officers will take pictures at the scene of an accident.  When pictures are available, our office will order copies of those pictures from the police or highway patrol departments.  In addition, attorneys for all involved parties rely on photographs to help piece together the facts of an accident.

If the situation warrants, we use accident reconstructionists—trained professionals hired to answer questions usually about the mechanics or physics of an accident.  They also use photographs in their investigations and we supply them with any and all photographs to aid in the reconstruction process.

What are the uses of the photographs?  Pictures from an accident scene also reveal other factors that may have contributed to an accident. For example, they can show road conditions at the time of the accident.  Were the roads icy?  Wet? Dry? Pictures reveal weather conditions, too.  Was it raining or snowing?  Sunny or foggy?  Finally, pictures document the time of day.  Did the accident happen in the morning or night?  Was it broad daylight or dusk?

It’s important to take pictures at the scene especially if there are conditions that could change after the accident.  For example, road hazards such as potholes or debris may be remedied shortly after an accident so it is best to take pictures at the time, if possible. If you go back later, the scene may look different because the condition that may have contributed to the accident may have been fixed.

Keep a camera with you.  Although the law does not require that you take pictures of the scene of an accident, we recommend that you keep a camera with you when you travel.  We recognize that most people carry cell phones with built in cameras, but in the rare event that a person does not have a camera available, please come to our office to pick up your free Accident Survival Kit.  This compact vinyl case contains a disposable camera.  The kit is designed to fit in a glove box and will also hold your insurance documents so you can easily retrieve them when necessary.  It also includes a checklist of what to do after a crash.

If you’re involved in a car accident, take photographs of the scene, the vehicles, the roads, and any other factors that you think may be important.  It is so much easier to have a picture instead of having to remember details about an accident that can be easily forgotten.

Bring your photographs to our office.  If you or someone you know has been involved in a car accident, contact our office at (435) 673-9990 for a free consultation.  Bring your pictures, too.  Our expertise in personal injury law can help you get your questions answered and show you what options are available to you.

At McMullin Injury Law we are… In Your Community and On Your Side.

Paying Medical Bills When You Don’t Have Health Insurance

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Imagine yourself in this situation: you were injured in a car crash and treated at the hospital emergency room.  Ever since the accident, your daily routine has been disrupted because you have to make time for doctor and physical therapy appointments, and, perhaps, appointments with additional medical providers because of your injuries.  To make matters worse, you don’t have health insurance and are not sure how you’re going to be able to pay your medical bills that are piling up.

Common Situation  Whether the cause is the downturn in the economy or other reasons, many people don’t have health insurance these days, yet they find themselves with mounting medical bills after an accident. They’re extremely frustrated because they need the medical care and treatment, but are perplexed as to how they are going to be able to pay their bills.

Why Doesn’t the At-Fault Party’s Insurance Company Pay the Bills?  There are several reasons that the liability insurance company does not make payments while a person is being actively treated for their injuries.  One reason is that it is more efficient to make a one-time payment rather than piecemeal payments throughout the entire length of treatment.  Another reason is that the case may ultimately have to go into litigation which will affect the final settlement amount. For these reasons and others, the at-fault party’s insurance company will wait until a person has been released from medical care before making payments to medical providers.

The Starting Point  In Utah, the No Fault  portion of an automobile insurance policy carries a minimum of $3,000 medical payment coverage for accident-related medical bills.  This coverage is available to each person in the car—not just the driver. No Fault funds are not sent to the injured person; they are sent directly to the medical provider’s office.  For example, if you as an injured person have been transported via ambulance to the emergency room and No Fault funds are available, the ambulance company will submit its bill to the No Fault insurance carrier who will, in turn, send the payment directly to the ambulance company.

No Fault benefits are the starting point of coverage after an accident.  However, after the No Fault benefits have been completely used up, those funds are considered exhausted and no more medical bills will be paid from that source.  These benefits are extremely beneficial to pay medical bills that are incurred in the initial days following an accident.

The Question  As a patient, it is ultimately your responsibility to pay the bill that is incurred with a medical provider. What is to be done, however, when your medical bills exceed what is available through the No Fault coverage, and the liability insurance has not paid its settlement amount yet, and you do not have any health insurance?

We Can Help  Every day at our office we work with people who have accident-related medical bills but no health insurance to pay those bills.  If you or someone you know is in that situation, you are welcome to contact our office at (435) 673-9990 to schedule a free consultation to discuss the case.  We are able to let you know what your options are when it comes to getting and paying for medical treatment.

At McMullin Injury Law we are… In Your Community and On Your Side!

car rolled over on side of road with police assisting

Funeral and Survivor Benefits Available after a Fatal Car Accident

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Just last week our local newspaper, The Spectrum, reported that a tragic single car rollover accident on I-15 near St. George claimed the lives of James Gardner and his six-year-old son, Darrell.

At our office, when we read about these types of crashes, or when we work with family members of those who were fatally injured, we are aware that the lives of the survivors will never be the same.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of James Gardner and little Darrell.

We want you to know that in most cases the No Fault benefits of  a Utah car insurance policy include funeral and survivor benefits. Usually these benefits will not completely cover all of the costs involved with a funeral, but they will help at such a stressful time.

If you or someone you know needs to understand more about the survivor and funeral benefits available under Utah’s No Fault automobile insurance laws and how to access those benefits, contact our office at (435) 673-9990.  At McMullin Injury Law we will be happy to answer your questions at no charge.

We are…In Your Community and On Your Side.