Serious accidents often come with serious pain. Car accident victims in particular tend to suffer from ongoing pain. Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI’s) are sometimes offered as a treatment option. Pain doctors say that they are minimally invasive and help with those injuries most often associated with car accidents. These injuries include neck pain, back pain, arm or leg pain, shoulder pain and headaches. What I often hear often from clients is that they don’t want pain injections.
Talking to your doctor if you don’t want injections
I am not a doctor and am not giving medical advice. I tell my clients that if they were hurt in an accident, they have the right to get checked out. Some will go to the Emergency Room right after their accident and some go directly to see a doctor. People should follow their doctor’s instructions. Doctors often know best and should be making recommendations based upon a personal examination of your body and discussing all options with you.
That being said, what I hear over and over again from my injured clients is that they don’t want pain injections. A doctor’s advice should be followed, but not necessarily followed blindly. Just like the attorney- client relationship, having a doctor should be based on a trusting relationship. Before sending you for an injection, your doctor should be talking to you about what is entailed, the expected benefits, and potential risks or side effects. Some people will have a round or two of injections and decide, for whatever reason, that it is not a course of treatment that they wish to continue. Many people are told that multiple injections are required, often at a significant cost.
Be open and honest with your doctor if you don’t want more pain injections.
There are other treatment options out there which may be available to you, at the discretion of your physicians, including:
- Physical Therapy
- Prescription medications
- Chiropractic care
- Home Remedies
- Exercise Regimen
- Surgery- usually as a last resort
If you are not comfortable with your doctor’s recommendation, you might want to consider a second opinion or a visit with a different kind of doctor. For instance, you might have seen a doctor at a pain clinic where injections might be more routinely given than might be at a different kind of facility, with a different focus.
Orthopedic doctors or chiropractors are often a good starting point for most accident victims who have lingering pain. Chiropractic care is often preferred by people seeking less invasive treatment. Orthopedic doctors and chiropractors will often refer patients to pain doctors to discuss injections after more conservative treatments have been used. I have not seen injections recommended as the first course of treatment immediately following a car accident. This is especially the case with soft tissue injuries.
Treatment Decisions may impact your legal case
Your medical records are central to your legal case. People sometimes ask me if something in their records will “look bad”. That is the wrong question. Medical treatment and care is a medical decision. I am of the opinion that no one should ever do something medically just for the sake of “looking good” from a legal standpoint. That in and of itself is just a bad idea, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, you want to follow doctor’s orders for the sake of healing. Healing should be your priority above all else, if you were hurt. We all only have one body in life and must take care of it.
That being said, your medical records and the decisions made regarding treatment are an important part of your legal claim. You should review your medical records because sometimes there will be a mistake, such as an incorrect date or facts that are just plain wrong. Medical records are transcribed and humans sometimes make mistakes. If that happens, talk to the medical office and see if the records can be corrected to reflect what is accurate.
Insurance companies, arbitrators, judges, lawyers, and juries will scrutinize your medical records. Those reviewing your records will look for:
- Inconsistencies
- Other explanations for your pain
- Missed medical appointments
- What you are telling your doctors about your pain
- What you are telling your doctors about your abilities
- Your level of pain
- Diagnosis
- Which diagnostic tests were done
- Test results
- Subjective complaints
- Objective complaints
- Doctor’s recommendations and whether or not you followed them
- Prognosis
- Treatment options
- Physical examinations by your medical providers
- Pre-existing conditions or pain
- Severity of symptoms
- Surgical recommendations
If your records indicate that a doctor recommended “X”, for example- following up with another doctor, remember that the recommendation was made for a reason. If you do not follow doctor’s orders, this will be questioned in the context of your legal case and you should be readily able to explain the reason for not following through. Many people worry about what will happen if they don’t get the recommended injections. Relax. Injections don’t work well for some people and there are many reasons to not want steroid injections as part of their treatment. That is valid. Like surgery, the decision to get a steroid injection is a personal one and should not be taken lightly. The important thing is to discuss your concerns and wishes with your physician and ask that they be documented in your medical records.
Be aware that an insurance adjuster may want to discuss a settlement while you are in pain. This may be premature and not in your best interest.
Keep your personal injury lawyer informed about injections
Your personal injury lawyer needs to know what is happening to you from a medical standpoint. We make sure to obtain all of your medical records and bills, and it is important that they be complete. If you are sent to pain management, let us know right away so that we can be sure to include that in your medical history related to the accident. Even if you do not get injections, it may be important to note the visit to a pain doctor. If you are getting injections, let us know where and who ordered them. It is important to your case that your lawyer has an accurate timeline of when you received injections, along with any other medical treatments. We cannot tell you if injections are right for you after a car accident, since that is a medical decision and not a legal one. If you are not comfortable with the idea of injections, perhaps get a second opinion if your doctor did not do a good job of explaining it to you. Ask yourself what you are not comfortable with and have an honest conversation with your medical team. This way, you can make the decision that works best for you.
If you are concerned about a personal injury claim and how pain injections will be handled in the context of your personal injury case, give us a call. We are located in both Schaumburg and Elgin, handling personal injury cases throughout the Chicago area.