This is part of our continued coverage on my wife’s injury claim with Progressive
By the time I had showed up to the accident scene ten minutes after my wife first called me, she was already complaining of instant neck pains and a severe headache. Anytime you have head trauma, it is wise to be seen by a doctor right away. I first took her to an InstaCare, but they wanted us to pay up front for the visit. They would not bill my insurance. Because I didn’t have any cash on me, I drove her to the nearest ER.
While sitting in the ER, the adjuster from the at-fault driver called my wife. This was less than 1 hour post accident. One of the first questions he asked was, “what are your injuries?” This question only has one intention this soon after the accident. The adjuster is trying to get you to say that you are feeling fine. Most whiplash symptoms will not show up for a few hours or even days after the accident. The adrenaline is pumping so high that you probably don’t feel much pain, if anything at all, especially within the first hour of the accident and you certainly won’t know the full extent of your injury for a few weeks or even months. If you tell the adjuster that you are feeling fine, he will hold it against you for the rest of your claim. I whispered to her to tell him that she did not know the extent of her injuries and that we would call him back Monday after being seen by the ER.
The ER was painfully slow. (If the Obama Health Care Plan doesn’t fix this problem or makes it worse, I hope it doesn’t pass) She received some x-rays that came back negative for fractures and was diagnosed with a cervical strain sprain (fancy way for saying whiplash in the neck). They prescribed lortab for pain, soma to relax the muscles and Ibuprofen 800 for the swelling. They warned her that the pain would get worse for the next couple of days, but she should start seeing relief by day 3. If she did not see relief by day 3, she could consider therapy to help with the healing.
Our anniversary was the next day and we had planned a weekend getaway. Needless to say that we were unable to fully enjoy our planned getaway. I mention this because it will fall into pain and suffering later on when we start negotiating the value of the claim with the adjuster after she has completed all of her treatment.
By day 3, she was feeling a little bit worse and a few symptoms started showing up that were not originally there. Her headaches have been constant and the pain in her neck had now increased into her shoulders. Additionally, sitting for long periods caused discomfort in her lower back which was not something she was having problems with prior to the accident. Now you can understand why the adjuster called us so soon after the accident and why you don’t want to tell the adjuster you are feeling fine.
We decided by day 3 with the advice from the ER doctor that if she wasn’t feeling better that we could start therapy. We called a local chiropractor and she has started a 4 week program with an additional 4 weeks if needed.
It is now one week post accident and her pain levels are roughly the same and she needs the muscle relaxer to sleep at night. The next post will discuss the first meeting with the adjuster and his $750 offer to settle the claim right then and there.
Tags: wife's claim
