There are many ways for you to injure your head during a car crash. You might hit it on the steering wheel or the window next to you. Regardless of how you end up hurting your head, you will likely benefit from seeing a medical professional for a thorough evaluation shortly afterward.
Even if you don’t have health insurance coverage or if your policy has a large deductible, taking the time to seek out an evaluation by someone with a medical license will be a very important step for your own protection. Those who experience blunt force trauma to the head or who blacked out even for a few seconds after a crash are especially in need of professional medical review, as their chances of having a brain injury are higher than those of someone who did not hit their head or lose consciousness.
There are two compelling reasons to see a doctor or stop at the local hospital as soon as possible after hurting your head.
Brain injuries cause delayed symptoms
It takes a while for you to notice the physical effects of a brain injury. Medical experts note that people can go several days after an injury without any noticeable symptoms. However, that entire time, the bleeding, bruising or swelling of your brain simply gets worse.
Eventually, there are symptoms that you cannot ignore, such as a sense of dizziness or nausea, difficulty remembering things or changes in your sensory perception. Some of the symptoms, like a headache that won’t go away, are easy to connect with the trauma to your head. Others, like seemingly inexplicable changes to your personality and mood, may be harder for you to connect to your recent crash.
The sooner you see a doctor and receive an appropriate diagnosis, the better your chances of minimizing the lasting symptoms you have from a brain injury.
You will want insurance to cover your care costs
You can count on car insurance to help cover your medical bills even when you don’t have personal health insurance. However, the longer the gap between the crash and your diagnosis, the harder it may be to convince the insurance company that you deserve coverage.
Seeing a doctor shortly after a collision will help provide timely medical records showing that you acquired an injury immediately after the crash occurred. Protecting yourself both medically and financially after a car crash will require getting a timely diagnosis for any brain injury you may suffer.