If you’ve been in an accident, you hopefully know that it’s very important that you seek medical care immediately. There are two reasons for this:

- To prevent further injury. Symptoms might not show up for days or weeks, but early testing could reveal the injury sooner.

- To make sure you receive your settlement. Delaying treatment can result in distrust on the part of the insurance company or the court that your injury was actually caused by your accident.

But it’s also important that you see the right kind of doctor. While your initial treatment will probably be in the emergency room, you should follow that with a visit to a doctor that specializes in post accident care. Here’s why:

- Getting an appointment fast

Accident clinics are well aware that you’re facing serious time constraints in terms of both your health and your legal issues. Most reputable clinics can get you in within 24 hours for at least a thorough examination.

- Experience with accident injuries

Certain types of injuries are more common after accidents than at any other time; whiplash is a good example of this. For this reason, accident specialists are far more efficient at finding and diagnosing these conditions than general physicians, who might never have dealt with an accident victim.

- Good record keeping

Accident doctors know they’re not just keeping your patient records for their own use. Because they understand that their records could be used in court, they keep very comprehensive charts on each and every visit by each one of their patients.

- Medical liens

Often, if you’ve been in an accident, your health insurance won’t immediately cover your care. They want to see who at fault party is first. This can make it very difficult to get the care you need when you need it most—before the settlement comes in. Accident clinics will almost always accept a medical lien, so you won’t have to pay them before your receive your settlement.

- Referrals

Accident doctors tend to be a tightly knit group with a lot of network connections. So, if you end up needing a particular type of post accident care, or testing, or evaluation, your accident specialist can refer you to another doctor who keeps perfect records and will accept a medical lien as well.

- Accident doctors understand your situation

Being in an accident isn’t just physically traumatic. It can be emotionally and psychologically traumatic as well. On top of that, patients are often stressed out about their legal issues, financial issues, the potential of missing time at work or losing their job altogether, and so on. Having these concerns addressed is just as important as receiving quality medical care. An accident doctor understands precisely what their patient is going through, because they see it with every patient. They also know that the stress and frustration can impede recovery, so they work very hard to ensure that their patients are treated holistically, for best results.