"Mike Jacoubowsky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> > D'oh, get off it. If he is not hurt, he is not hurt. All of
> > this hand-wringing about possible injuries is totally
> > unnecessary. Latent injuries that are serious manifest in a
> > fairly brief period of time -- usually in a day or three. It
is
> > not only possible, but in fact common to trash a bicycle and
walk
> > away with nothing more than road rash. I have done it a
number
> > of times. It is true that I feel like an old man now, but I
am
> > one.
>
> Jay: Advice like that could be really dangerous, as it deters
people not
> only from seeking medical help that they might need, but may
also
> effectively end their chances at recovering damages (to either
themselves or
> their bike) that they might not be aware of.
Mike: I am not trying to deter people from getting medical
attention. I am trying to deter them from getting medical
attention that is not necessary and that is expensive. Also note
that medical treatment carries a significant risk in itself, as
the recent studies of full body MRI indicate. You chance of
infection is far greater in a hospital than at home. We should
not run off to a hospital every time we have a minor injury, and
I never advocated not seeing your family care physician if
symptoms persist.
> You said it yourself-
>
> > Latent injuries that are serious manifest in a
> > fairly brief period of time -- usually in a day or three.
>
> At this point, enough time has probably passed that he can be
reasonably
> sure he's fine. But that point is, as you have said yourself,
"a day or
> three" after the accident. During that time, the person who
caused the
> accident may be totally out of the picture (and unable to be
located)
> because, at the time of the accident, someone thought they were
fine.
Come on. When you have an accident that destroys your bike, you
get all the insurance information you need -- one hopes. People
do not wait to get seriously injured before getting a name,
address and telephone number.
Also, the latent injuries I was worried about were subdural
hematomas which manifest as headaches but can be fatal in a few
days. There are reported cases of subdural hematoma without LOC,
but those cases also involved a head or facial wound or hematoma
and other obvious symptoms like a falling score on the Glasgow
Coma Scale. And even if I had a latent head injury, no ER
physician would order a head CT without a history of LOC or other
symptoms. The doctor would give me reassurrance and the usual
discharge orders saying that I should call in if I have headache,
LOC, dizziness, nausea, double vision, etc. It's on a
pre-printed form I have seen a million times (mostly in my work).
I do not need to see it again. And for orthopedic injuries,
really, how many times have you been hit or crashed and a doctor
says you are just fine, or gives you four days of Flexeril and
Motrin. I do as well with a gin and tonic and skipping the six
hours in an emergency room. Bombay is cheaper than Co-Pay.
> And, as I've learned, there are insurance companies that have a
payment
> scale that says, if you waited "x" amount of time before
seeking medical
> attention, your claim is devalued by a certain percent.
I am sure there are insurance companies that do this, but so
what. The bottom line is what a jury would give you. And on that
score, I do admit that the stoics sometimes take it in the
shorts. But the fools who run to ten chiropractors take it in
the shorts even more. When I see a case involving a minor injury
and ten doctors and huge bills, I just prepare for trial because
I know that the lien claims will be too high and that the victim
will want to much to take a reasonable settlement. This is
especially true where the guarantor on the chiropractic bills is
the victim's attorney.
> If the impact was serious enough to break a helmet and bust a
wheel, it's
> serious enough to have (potentially) caused damage not
diagnosed at the
> time. My advice remains the same- don't do anything that might
interfere
> with your ability to be taken care of down the road.
There is this myth in this NG that we are subject to invisible,
traumatic injuries that will kill us in short order. Well,
absent real symptoms like abdominal tenderness, LOC, decreased
level of consciousness, wounds, accute and localized pain etc.,
no doctor is going to give you a full set of labs or scans to
rule out every possible problem. All those procedures carry
risks and are entirely unnecessary in the absence of certain,
real clinical findings. My simple message is that we generally
know when we are hurt and when to seek appropriate medical
treatment. We should not run off to an ER just to make a record
in the belief that it will somehow help our personal injury
claims. That is a misuse of an ER. -- Jay Beattie.