I waited days before seeking treatment. Do I have a case?
You always still have a case!
In the industry we refer to this as a “gap before treatment” and lengthy periods in between medical appointments as “gaps in treatment.”
The question becomes what does this do to the value of my case. Let’s say you are 26 years old without prior accidents or neck and back injuries. You get rear ended. The day of the accident you feel tingly. The next day you are sore. On the third day you are in bad pain which radiates down an arm. You go to a doctor who refers you for an MRI which reveals a herniation in your cervical spine (neck). In this scenario the three days will have almost no impact on case value.
If you take the same accident and the same three day gap but change the age to 55 and include previous accidents and previous neck injuries, you have a case where the three day gap has a bigger effect. Ultimately you have to prove the accident caused new injury or seriously exacerbated an existing injury. It is easier for defense counsel to distract a jury when they have things to point to.
Either way, you have a case worth pursuing!
