Slip and Fall Accidents at Business Often Serious Leading to Question of How to get Medical Care
Slip and fall accidents at a business can lead to serious personal injuries. There are many issues that arise with these type of premises liability claims. One immediate question is how to get medical care and who must pay?
No-Fault Liability Insurance
Many premises liability policies have no-fault coverage for medical expenses incurred by injured customers, vendors and other visitors to the business. No-fault liability coverage means that the injured person need to first prove that the business was negligent before receiving coverage for medical expenses.
This would suggest that when a customer is hurt, the business would simply turn the claim over to the insurance company and the injured patron would be able to get necessary medical treatment.
Businesses Often Refuse to Abide by No-Fault Provisions First Requiring Proof of Negligence
In fact, for whatever reason, this is typically not the case even when the coverage exists. Instead, many businesses including some very big and reputable ones, refuse to honor the coverage. Instead, right out of the gate, they denial responsibility and shift the burden to the injured visitor to prove they were negligent. Very often they assert that the visitor was solely responsible for the accident.
Worse yet, many will promise to take care of all medical expenses, give you pat on the back and usher you out the door with no intention of honoring the promise. These cases are the most despicable of all and you should know what to do when a business breaks its promise to take care of your medical expenses.
These unreasonable and unjust positions then force injured folks to seek the assistance of an attorney to which the business then bemoans trial attorneys. They will spend thousands of dollars on their own attorneys, often many many thousands greatly exceeding the amount of the claim to avoid admitting responsibility.
Why? Who knows. It makes no sense.
Necessary to Obtain Medical Treatment by Other Means
Because businesses are so reluctant to do the right think on no-fault coverage, it is usually necessary to seek care by other means. This means using your own health insurance. In the past this was very big problem since many people did not have insurance. It has improved but continues to be a problem even with the Affordable Care Act.
In the absence of insurance, it is often possible to get medical care through a personal injury attorney. This sounds odd and perhaps a little suspicious. It is not. The attorney simply provides the medical provider with a letter of protection saying the medical provider will get paid out of any proceeds from settlement or judgment.
This may be the only way in many situations that an injured person can get care. Unfortunately, most medical providers will not accept these letters of protection. Those that do are typically limited to physical therapy, rehab, massage and chiropractic, sometimes all through the same provider. In case of broken bones, tears, head injuries and the like, it may be much more difficult to get the necessary care.
Slip and Fall Accidents Often Lead to Very Serious Harm While Being Trivialized by the Business Community and its Lobbyist
Slip and fall accidents are often very serious sometimes leading to catastrophic injuries and even death. The injured person may face a lifetime of pain, medical expense and lost earnings. Yet the business community continues to trivialized them. What’s worse as the public, including many attorneys, by into the nonsense. Related to this, these cases are often highly contested no matter how clear the negligence beginning from day one when no-fault coverage is wrongfully withheld.
Seek an Attorney with Experience in Slip and Fall Accidents
Because these cases are highly contested, it is important to seek the guidance of an experienced slip and fall attorney. Collins & Collins, P.C. can be reached at (505) 242-5958.