[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/how-long-do-you-have-to-visit-a-doctor-after-a-georgia-car-accident\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/how-long-do-you-have-to-visit-a-doctor-after-a-georgia-car-accident\/","headline":"How Long Do You Have to Visit a Doctor after a Georgia Car Accident?","name":"How Long Do You Have to Visit a Doctor after a Georgia Car Accident?","description":"Car accident injuries can range from catastrophic, life-changing disabilities to relatively minor bruising. Ambulances and paramedics typically respond to serious accidents to transport injury victims to emergency rooms. When accidents do not cause injuries that are obviously severe, accident victims often\u00a0decide to visit a doctor on their own. The temptation to put off seeing a… Continue reading How Long Do You Have to Visit a Doctor after a Georgia Car Accident?<\/span><\/a>","datePublished":"2019-01-03","dateModified":"2026-04-17","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/author\/butler\/#Person","name":"Jeb Butler","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/author\/butler\/","identifier":9,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5a02bc71d91db5fc8645f129c4424ce6ef7af7e24fe54f4a85315a9dd28f317?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5a02bc71d91db5fc8645f129c4424ce6ef7af7e24fe54f4a85315a9dd28f317?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Butler Kahn","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Butler-Law-Firm-Logo.png","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Butler-Law-Firm-Logo.png","width":210,"height":93}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lawrenceville-injury-lawyers-head-on-collision.jpg","url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lawrenceville-injury-lawyers-head-on-collision.jpg","height":601,"width":900},"url":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/how-long-do-you-have-to-visit-a-doctor-after-a-georgia-car-accident\/","video":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ#VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ","name":"How to Get Medical Care After a Car Crash","description":"How do I get the medical treatment that I need? Find more information here...\n\n*****************************************************\nSHARE THIS VIDEO: https:\/\/youtu.be\/J_3OdGtwqtU\n*****************************************************\n__________________________________________\nWe Have Four Locations to Serve You \nAtlanta, GA \nButler Kahn\n10 Lenox Pointe \nAtlanta, GA 30324 \nhttps:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/ \n--------\nLawrenceville, GA \nButler Kahn\n154 Stone Mountain Street, Suite 250\nLawrenceville, GA 30045 \nhttps:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/lawrenceville-...\n-------- \nRoswell, GA \nButler Kahn\n1255 Canton Street, Suite E \nRoswell, GA 30075 \nhttps:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/roswell-injury...\n-------- \nJonesboro, GA \nButler Kahn\n21 Lee Street, Suite 250 \nJonesboro, GA 30236 \nhttps:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/jonesboro-inju...\n------- \n\u25ba Hi, my name is Emory Rogers. I'm an attorney here at Butler | Kahn, and today I want to talk to you about the most common question I get when a new client comes to us following a car crash. That question is how do I get the medical treatment that I need. After a car crash, it's a very confusing time. There's a lot of chaos. There's a lot of unknowns and getting that long-term care isn't the first thing that's on your mind. After a crash, when you go to the emergency room with an ambulance visit or you go to an urgent care, you get that immediate triage that you need. But then in the days, weeks, months following the crash, there's all sorts of other follow-up care that you're going to need and it can be difficult to navigate so today I want to talk to you about the two routes that you can go to get that additional care you need.\n\u25ba The first route is through your health insurance. If you have health insurance, you just book an appointment and do any other follow-up care that you need just like you would for any other doctor. It can be a little bit difficult sometimes because the specialist who you need to see might not be in your area or they're only available six months from now or there can be a whole host of other problems. But really it's pretty straightforward just like any other provider that you need to see. Now with car crashes, it can be a little tricky as well because the insurance company might be entitled to what's called subrogation.\n\u25ba Now, subrogation is just a way of saying reimbursement. The way the insurance company looks at it is they say, \"Hey, wait a second. This guy who hits you, the at-fault driver, they're the ones who need to pay for your healthcare, not us. It's that guy's fault.\" Subrogation is a way of saying, \"You need to reimburse us for what we paid and that guy needs to pay for it.\" But again, it can be a little tricky because depending on the plan language and how it's written out, depending on whether it's governed by state law or federal law, they might not be entitled to that reimbursement, that subrogation. Giving an attorney a call, we can help walk you through it and really understand the process and figure out what's owed and what's not owed.\n\u25ba Now the second route you can go is you treat under what's called a letter of protection. Now, if your health insurance is just straight garbage, you don't like the doctors in your network, you can't be seen for a while, your deductibles are super high, there's a whole host of reasons of why you might not want to use your own health insurance. If you don't want to use your own health insurance or you don't have health insurance, you can treat under what's called a letter of protection.\n\u25ba Now, a letter of protection is just a fancy IOU that you sign with the doctor. What you do is you go to the doctor's office and you say, \"Hey Doc. I can't pay for all this treatment I need right now. I can't pay for this out of pocket. It's too expensive. But what I will do is I'll pay you with any proceeds that I get from either my settlement after my car crash or from the jury verdict that I get following my car crash.\" That way you can still see the same doctors, you still get all the same treatment, but instead of paying for it out of pocket up front, you push it all back to the end and you pay for it out of the settlement that you get.\n\u25ba Now this is an easy way to go and a lot of clients like to use this because it delays the medical writers from sending you to collections. They can't send you to collections while you're working under a letter of protection. \n\nJOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA\nFACEBOOK LINK: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/butlerfirmllc\nTWITTER LINK: https:\/\/twitter.com\/Butler_Firm\nINSTAGRAM LINK: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/butler_law_firm\/\nLINKEDIN LINK: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/butlerfirm\/\n\nSEE OUR REVIEWS \nGOOGLE REVIEWS: https:\/\/search.google.com\/local\/reviews?placeid=ChIJoR24iRoG9YgRSH8GpDMLiMQ\nFACEBOOK REVIEWS: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/butlerfirmllc\/reviews\/\n\nCheck out our previous video: https:\/\/youtu.be\/XVdu0X908GE","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-N5XJd9VwMQ\/default.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-N5XJd9VwMQ\/mqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-N5XJd9VwMQ\/hqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-N5XJd9VwMQ\/sddefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/-N5XJd9VwMQ\/maxresdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2023-01-10T19:29:43+00:00","duration":"PT3M52S","embedUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-N5XJd9VwMQ","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCeMYGr94Sf4LpYwIcO3P2Qw#Organization","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCeMYGr94Sf4LpYwIcO3P2Qw","name":"Butler Kahn","description":"We help people and families.\n\nOur firm specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases. We are based in Atlanta, Georgia. We handle cases across Georgia and, for certain types of cases, all across the country.\n\nTOP-QUALITY LEGAL WORK. We do the work that lots of law firms skip. We track down witnesses, dig into the evidence, and prepare intensely for every deposition, trial, and hearing. We take a small number of cases so that we can devote our full attention to the clients we represent.\n\nPERSONAL SERVICE. If you hire us, you get us. You won't get blocked by a receptionist or leave unreturned messages. If you want to speak with your lawyer, you can.\n\nDOING WHAT WE SAY WE'LL DO. Some law firms make big promises at the beginning, then don\u2019t follow through. We shoot straight \u2013 when we tell you something about your case, good or bad, we mean it. No fake promises.\n\nButler Kahn\n10 Lenox Pointe\nAtlanta, GA 30324\n678-940-1444\n","logo":{"url":"https:\/\/yt3.ggpht.com\/NTOsbNEALVOnRbUCg7jUzYGcC4kNKsUTEVHm5TtiTQdLlfFKksLTnmiZG_t6zDG_e4ygtnva=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj","width":800,"height":800,"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ#VideoObject_publisher_logo_ImageObject"}},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ#VideoObject_potentialAction","target":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ&t={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"},"interactionStatistic":[[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_WatchAction","interactionType":{"@type":"WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":62}],{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-N5XJd9VwMQ#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_LikeAction","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}]},"about":["Back Injury","Car Accident","Personal Injury"],"wordCount":972,"articleBody":"Car accident injuries can range from catastrophic, life-changing disabilities to relatively minor bruising. Ambulances and paramedics typically respond to serious accidents to transport injury victims to emergency rooms. When accidents do not cause injuries that are obviously severe, accident victims often\u00a0decide to visit a doctor on their own.The temptation to put off seeing a doctor is common. People who live busy lives find it difficult to work a doctor\u2019s visit into their schedules. Accident victims may realize that they are suffering from nagging pain, but they hope it will go away if they ignore it. Left untreated, however, injuries may lead to long-term\u00a0impairments that could have been mitigated by seeing a doctor.How Long Do You Have to Visit a Doctor After a Georgia Car Accident?Most insurers expect injury victims to seek medical care within 72 hours of a collision. However, seeing a doctor immediately after a car accident is best \u2013 even if you feel fine.There are many reasons to see a doctor promptly after a\u00a0Georgia car accident. Here are some of the reasons a traffic accident victim should not delay seeking a diagnosis and treatment.Listen to ParamedicsIn some cases, an ambulance arrives at the accident scene and a paramedic recommends transportation to a hospital. If a paramedic thinks an accident victim should be evaluated immediately, it makes sense to follow that advice.Sometimes accident victims believe they might have been rattled by an accident but are not too seriously injured that they need to incur the cost of an ambulance ride. Paramedics are trained to look for potential injuries that might not be obvious to accident victims.For example, an accident victim might sustain a concussion in a car crash. Even if the victim experiences no serious symptoms after a concussion, the victim may be at\u00a0risk due to bleeding or swelling of the brain. Both of those conditions can have deadly consequences.Paramedics know that concussion injuries cannot be diagnosed by holding up two fingers and asking the victim to count them. If a paramedic suspects that a blow to the head may have caused hidden injuries, an accident victim should accept the paramedic\u2019s direction to ride to the hospital in an ambulance.Prompt Treatment Improves Medical OutcomesInjuries that might not seem serious at the time of the accident may become increasingly painful as time passes. A crash victim who has a sore knee may be tempted to \u201cwalk it off,\u201d but walking on a damaged knee can worsen the injury.A prompt diagnosis and treatment might help the injury victim avoid surgery that would become necessary if the injury progresses.Whiplash victims often feel no neck pain until 12 to 72 hours after a rear-end car accident. Seeing a doctor at the first twinge of pain will improve the chance of minimizing the consequences of a whiplash injury. Delaying treatment\u00a0makes it more likely that pain will become severe and that limitations of neck motion will turn into a lasting problem.Prompt Treatment Improves Insurance SettlementsInsurance claims adjusters\u00a0try to settle claims for less than they are worth. Sometimes they deny claims entirely. Accident victims who delay seeing a doctor open the door for insurance adjusters to argue that their eventual doctor visit was unrelated to the car accident.Suppose an accident victim with a sore shoulder delays seeing a doctor in the hope that the pain will go away. After a month, the accident victim finally visits a doctor, who diagnoses a torn muscle.The doctor can conclude that the torn muscle was caused by the car accident if the patient says that the shoulder was pain-free before the collision but started hurting soon after the collision occurred. The insurance adjuster will nevertheless argue that the victim would have seen the doctor immediately if the pain followed shortly on the heels of the accident.Since the victim waited a month, the insurance adjuster could conclude that some intervening act \u2014 lifting a heavy box, slipping, and then falling on the shoulder \u2014 was the actual cause of the torn muscle. Since delayed treatment makes it more difficult to prove the cause of an injury, insurance adjusters use\u00a0that uncertainty to argue for a lower settlement than a case is worth.Georgia Car Accident Statute of LimitationsWith rare exceptions, lawsuits for an injury caused by a Georgia car accident must be\u00a0filed within two years of the accident date. That statute of limitations causes injury victims to lose their right to collect compensation if they wait more than two years to sue.However, accident victims should see a doctor long before the deadline for filing a lawsuit arrives. Before commencing a lawsuit, the victim\u2019s personal injury\u00a0lawyer will want to gather evidence, including medical records that describe the injury and its impact on the accident victim. The lawyer may also want to initiate settlement discussions before filing suit. The lawyer\u2019s ability to prepare\u00a0a lawsuit or settle the case will be hampered unless the accident victim has been evaluated and treated by a doctor.What to do After a Car AccidentWhile a lawsuit can be filed even if the victim has not seen a doctor, it will be very difficult to win a verdict for injuries that a victim left untreated. An accident victim can maximize the compensation that will be paid for an injury by doing these two things:The victim should be examined and treated for accident injuries immediately. Following through on treatment recommendations is also vital to a full recovery.The victim should consult with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer as soon an injury has been diagnosed. A personal injury lawyer\u00a0can provide important advice about additional steps an accident victim can take to protect the right to receive full compensation for car accident injuries."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Long Do You Have to Visit a Doctor after a Georgia Car Accident?","item":"https:\/\/butlerfirm.com\/blog\/how-long-do-you-have-to-visit-a-doctor-after-a-georgia-car-accident\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]