Nov 8, Can I Sue???

by Candace
(cleveland, state)

I was in a car accident 4 days ago with my 14 year old child but i dint take her to the hospital cause i assumed she was fine now 4 days later she is complaining about neck and back pain. can i still take her to the hospital 4 days after the crash and sue them. the accident was their fault.

Hi there, Michelle here...

First, take your daughter in right away to either your medical doctor or your chiropractor for assessment and treatment.

You likely don’t need to head to the emergency room, as she is not in an emergency situation, and the ER will simply send her to her regular doctor anyway. So save a step. Go immediately however, so she can get some pain relief.

Second. I am struggling a little bit with your statement “so I can sue them”. Treatment and assessment for your daughter should be to help her get out of pain, not so you can sue someone.

And after car accidents, car accident victims rarely “sue” the other party personally. The term “accident” is part of how we describe crashes as in most, certainly not all, cases, the crash was in fact an accident. The person who hit your car was not deliberately attempting to harm you or your child.

Lawyers exist to protect people from insurance companies, which take advantage of their insured. Lawyers bring law suits in cases of extreme negligence from the other driver. If the other driver was drunk, or doing something to deliberately cause the injury or accident, a lawsuit would be more likely.

However, even in a case of deliberate action on the part of the other driver that caused the accident, the lawsuit would likely go after the policy the driver carried on their car, not after the driver.
I realize you are upset and worried about your daughter, but you are not going to sue the person who caused the accident.

Please talk to an attorney, and the attorney will help you figure out whether or not you need to hire the attorney, or whether you can handle the case yourself.

Here is a link if you need to find an attorney, just pop in your information, there is no charge nor obligation for this. Ohio

Best Regards, M.