The world feels different in the Covid 19 era and Clark and Steinhorn's clients are feeling it as well. A recurrent concern expressed by new clients, who have just been in a crash is "where can I go to safely get evaluated?"
What they mean is "yes I hurt, but I am afraid to go to the hospital for fear of getting coronavirus." The answer to these questions are not immediately evident. Yes we have numerous clients receiving medical treatment and none to our knowledge have contracted covid 19 either at a healthcare provider or otherwise.
But realistically, we are lawyers and have little greater insight into the risk of getting covid at Laurel Medical Center or Doctor's Hospital in Lanham or anywhere else. However, our client's recent experiences may prove instructive.
What seems increasingly clear is that healthcare institutions in Maryland and the District of Columbia are highly sensitive to the need for keeping prospective covid patients separate from the greater population of their customers.
As an example, Laurel Medical Center has instituted new procedures including mandatory masks, reduced visitation and temperature checks. These are not guarantees of safety but do enhance the likelihood of a safe visit.
If the hospital is still too daunting consider contacting your family doctor for evaluation, going to an Urgent Care facility or utilizing telemedicine or virtual examination.
It is an unnerving trade off but failure to see a healthcare provider can undermine your auto or truck crash claim. As many victims before you have learned, the insurance industry will seek to penalize injured parties for failure to promptly get appropriate care, suggesting " you couldn't have been that hurt if you didn't seek medical care within a week of the accident."
