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Get examined the same day, photograph everything before you leave the scene, and start writing down your symptoms that night. Those three habits produce most of the evidence a claim runs on.
The reason is simple: an insurance company pays for losses it can see on paper. Everything you felt but never reported is invisible to the process. A Port St. Lucie car accident lawyer can argue about what your records mean, but nobody can argue from records that don’t exist.
Where should you get examined?
Go the same day, and go somewhere equipped to find what you can’t see. Florida has 39 designated trauma centers statewide, so most hospitals aren’t one. In St. Lucie County, it’s HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, and Palm Beach County has Delray Medical Center and St. Mary’s. If you were in a serious crash and have any choice about where you’re taken, that matters.
Two Florida rules shape what happens next. You have 14 days from the crash to get initial care, or you lose PIP coverage entirely. And PIP pays up to $10,000 only if a qualifying provider finds you had an emergency medical condition; without that finding, you’re capped at $2,500. PIP also pays only 80% of medical expenses and 60% of lost income, which is why the paperwork on everything above those percentages matters.
Note that PIP is tied to vehicles with four or more wheels. Motorcyclists don’t have it at all.
What should you photograph after a crash?
Take more than you think you need and let a lawyer sort out what’s useful later. Scenes get cleared, cars get repaired, and bruising peaks two days after the fact.
- Your injuries, the day of and again over the next week as bruising develops
- All vehicles involved, from every angle, including license plates. Accident reconstruction experts read crush patterns to establish speed and direction of impact
- The full scene, especially skid marks, debris fields, and guardrail damage
- Traffic signs and signals, which may have been obscured, dark, or malfunctioning
- Road and weather conditions, including standing water, potholes, and sun angle
- Contact information for the other driver and for any witnesses. A witness statement taken that day is worth far more than one gathered weeks later
On recording: video at a public crash scene is fine. Florida’s two-party consent law applies to conversations someone reasonably expects to be private, which a roadside crash scene generally isn’t. Recording a private conversation without everyone’s consent is the thing to avoid.
How do medical records make or break a case?
They’re what ties the injury to the crash. Records from the days right after the accident establish that your symptoms started when the collision did, which is the causation question every Insurance adjuster asks first.
Your file should include the police report, EMS run reports, the emergency room or urgent care visit, every follow-up with your doctor or a specialist, imaging, and any surgical reports.
Two things people do that cost them:
Downplaying symptoms. Tell the doctor everything, including what feels minor. An ache you don’t mention doesn’t exist in the record, and symptoms that seem small in week one are sometimes the first sign of something that isn’t.
Gaps in treatment. Missed appointments and stretches without care get read as evidence you recovered. If you have to stop treatment because of cost, transportation, or work, tell your provider and get the reason in the chart.
What should go in a pain journal?
Medical records show what a doctor observed. A pain journal shows what your days actually look like, and it’s often what carries the non-economic side of a claim.
Write something short every day rather than reconstructing a month later. Note:
- Your pain level on a 1-to-10 scale, and where it is
- What kind of pain it is (aching, stabbing, burning, pins and needles, etc)
- What sets it off, like a specific movement or sitting too long
- What you couldn’t do that you could do before
- What helps: ice, elevation, heat, medication, rest
What paperwork proves the financial side?
An insurance claim runs on paperwork: medical bills, paycheck stubs and employer letters for lost wages, repair estimates, receipts for anything you paid out of pocket, and a written statement from your treating physician about care you’ll still need.
One thing worth correcting, because it circulates widely: there’s no formula that multiplies your medical bills to produce a pain and suffering figure. Florida’s standard jury instructions contain no multiplier, and juries aren’t given one. Your economic losses matter because they’re recoverable, not because they set the value of everything else.
Two rules also apply. Recovering for pain and suffering from the at-fault driver requires a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, or a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function. And you generally have two years from the crash to file suit.
Talk to a lawyer about your documentation
Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath keeps two registered nurse paralegals on staff who read medical records alongside the attorneys, which is a large part of how these cases get built. There’s no fee to talk with us, and you pay no attorney’s fees unless compensation is recovered. Call us at (561) 655-1990 or contact us online for a free consultation.
