Recovering from Injury: What You Need to Know About Compensation and Rehabilitation

Were you hurt in an accident caused by another party’s negligence in Texas? You need justice, accountability, and compensation to pay your bills and cover your rehabilitation. While recovery from a serious injury is never easy, it is far less difficult when you have access to the full available financial compensation and the proper rehabilitative care. At Thornton Esquire Law Group, PLLC, we fight for justice for injured victims and their families. Within this article, our Houston personal injury attorney highlights the key things that you should know about compensation and rehabilitation when you are recovering from a serious accident in Texas.

Your health, safety, and well-being come first. If you have suffered major injuries, it is absolutely crucial that you seek immediate medical attention. Not only do severe injuries require emergency care, but seemingly moderate/mild injuries may be far more serious than they initially seem. A lot of common injuries—from back issues to concussions—take hours, days, or even longer to fully manifest. Seeing a doctor is essential. Delaying medical care can not only worsen your health, but it may also adversely impact your ability to claim compensation.

Beyond immediate medical care, injured victims also need comprehensive rehabilitative support. As broadly defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), rehabilitative care is made up of “health care services that help you keep, get back, or improve skills and functioning for daily living that have been lost or impaired because you were sick, hurt, or disabled.”

Access to quality rehabilitation services is crucial for restoring function and improving overall quality of life after an injury. It is important to advocate for the necessary resources and support, as the proper, comprehensive rehabilitation strategy can significantly improve your long-term prognosis and overall quality of life.

Through a personal injury claim in Texas, you have the right to pursue compensation for the full value of your damages—including your ongoing medical needs and intangible losses. As insurance companies try to resolve their liability for less, a proactive approach is a must. An experienced Houston personal injury lawyer can help you seek the maximum compensation, including for:

• Initial Medical Bills: Your initial medical bills for much of the basis of your personal injury claim. Compensation for initial medical bills covers all the immediate healthcare expenses resulting from the injury, including emergency room visits, surgeries, medications, medical equipment, and diagnostic tests.

• Rehabilitative Medical Care: Rehabilitative medical care compensation addresses the cost of ongoing physical therapy, specialized equipment, and any other services needed to aid in the victim's recovery and return to daily activities. If you require rehabilitative care after an accident—including mental health services—you deserve compensation for those costs.

• Loss Current and Future Wages: A serious accident can disrupt your ability to earn a living to support your family. You have the right to seek compensation to help cover the loss of earnings while you are unable to work due to your injuries. Further, you can claim compensation for projected future losses if your victim is unable to return to work.

• Pain and Suffering: A serious accident can cause terrible pain and suffering. This is a type of non-economic damage that is compensable through a personal injury claim in Texas. Suffering: Compensation for pain and suffering accounts for the physical pain and emotional distress experienced by the victim as a result of the injury. Although it may not always have a direct financial cost, pain and suffering still affect one’s quality of life

• Permanent Impairment: With an especially bad accident in Texas, an injured victim may be stuck managing a permanent impairment. Indeed, an impairment may remain even with the proper rehabilitative care. You have the right to seek additional financial compensation to account for the harm caused by a permanent impairment. It is a non-economic damage.

It is important to emphasize that it can be more challenging for injured victims in Texas to recover compensation for long-term medical needs and their non-economic losses, such as rehabilitative care and/or pain and suffering. After a serious accident, you need a top-tier Houston personal injury attorney. Your lawyer will help you fight for true justice.

Here is one of the primary challenges associated with bringing a personal injury claim in Texas: Defendants and insurers do not want to step up and offer victims the full and fair financial compensation that they deserve. Even though Texas law is clear in holding that victims have the right to pursue compensation for the full value of their damages, defendants and insurers still try to find any excuse to pay out less. You cannot rely on them to offer a full and fair settlement—particularly if you or your loved one has considerable rehabilitative care needs.

With this in mind, proper documentation of your damages is essential for building a strong personal injury claim and ensuring that you receive the full and fair financial compensation you deserve. You must be ready to “prove” your damages. A wide range of evidence can be used, including medical records, receipts, and detailed doctor's notes. You can also rely on other evidence, such as a pain journal to record daily struggles and the emotional toll of your recovery. An experienced Houston personal injury attorney can help you thoroughly document your damages so that you can secure the greatest possible financial compensation.

At Thornton Esquire Law Group, PLLC, our Houston personal injury attorney fights to help victims and families secure the absolute maximum compensation, including for costs of rehabilitation. Get in touch with us at (888) 378-1784 or connect with us online for a free, no strings attached review of your case. With a law office in Houston, we fight for the rights of injured victims in Harris County, Fort Bend County, Brazoria County, Galveston County, and throughout the state of Texas.