When you've hired an attorney to pursue a personal injury case against another party following an accident, you have to be prepared for every decision that you make to be scrutinized. In particular, the defendant's attorneys will want to know precisely what type of medical care you sought after the accident and what type of ongoing care you're getting. If you haven't opted for surgery, you can expect this topic to come up. Namely, the attorneys will suggest that because you didn't get surgery, you haven't taken the injury seriously—and they'll argue that their client shouldn't pay a large settlement if you yourself aren't taking the injury seriously. Here are some ways to justify not having surgery.

You're Pursuing Other Treatments

Not every serious injury has surgery as a necessary outcome. It's possible that your injury could benefit from surgery, but it could also benefit from a different approach to treatment. The defendant's attorneys may not be aware of this other type of treatment that you're pursuing, so you'll want your case to be very clear about it. Your own personal injury attorney may also get some medical experts to testify that the treatment method you're pursuing is a warranted one, thus making your decision not to have surgery perfectly appropriate.

Surgery Would Interfere with Work

While many injury victims are unable to work after being hurt, you may be doing all that you can to continue to work each day. It's also possible that having surgery would take you away from work, which may be your justification for not having it. Even if you know the surgery is necessary, your financial situation may be such that you cannot afford to step away from your job, even if you expect a personal injury settlement to help you financially in the coming months.

It's Not Yet Time for Surgery

There are some injuries for which immediate surgery is the course of action and other injuries for which it's better to wait to have surgery. For example, if your body is in a severely weakened state from the accident, some medical professionals may advocate taking a bit of time to recover and build up your strength before enduring the trauma of a surgery. You'll definitely need a medical expert to testify that putting off the surgery is the best course of action for you. By using any of these justifications, you should help keep your personal injury case strong. Contact a personal injury attorney for more information.

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