Name: Law Office of Robert M. Mansour
Address: 28212 Kelly Johnson Pkwy Suite 110, Santa Clarita, California, 91355
Telephone: 661-414-7100

Paying for hospital bills after an accident

2/27/2015

If you incur hospital bills after a car accident, you might be wondering, "Who is responsible for paying for my hospital bills?" The short answer is - You! Just because someone causes you harm doesn't mean they are going to pay for your hospital bills. The hospital, emergency room, doctors, xrays facilities, etc. expect to be paid. You can't simply ignore those bills. I've known some clients who get hospital bills and toss them in the trash thinking, "These aren't my responsibility. I don't need to worry about these bills." The truth is you DO have to worry about these bills. When I tell clients they are responsible for their hospital bills, many protest, "Why should I have to pay these? I'm not the one who caused the accident!"

So then I tell the clients a little story that oftens help explain the situation: Let's say someone vandalizes your home one day by painting graffiti all over it. You catch them in the act and call the police. The police show up and arrest the perpetrators. So far so good. Then you hire Johnny's Painting Company to come and remove the graffiti and repaint your home. Johnny and his crew do a great job. Then Johnny knocks on your door and asks you to pay him for the work. You can't tell him, "Listen, I'm not going to pay your bill. You need to go after the people who vandalized my home." Johnny isn't going to do that. It's not his problem. He provided a service and expects to be paid. Paying him is your responsibility. Then you can theoretically pursue reimbursement from the vandals. So basically, it's the same story with medical care - the health care providers will provide a service to you, but you need to pay them. You can't expect them to go after the responsible party for payment.

There are some medical providers who will provide you service on a "lien" basis. Those providers are not the subject of this posting. When a provider is on a "lien," that simply means you are promising to pay them for their service at the conclusion of your case. You are basically deferring payment to them. This FAQ deals with providers who are NOT on a lien (most hospitals, ER doctors, urgent care centers, PPO doctors, etc.).

Since you have to pay the hospital and related bills, you need to determine what resources you will use to pay. First, if you don't have health insurance, you can ask the providers to treat you as a "cash" patient. Generally, most providers have a "cash" price that is often a fraction of what they would charge to an insurance company. Some also have special programs available to people who need financial assistance. Most will accept payment plans as well.

Second, if you have health insurance, you can simply use that to pay. However, if you have a high deductible, that might be burdensome. Most health care providers who are "in network" will charge you the negotiated rate they have with your health insurance company. That is often far less than "sticker price" on most services. Keep in mind if you recover money from the responsible party, most health insurers have "reimbursement" provisions built into their contracts. That means you need to reimburse your health care insurance company if you recover money from the responsible party. In general, you only need to reimburse them if you recover. You are not obligated to recover money for them.

Third, you might have coverage for health care expenses under your own automobile insurance policy. Many folks have "medical payments" coverage under their own policy and they don't even know it. Many insurance companies aren't eager to tell you about this, but you need to find out if you have it. In many cases, you can have your bills (copays, etc.) paid by your own car insurance company. You've been paying for this benefit so you might as well use it. As with the health insurance companies, your auto insurance company also has a right to reimbursement if you recover compensation from the responsible party. Make sure you don't ignore these reimbursement provisions. In most cases, your auto insurance company will send you a letter reminding you of this obligation if they pay any funds pursuant to any medical payments coverage.

The main thing you need to keep in mind is that you are responsible for paying your health care bills. You can ultimately recover them from the responsible party, but that doesn't absolve you from the responsibility of paying your bills. Therefore, you can't just ignore or throw those bills in the trash when you get them. Talk to an experienced lawyer about how you might handle your accident related medical bills. There are several approaches you might consider, each with its own pros and cons.

If you are involved in a serious car accident and need advice, feel free to contact our office at (661) 414-7100 to see if we can help.

Things that might sabotage your personal injury case

2/12/2015

As a lawyer, there is only so much I can do. I'm not a magician.  I can't take a horrible personal injury claim and make it into a good one. If a person calls our office months after an accident, my first concern is, "Why are they calling a lawyer so late in the game?" In most cases, the client has caused damage to their own case, and they think a lawyer is going to fix it.

Like a good coach, I'm only as good as my team. Phil Jackson is arguably a great NBA coach. However, if his players simply ran around the basketball court and did not follow his instructions or did not execute the plays they practiced over and over again, then his team is going to lose. It doesn't matter how good his coaching is.

There are many things that clients do that can ruin their personal injury case.  Oftentimes, clients have no idea they are putting holes in their boat that will prove to be a problem later on. Then the boat sinks and the clients wonder why.

So here are some things people do that will almost always sink their personal injury case:

1) The client misrepresents how the accident has affected them.  For example, during a consultation, the client says they can barely get out of bed, they can't work, they can't pick up their kids from school, etc. Given today's technology, insurance companies are eager to hire people to film you going about your daily life, picking up heavy groceries, going to the gym, playing ball with your friends, etc. Keep in mind this is an adversarial process. They are out to prove you wrong. In fact, that is their job. If you misrepresent matters to your lawyer, and the lawyer represents the same to the insurance company, then both you and your lawyer are going to be seen as untrustworthy. Also, be very careful of what appears on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media outlets that might be viewed as inconsistent with your claim. In some cases, you may not be the one posting harmful photos, but a friend or family member might be doing so. In short, do not act inconsistently with your claimed injuries.

2) The client fails to show up to medical appointments and/or has significant gaps in treatment.  Insurance adjusters always use failures to show up for appointments and gaps in treatment as indications that your injuries aren't as bad as you say they are. Otherwise, you would show up to your doctor's appointments, and there wouldn't be such gaps in treatment. Also, when there are gaps, the adjuster may assume there must have been another injury that occurred during the gap. Remember, adjusters are generally looking for reasons NOT to pay you. Why should you make their life easier?

3) The client makes damaging statements to the doctor that show up in the medical records.  For example, the client says they feel 100% better when in fact they don't. Or they don't mention an injury because "it's not a big deal." Why would a client say that? Sometimes, clients want to be "macho" or stoic in front of their doctors. I tell clients that even if they still have 10% pain, they must mention it to their doctor. Whatever you say to your doctor during your visits, assume you are speaking directly with the insurance adjuster who will, whenever given the chance, use your statements against you.

4) The client hides past medical issues or past injuries from the lawyer. So many times, clients have looked me in the face and told me they did not have any prior injuries or similar medical issues in the past. I have to believe them, so I represent the same to the insurance company. What clients may not know is that insurance adjusters have access to large nationwide databases, and clients should operate under the assumption that their past injury or past medical records will be found. How can your lawyer help you if you don't tell them the truth or deliberately hide information from your lawyer? A client came for a consultation to my office long ago, and I asked her about prior injuries. She said, "Why do you need to know that? How is that important?" Needless to say, I did not take the case. This client was going to be difficult from the start! Don't be difficult with your lawyer. They are on your side!

5) Along the same lines, some clients hide past accidents from their lawyer.  Again, those will most likely be found by the insurance company. Your attorney often doesn't have easy access to the same databases, so you and your lawyer will look like fools when the insurance company finds your past accident(s).

6) The client refuses to hire a lawyer when their injuries are serious.  Cases involving serious injuries require serious attention. Would you go river rafting without a guide in your boat? If you wait too long to hire a lawyer, you may already be doing things that are harming your case without even knowing it. As stated earlier, if you've done irreparable harm to your case, your attorney is only human - they can't magically make the mistakes go away!

7) The client gives too much information to the opposing insurance company.   Don't talk too much at the beginning of your case. As noted elsewhere on this website, don't be eager to give a statement to the opposing insurance company. As the saying goes, "Whatever you say can and will be used against you...." Statements solicited from you by insurance companies are rarely designed to serve your interests. The insurance company is preserving its own interests. If you give them too much information, you may find yourself in a bind when some of that information turns out to be false or not entirely true. The biggest mistake I see in this regard is when clients say, "Oh, I'm not injured. I feel OK." Then a few days later, they don't feel so good as their body recovers from the impact. Then they bring an injury claim, and the insurance adjuster conveniently pulls out their recorded statement and whacks them on the head with it! In most cases, there is no exigency that requires showing your entire hand to the insurance company so early in the case. Talk to a lawyer about your options first.

8) If the client is injured at the scene, some make the mistake of not calling the police.  Most insurance adjusters use the absence of a police report as evidence that no one was hurt. In other words, if someone was hurt, they would have called for the police.

9) Some clients fail to obtain information about the other party involved in the accident and fail to document other evidence of the incident. It is important to take photos of the damage, obtain names, addresses, phone numbers etc. Of course, that isn't always feasible, but when it is, failing to do so can harm your case. How can your attorney help you when you don't even know who the party at fault is? Your lawyer is not clairvoyant. The information is not going to appear to them in a dream sequence. How can your attorney help you if you don't take photos of your damage? How many photos should you take? As many as it takes to convince an insurance adjuster you were injured. Photos taken at close range or that are blurry don't help convey any message to an adjuster. In short, take photos designed to illustrate the severity of the impact.

10) The final thing that people do to sabotage their case, and this is perhaps the most important, is they wait too long before seeking medical care. Clients who wait more than a few days to seek active care for their injuries often encounter resistance from the insurance adjuster. Again, the insurance adjuster's position will likely be: "If your injuries were that bad, or as bad as you say they were, then you would have sought treatment/care for this accident."

Here is the basic overall lesson - a personal injury matter is basically an adversarial process. On one side is the injured party who may do things to sink their own case. On the other side is an insurance company that generally hates parting with money and will use your mistakes against you whenever possible. If you want help with your injury case, make sure you consult with an attorney as soon as possible so you know how to best handle your claim. A lawyer isn't a magician but a good one will tell you what mistakes to avoid and how to present your case in the best possible way. Again, no lawyer can guarantee an outcome - but at least you can increase your chances of a decent result by avoiding all the landmines that are out there.

Eye injuries after an accident

2/11/2015

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Can a person get an eye injury from an accident?

Hello my name is Robert Mansour, and one of the more serious injuries that can happen in a car accident is damage to somebody's eye, vision issues, etc. and these can actually occur. Sometimes they occur simply due to the trauma of the event, and sometimes also they occur when there's some kind of flying debris, glass, or some particles in the car - or something ends up in somebody's eye - or injuring the eye.

Sometimes it can also happen from the trauma of the airbag against the face and against the eye. After all, the eye is just another body part, and it can get injured in an accident although it is generally a more “rare” injury so one of the things that can be affected is just your daily life. Your vision being hampered, it can affect your ability to drive, your ability to read - A person's vision is a very serious affair.

One of the most important things that you can do if you think you may have an eye injury from an accident, especially if you start noticing blurred vision or you feel some kind of a scratching sensation in your eye, or it is difficult to focus, you need to go see an optometrist or an ophthalmologist right away. An optometrist is generally your basic eye doctor, the kind of person who helps you with your glasses. And then an ophthalmologist is more of a “specialist” with the eye, and you need to go there and have them check and make sure that your eye is okay. You don't want to overlook this issue.

Also, what is very important is proper documentation. If you've had a car accident and you think you injured your eye in some way, you need to mention that to the doctors! When you go to the emergency room or anywhere else, you say “Listen…something’s wrong!” Proper documentation is very important - you see, if the insurance adjuster and the insurance companies see that the eye injury appears later or a few weeks later all of a sudden the eye injury becomes an issue and it was never an issue before, they might doubt that the eye injury is from the car accident - especially if you're silent for several weeks much like any injury you've got to mention it at the very beginning.

Also, if the accident caused the eye injury your records need to say that! The ophthalmologist or the optometrist needs to say that! In their records, it needs to say "The accident most likely than not or more likely than not caused this injury to occur". Sometimes the injury can also lead to the eyelid or to the eye itself, the cornea, the iris, the retina; a variety of parts of the eye can be injured in an accident. It's very important to seek help right away. And then of course you want to make sure your records are very clear.

I had a case one time where my client got into a car accident, and all the glass in the car broke…and he felt something in his eye. And it was bothering him, and his glasses broke during the accident, so he went to the optometrist, and the optometrist was examining his eye and he said, “You know what? You have a glass fragment in your eye!” Sure enough, when the wind shield exploded during the accident, he got a little bit of glass in his eye, which caused a permanent scratch on his cornea. And his doctor (his ophthalmologist) had the opinion that “Well, you could do surgery to correct that.” In all likelihood, it wasn't going to correct it 100 percent. He was always going to have a deficit with his cornea. He was always going to see something called a “star burst” effect that, basically, when you see things especially at night when lights are approaching you and they appear to kind of be in a very star exaggerated fashion. It's very difficult for people with that kind of injury to drive at night, especially with all the lights coming at them.

He also had trouble viewing television. He had to sit very, very close to the TV in order to be able to see it versus before he was fine. He had to change his glasses. He had to wear contacts and glasses on top of them. So eye injuries can be very, very serious injuries and you want to make sure you diagnose them early and catch them early. Don't think the problem is going to resolve itself. My name is Robert Mansour, if you want to learn more please visit my website at valencialawyer.com or call my office at 661-414-7100. Thank you very much.