What Should You do Medically After an Auto Accident?

Call EMS for help immediately if your child, or you:

• Have any difficulty breathing or chest pain
• Develop any abdominal area pain
• Newly suffer from sudden or severe headaches since the accident
• Have any new difficulty seeing or speaking
• Can’t feel or move any body part
• Has newly suffered balance or coordination
• Develops slurred speech after the accident
• Can’t be sleep or be woken up
• Finds any blood in their urine.

Go to the emergency room or call a doctor, immediately if your child or you:

• Develop worsening or new symptoms
• Suffer from vomiting more than once
• Find any clear fluid emptying or draining from the ears or nose
• Can’t get comfortable in any position or apparently can’t stop tears and crying (children)
• Does not want to drink or eat

If you are a female and pregnant and notice anything like the following, please go to the emergency room or call a doctor right away:

• If Labor contractions begin
• If you suffer from any new abdominal pain
• If you begin bleeding from your vaginal area
• If you find fluid, gray or white tissue or blood clots passing out of your vagina

• If your doctor wrote you a prescription for medications, make sure to take all medicine exactly as the doctor prescribed.
• Make all needed subsequent appointments with a primary care physician (or their recommended specialist) as quickly as possible.
• If you are female and pregnant you should visit your obstetrics specialist as quickly as possible.
• Watch for any sign of a whiplash injury, particularly back, shoulder or neck, pain and stiffness, and see a doctor quickly if you get any numbness or pain in your hands.
• You should not consume any alcohol and certainly do not consume recreational drugs.
• You should get enough rest in the daytime and enough sleep during the night.
• You should go back to your normal daily activities slowly.
• You should ask a doctor if and when you should drive a truck or car again or resume operating any equipment which requires you to react quickly.
• You need to inform your children’s schools, daycare center, etc. exactly what to keep a lookout for and which types of activities they should restrict.
• You should be especially careful if your child, or you, have suffered from an injury to the head. In such cases:
  1. Watch for any signs of a concussion. These include confusion, dizziness, headaches, loss of balance, vomiting, fuzzy or double vision, and concentration or memory problems.
  2. You should also make sure someone responsible is with your child for a minimum of 1 to 2 days since the accident.
  3. You should write down anything you need to make sure you remember.
  4. Until your doctor says it is safe, stay away from participation in any sports or other activities which could lead to another injury to your head.

• Make sure to follow any traffic and speed limit laws.
• Try to drive in a defensive manner. Also try and drive with respect and politeness toward others.
• Please don’t drive while distracted by use of a mobile phone, while eating, watching TV, while reading, or while applying makeup.
• You should always wear your seat restraints, and you should have your children use correct safety restraints in accordance with federal standards.

Our attorneys are standing by to help you with any or all of these issues. We know the right medical professionals to help you get as whole as possible after an auto accident.

Are you in Corpus Christi? Have you been in an auto accident?

Give Carabin Shaw a call. We can help. Call us at 361.444.1111, local if you’re in Corpus Christi.