Injured in a Maritime Accident? Think About These Things Before Your Next Doctor Appointment

You’ve done the right thing: you have scheduled a doctor’s appointment because of the injuries that you suffered while working your commercial fishing or maritime job. It is the doctor’s job to diagnosis your injuries, recommend a treatment plan, and share a prognosis with you. You are depending on the information that you get from the doctor to help you decide on your future plans.

Making the Most of Each Doctor Appointment

Your doctor will be best able to help you if you are prepared for your next visit. Some things that you can do to make your next appointment as productive as possible include:

  • Bringing someone else with you. It can be difficult to hear and understand everything that the doctor is saying about your own health. Thus, it can be important to bring a spouse, parent, sibling, or trusted friend to the appointment with you. The person who goes with you may remember things that you forget or think to ask questions that don’t occur to you at the time.
  • Telling your doctor everything. The more information your doctor has the more accurate a diagnosis your doctor can make. Do not hesitate to share any symptoms with your doctor even if you think it is minor or embarrassing.
  • Asking lots of questions. It doesn’t matter if it is you or someone who is with you who asks the questions. What matters is that you ask every question that you have so that you truly understand your medical condition and treatment options.

Additionally, if you have any hesitations about the doctor that you are seeing you should schedule a second opinion with another physician.

Want to Know More About Protecting Your Recovery?

You are already protecting your physical recovery by seeing a doctor for your injuries, but are you also protecting your legal and financial recoveries? The health information that your doctor gathers may be important, but you may still need to advocate for your full recovery of damages pursuant to federal laws that govern maritime injuries.

The first step in your legal recovery is to understand your rights. To that end, we encourage you to read our free report, The Legal Rights of Injured Seamen, Dockbuilders, Dredgemen, and Other Commercial Mariners: 10 Important Questions Answered, and to start a live chat with us now.

Paul T. Hofmann
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Focused on personal injury, with an emphasis on maritime, railroad and construction worker tort claims.
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