A Kern County motorcyclist can be knocked off a bike by a careless driver and suffer a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). To restore their ability to remember important things and to live a normal life, injured riders may need Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT).
The costs for this critical therapy should fall completely on the at-fault driver. But car insurance companies will look for ways to delay payment, and even deny blame. Fortunately, there are ways for injured riders to safely wait out delays in settlement money and speed up the response from insurers.
Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy
A frightening collision with an SUV can impact riders at least twice. They may suffer a knock to the head by hitting the vehicle, and then absorb another jolt from the pavement below.
Even with a helmet on, victims can easily suffer Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and other head injuries. (Safety Note: Helmets can greatly reduce injuries in motorcycle accidents, and riders should always wear them.)
Motorcyclists can suffer memory loss, lapse into comas, and even develop seizures. Once they’ve made a recovery, they may still struggle with finding full brain function. That’s where CRT comes in.
The Center for Neuropsychology and Counseling goes over how motorcycle accident victims can be helped:
“Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (sometime called cognitive remediation) refers to a group of treatments that help improve a person’s ability to think due to any condition that can affect brain functioning.”
The center explains that patients would focus on rebuilding these and other skills:
- Paying attention
- Remembering
- Processing new information
- Problem-solving
- Organizing
- Planning for the future
- Multi-tasking
Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapists often work in tandem with Occupational Therapists. Speech-Language Pathologists play a large role in cognitive remediation when they help restore communication skills for accident victims.
Who Should Pay for CRT?
If a careless driver on a busy road like Mount Vernon Avenue makes a mistake and causes a motorcycle crash, that driver is responsible for helping the victimized rider. That means paying all medical bills, replacing their income at work, and much more.
Things like physical therapy and CRT must also be compensated as long as a doctor prescribes the therapy in the recovery plan.
This care is expensive and may be needed multiple times a week. A car insurance company may try to wiggle out of paying these costs, but to Maison Law, that’s unacceptable.
A skilled Bakersfield Motorcycle Accident Attorney demands that every type of medical treatment and therapy be covered by those who cause an accident or are responsible for it.
This isn’t usually a one-and-done expense, either. For vulnerable motorcyclists, costs and care can go on for weeks or months. Victims must also get enough in a settlement to cover any future expenses.
Hope for Motorcyclists Waiting on Accident Support
Motorcyclists can face a mountain of medical bills without a chance of making the first payment while they can’t go to work.
Fortunately, there are several ways an experienced Bakersfield lawyer can help victims speed up insurers and delay their healthcare providers.
- Medical Liens. This is when a doctor or Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapist agrees to put off sending you an invoice. They sign an agreement to wait until a car insurance company has sent you a settlement check. Then they get paid. Maison Law can help you find doctors who will work under this arrangement.
- Lower Medical Debt. Maison Law can also sometimes negotiate to help you reduce some of the debt you owe.
- Speeding Up the Claims Process. Your lawyer will know when a car insurance company is purposely dragging its feet on your claim. They sometimes do this to make you more desperate, and more susceptible to accepting any settlement offer, no matter how low. Your lawyer can put pressure on the insurer to act faster. Your attorney may also need to report them to the California Department of Insurance, because there are laws about how long you can be made to wait.
The Health Insurance Repayment: Motorcycle accident victims should beware that any healthcare bills covered by their health insurance will likely have to be paid back. Health insurers will want to be repaid if victims receive a settlement. In some cases, those therapy bills can be sent directly to the car insurance company. A lawyer can also negotiate this debt and sometimes get it reduced.
Contact a Bakersfield Motorcycle Accident Attorney
If your accident only involves very minor injuries, or just motorcycle damage, you may be fine handling your case yourself. But if your case involves a serious injury, a lot of medical bills, and a driver was to blame, it’s a good idea to talk to a Kern County lawyer.
Maison Law of Bakersfield offers free case reviews to all injured motorcycle accident victims and their families. There’s no obligation, but if you need a lawyer, you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay one. We work on behalf of clients with no upfront costs. We are only paid if your case is won. Then our fee comes out of a settlement check the car insurance company must write.
