Having done personal injury work for the last 23 years, people often tease me about being an ambulance chaser. When I was describing a case to a friend (without revealing any confidential information), she was blown away with what the attorney has to deal with in these types of situations. Far too many times in my career, I have gotten a call at some odd hour from a distraught family member or friend that their loved one has been in a devastating accident. In one case, a man was hit while crossing the road and thrown over 75 feet suffering fractured vertebrae, broken legs and head trauma. This man had a job and a family who relied upon him for support and, through no fault of his own, found himself being airlifted to a hospital for multiple surgeries and prolonged rehab. His life just stopped and went in an entirely new direction. And no one knew what to do.
Enter the lawyer. Talking to family and friends about what happened. Visiting that man in the trauma ward after surgery. Attempting to find out what insurance was available and what kind of benefits we could get for him so that he and his family would be able to survive this financially. All the while, dealing with very distraught families and those injured who are compromised and weakened by their injuries. Walking into that situation is often very stressful. To onlookers, they see just another greedy lawyer walking down the hall. But to that man and that family, the lawyer is their lifeline to helping them figure out the best way to navigate through the insurance bureaucracy so they don’t lose their home and everything they’ve worked for all of their lives.
Sometimes when a serious accident occurs, there is often not enough insurance available to cover the astronomical costs of medical care and provide enough money to support that person financially until they can get back to work. In many cases, it is so important to act immediately to get the insurance company to release the money so the health insurance doesn’t grab it all back. Yes, that’s what I said. You pay so much for health insurance in the event something like this happens to you. Yet, when it does happen to you and they finally pay what you have been insuring against, they put a lien on the file to get it all back. Is that fair? No but the law allows them to.
Experience, intelligence, compassion and sensitivity are all so important at this time.
Not exactly the qualities you would expect from an ambulance chaser would you?
