When You Should Go to the ER After a Car Accident in Missouri

When You Should Go to the ER After a Car Accident in Missouri

We interviewed two subject matter experts, personal injury attorneys Patrick Hinrichs, Esq. and Dylan Kriegshauser, Esq. of The Bruning Law Firm, to give you the best possible answers on whether you should go to the ER after a car accident. Patrick has handled injury claims since 2010; Dylan has spent his entire career representing injury victims.

A NOTE BEFORE YOU READ

No two crashes are the same, and while we can give you a general answer, we cannot give you yours without knowing your situation. What follows is a strong start on understanding the decision in front of you, but it is no replacement for a doctor who has examined you or an attorney who has reviewed your case. If at any point you would rather just talk to someone, you are welcome to call us at (314) 735-8100. No pressure, and it costs nothing to find out where you stand.

The crash was a few hours ago, or a day or two.

• You feel mostly fine, and an emergency room visit seems like an overreaction for some soreness.
• You woke up today hurting in places that felt fine at the scene.
• Someone you love keeps saying they are okay, and you are the one deciding whether to drive them in.

If that is you, this page was written for you. The question you are weighing is should I go to the ER after a car accident. The short answer from both attorneys: if you feel anything at all, go now, and if you feel nothing, give your body two or three days before you believe it. The sections below explain why pain arrives late, what the visit does for your insurance claim, what to say when the adjuster calls to ask how you are feeling, and what your options are if the crash was weeks ago and you never went.

For most people, a crash is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and every decision that follows it is a first-time decision. Patrick and Dylan sit on the other side of that experience. They watch these same first days play out on case after case, and they know which early choices come back months later, which is exactly why we asked them.

When You Should Go to the ER After a Car Accident

Go to the ER after a car accident if you feel anything at all: pain, stiffness, dizziness, numbness, a headache, or just feeling off. If you feel fine, watch your body closely for the next two to three days, because adrenaline can hide an injury for that long.

• Pain that starts Thursday can come from Tuesday's crash. Adrenaline at the scene can keep you from feeling an injury for two to three days.
• The ER visit is also the record of your injury. A claim is proven through medical records, and the workup starts that record the same day.
• A gap in treatment becomes an argument against you. Insurers read a late start on care as a sign the injury was small, or new, or invented.
• "I think I need to go get checked out" is the safest sentence you can say. It is true, it commits you to nothing, and it answers the adjuster without guessing about your own body.

Patrick's rule for anyone who feels even a little wrong is short:

"If you feel anything, you should go to the emergency room immediately."

PATRICK HINRICHS, THE BRUNING LAW FIRM

He is just as direct about why. The emergency room is built to examine you thoroughly on the shortest timeframe possible, because, as he puts it, "It's called the emergency room for a reason." The half of the answer people get wrong is the feeling-fine half. According to Missouri car accident attorney Patrick Hinrichs of The Bruning Law Firm, it can sometimes take 48 to 72 hours after a crash for you to start feeling pain, because the adrenaline moving through your body at the scene can keep you from feeling much of anything. Feeling fine on the shoulder of the road is real, and it is also incomplete information.

Why You Can Feel Fine and Still Be Hurt

Some injuries announce themselves. St. Louis personal injury attorney Dylan Kriegshauser, partner at The Bruning Law Firm, sorts them out plainly:

"A broken leg is a broken leg is a broken leg, gets diagnosed in the emergency room."

DYLAN KRIEGSHAUSER, THE BRUNING LAW FIRM

The injuries that tend to cost people are the silent and lingering ones. Dylan described a pattern he has watched from his own desk. A person hurts their shoulder in a crash. It aches, so they stop golfing, stop mowing the yard, stop playing catch with their kid, and over a couple of months the pain settles down. They read that as healing, resolve their case, and move on. Years later the shoulder speaks up again, this time needing surgery, and the injury was never documented while the claim was open. In Dylan's words, "You can't go back and get compensation for that." The pain went quiet because the person stopped using the shoulder, and the case settled for a few thousand dollars while a long-term injury went unrecorded.

That is the gap an early exam closes. You cannot feel the difference between soreness that fades and an injury that hides; a doctor looking at you that week can.

What the ER Visit Does for Your Claim

The visit is medical first. It is also the first page of the file your claim will be decided on. Months from now, the question of what this crash did to you will be answered on paper, through records, imaging, and treatment notes, and the exam room is where that paper starts. Patrick runs the same plan when someone in his own family is in a car crash: see a doctor, let them diagnose you, and, as he says, "I will let the medical records speak for how I'm doing."

Missouri's filing window for most injury lawsuits is five years (RSMo § 516.120). Simply put, you don’t need to rush through anything. It is common for insurance adjusters to try to convince you that if you ever want a settlement, then you will need to accept what they are offering regardless of how you feel. This simply isn’t true. Establishing medical documentation via an ER visit could be the first step in a month or even year(s) long recovery. A jury will look at your case potentially years from now and will be guided by the initial steps you take right now to get better.

The Cost of Toughing It Out

St. Louis personal injury attorney Dylan Kriegshauser, partner at The Bruning Law Firm, warns that a long gap between the crash and your first treatment becomes the insurance company's argument that you were never hurt at all. He has heard the argument enough times to recite it:

"If you wait 6 weeks to get any treatment, the insurance company's going to say, well, if you're really hurt, why don't you go to the doctor? Gosh, you must be faking."

DYLAN KRIEGSHAUSER, THE BRUNING LAW FIRM

The adjuster reading your file does not see stoicism; the gap reads as evidence, and Dylan has seen it argued that a claimant was fine until a credit card bill arrived and changed their mind. His counter is simple: "the insurance company's gonna use your trying to tough it out against you," so take that argument away from them. Toughing it out costs you twice, once in the untreated injury and once in the claim.

If Your Doctor Cannot See You for Six Weeks

Calling your primary care doctor the day after a crash often gets you an appointment six weeks out, and in Dylan's experience that is a normal turnaround rather than bad luck. In the St. Louis region the wait runs harder, because hospital systems have absorbed most of the primary care and specialty clinics, and their doctors have little appetite for crash patients, whose cases can pull a physician into depositions and testimony. Getting seen, evaluated, and having your injuries documented into the notes is genuinely difficult here, and part of the firm's daily work is helping clients reach the care they already need.

The emergency room stands outside that wait. It sees you today, which is the whole point of it, and for the first days after a crash, today is the timeframe that matters, for your body and for the record.

What to Say When the Adjuster Asks How You Are Feeling

The other driver's insurance adjuster often calls within a day or two, sounding friendly, asking how you are. Patrick points out the timing problem: that call can land inside the same 48-to-72-hour window when adrenaline is still masking your injuries, which means you may answer before you know the full extent of them. Patrick handles these calls himself when someone in his family is hit, and his script is blunt:

"You just say, I'm not gonna discuss that with you. I'm going to see a doctor, let them diagnose me, and I will let the medical records speak for how I'm doing."

PATRICK HINRICHS, THE BRUNING LAW FIRM

He knows most people cannot deliver that line, because most of us are wired to be agreeable, and "I'm fine" comes out on reflex, especially at a vulnerable moment. So he offers a gentler version anyone can say: "I'm not sure how I'm doing. I think I need to go get checked out to find out how I'm doing." If the adjuster presses for specifics, he adds one more habit, answering "at this time," because how you feel today is the only thing you can honestly report. The sentence has a second virtue: the moment you go get checked out, it becomes the plain truth.

Three Things You Can Do Today

1. Photograph everything. Both cars, the scene if you are still on it, and any bruising or visible injuries, in Dylan's words, "because once it's gone, it's gone."
2. Write everything down. Anything the other driver said, anything the police officer told you, how you felt each day. A claim can run a year or more, and, as Dylan tells clients, "you're gonna forget stuff."
3. If you need treatment, get treatment. That is Dylan's phrasing, and it starts at the ER if you feel anything at all. The visit cares for the injury and writes it into the record on the same day.

When to Get an Attorney Involved

Earlier conversations leave more options open. Dylan's reason is practical:

"You talk to the insurance adjuster, there's a hundred different things they might tell you. And depending on what they say, I might advise you a hundred different ways."

DYLAN KRIEGSHAUSER, THE BRUNING LAW FIRM

A call before that adjuster conversation costs the same as a call after it. Why? Because advice arrives before the mistakes do.

At the Bruning Law Firm, we don’t take on every case that comes through our door. Sometimes a review of the photos, notes and the discharge papers reveals you may do better on your own, and we will be clear and tell you that.

However, before making a decision to try to tackle this on your own, bring what you have to a St. Louis car accident lawyer and let the review sort out which kind of case yours is. It costs nothing to find out.

FAQ: Going to the ER After a Car Accident

Should I go to the ER after a car accident?

Yes, if you feel anything at all, including pain, stiffness, dizziness, numbness, or a headache. If you feel fine, the attorneys we interviewed counsel caution for the first two to three days, because adrenaline from the crash can mask pain over that window. An ER visit the day symptoms appear protects your health first and, at the same time, starts the medical record your claim will rely on.

How long after a car accident can symptoms appear?

Patrick puts the common window at 48 to 72 hours, driven by crash adrenaline. Some injuries surface even later, when you return to the activities that use the injured part, which is how a shoulder injury can hide for months behind a quieter routine. Pain that shows up days after the crash can still be from the crash, and a doctor's visit the week it appears puts that connection in the record.

What if I already told the adjuster I was fine?

You reported how you felt in that moment, which is all anyone can honestly report, and pain arriving later is exactly what the 48-to-72-hour window predicts. Patrick calls a bad early phone call "a speed bump, not a roadblock." See a doctor about the symptoms you have now, and have an attorney review what was said before you give any further statements.

Is it too late to see a doctor if the crash was weeks ago?

For your health, see a doctor whenever symptoms exist; late care is still care. For your claim, a late start is harder to work with than an early one, and sorting out what the gap means for your case is professional work. As Dylan puts it, "it's going to take a professional to unscramble the egg." An attorney who reviews the timeline can tell you honestly where you stand.

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