In short, no. However, if you feel you have only sustained minor injuries, you may want to seek a medical evaluation for three reasons:
- Your health and well-being are a top priority, so you should always err on the side of caution to protect yourself.
- Accidents are traumatic events that often release a rush of adrenaline through the body, which can mask sensations of pain. You may sustain serious and even life-threatening injuries but fail to experience pain immediately thereafter. If left untreated, serious injuries can inhibit your recovery, cause further damages, or lead to serious complications. Additionally, some injuries do not immediately exhibit symptoms. Symptoms may only become apparent weeks or days after the accident. A physician’s examination can check for common accident injuries such as broken ribs, internal bleeding, organ damage, and brain injuries, which may be undetectable at first.
- You should not have to absorb losses related to your injuries when someone else caused them. A medical examination provides key evidence that the injuries you sustained resulted from the actions of the negligent driver who caused the pedestrian accident. Medical documentation of your injuries makes it difficult for insurance companies and defense attorneys to argue that your injuries resulted from some other cause rather than the accident.