canklecat

I've learned a few hard lessons from my two unsatisfactory experiences with doctors and lawyers after being struck by negligent drivers twice in less than 20 years.

First thing I'd do differently is see my own doctor and demand a thorough exam with documentation of every injury, no matter how seemingly minor. Sometimes it's the "minor" injuries that come back to haunt us. I wouldn't rely on doctors recommended by the attorneys.

For example, after my 2018 shoulder injury, all the emphasis was on the AC joint separation and break, with inadequate documentation of the winged scapula due to soft tissue damage. But it was the inadequately documented injury that still bothers me today, years later. The break and AC joint healed typically, with that distinctive hump, and I can feel some reduction in mobility, but little or no residual pain. But the scapula still aches almost every day. I do physical therapy every day and have done the most I can but it will never be right.

Same with the neck injury. There was zero documentation of the neck injury, which I didn't realize until it was too late. Even when I discussed it with the imaging techs (I had X-rays, MRIs and CT-scans) and doctors, they barely documented anything I mentioned. I didn't realize how bad the cervical vertebrae damage was until *after* the lawsuit was finally settled (very unsatisfactorily, as I described in my Nov 19, 2021 post to this thread). Even my own VA doctors who ordered the imaging scans didn't discuss the findings with me. I had to find out for myself by reading my online chart.

Part of the problem is medical facilities were overwhelmed by the pandemic, especially the VA. Even now my civilian health care system is far more responsive than the VA -- exactly the opposite of my experience before the pandemic, when the VA was better than my civilian health care provider.

Another part of the problem was that I didn't personally read and get qualified medical interpretations of my lingering injuries. Instead I relied on my attorney to handle that. But as the settlement was being discussed in 2021 it became apparent the attorney's office had done little or nothing. If I had recognized what was happening earlier I'd have asked the attorney whether I should seek my own independent medical evaluation to determine long-term problems.

Mostly what I've learned is that Texas regards cyclists and pedestrians as mere speed bumps hindering *real* traffic. And the corrupt influence of insurance corporations on state government was designed to minimize liability at the expense of injured parties.

Now I understand the heavy-handed melodramatic TV ads by some motor vehicle liability attorneys, although those were limited to collisions with commercial vehicles. Our governor and legislature have changed that liability as well, limiting payouts from negligent commercial vehicles.

If I had it to do over again I'd get the meanest, loudest, most ruthless and foul-mouthed attorney I could find, someone who would insist on a jury trial and turn it into a bit of popcorn throwing melodramatic theater. Screw the system because it's rigged to screw the victims of negligent drivers.