Is Chiropractic Treatment Covered in a Personal Injury Claim?

Yes, chiropractic treatment costs may be recoverable in a personal injury claim as compensatory damages or recoverable medical care and treatment expenses.

Compensatory Damages

Many people involved in accidents where their spine or back has been injured will opt to have chiropractic treatments to treat and resolve the injury. In a personal injury action there are two main types, or categories, of damages, compensatory damages and punitive damages. Compensatory damages are intended to place the accident victim in a position which he would have been in had the accident never happened or to restore the injured person financially, emotionally and physically. Compensatory damages can include recovery of money losses called “special damages.” Money losses incurred due to treatments and care provided by a chiropractor for a spinal or neck injury would be recoverable as money losses or “special damages” the reimbursement of which would tend to restore the accident victim’s health and well being to whatever state of health and well being he had prior to the accident and resultant injury.

Chiropractors Not as Credible as Doctors

Historically juries and judges do not give chiropractic treatments and chiropractic evidence of spinal injury the credibility readily given to similar medical evidence of diagnosis of injury and treatment provided by a medical doctor or an orthopedic surgeon. Many, many cases basing their injury claim on chiropractic evidence alone are soon dismissed and ended without more. While one could argue the pro’s and con’s of chiropractic care as to successfully treating spinal injuries such as whiplash or sciatica and other spinal injuries and chronic conditions, one cannot contest the large number of personal injury cases are lost every year because chiropractic evidence of a spinal injury was effectively considered by juries and judges as nothing more than empirical evidence of a bogus personal injury claim. If you are a claimant in a personal injury action it may be best to respect the statistics and forgo chiropractic treatments in favor of the more legitimate treatment and testimony that a medical doctor can provide. Or, just in case, arrange to receive both methods of spinal injury treatments.

Getting Legal Help

If you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident and been receiving chiropractic treatments to treat the injury it may be helpful to consult with a personal injury lawyer concerning the circumstances of the accident, the injury and the chiropractic treatment. An attorney can provide assistance in filing a claim for liability to access the appropriate compensatory damages.

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