Knowing which insurance coverage should be used for an accident or illness can be crucial in your recovery. Our client went to lunch every week at a local restaurant with a group of friends that called themselves the Widows Club. As she was leaving and walking across the parking lot toward her car, another one of the widows backed out of her parking space too quickly and ran into our client, who suffered serious injuries including a badly broken hip and internal organ damage. Our client needed extensive treatment, and the road to recovery would be long.
Because the accident happened on private restaurant property, the police did not make out a standard accident report, and because our client was not driving when the accident happened, the hospital treated the injury as though it had not occurred in an auto accident. Medicare covered the hospital stay and surgery, but thinking that Medicare was the only coverage available, the hospital discharged our client to a nursing home that was incapable of providing the care and treatment needed for rehabilitation. The wounded widow was stuck.
It was the wounded widow’s daughter who found us and arranged for our help. We immediately knew that our client’s treatment should be covered by her own Michigan no-fault insurance, even though she was a pedestrian at the time of the accident. But it was a fight.
We persuaded the police to complete an auto accident report, and we filed a claim on our client’s behalf with her insurance company. The insurance company dawdled before finally accepting the claim, but our client did not have to wait to get the right therapy and treatment. Our client’s family doctor referred her to a specialist in physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R), who coordinated her treatment and got her placed in a rehabilitation facility that focuses on helping auto accident victims.
The therapy was intensive, and before long, our client was able to walk and return home. We had our client retain a nurse case manager who coordinated her home care under the instruction of the PM&R doctor. Our client got physical therapy and nursing care at home while she needed it, and although it took time, the wounded widow made a full recovery in her own surroundings.