Shattered glass, steering wheels, and airbags can all cause major injuries to your body during a car accident. Injuries may include lacerations, broken bones, and dental damage. If you pursue a civil case for your injuries, then photographic evidence is one of the more ideal ways to showcase your injuries over time.
Learn how to use photographs in your case, how to choose the best photos, and what other forms of imaging will boost the evidence in the case.
Before Pictures
When you show people pictures of your injury, people may have a hard time deciphering the exact changes you’ve gone through. Browse through your photos to find some of the best “before” pictures that you have. Ideally, an unfiltered selfie will give the best angle of yourself. The picture should be easy to see
Injury Pictures
Whether the images are taken at the scene of the accident or at a hospital afterward, snapshots of your initial injuries will showcase the trauma you have gone through. If you do not have any photos of yourself at the crime scene, consider police reports or video footage. Pull a screenshot from video footage that clearly shows yourself.
Police may have taken images at the hospital to supplement a police report. Family and friends may have also taken images at a hospital or care center to document your injuries. Anything taken close to the accident will highlight the severity of the injuries when the accident first occurred.]
The images act as visual evidence of the trauma you went through. Ideally, you want to know the exact date and time the picture was taken to compare with the date and time of the accident. Many cell phones will add those digital details to the picture’s file info.
X-Rays
Not all of your injuries will appear externally. Internally, you could have broken bones, chipped bones, and other structural damage. The best images to display those injuries are X-rays. When you arrive at a hospital, an emergency room may take X-rays of your injuries right away to understand the extent of the issue.
Even if you don’t obtain the files right away, access your hospital records to retrieve copies of the files. Many digital healthcare systems now offer easy access to imaging scans through online access portals. Along with the initial X-rays, consider any follow-up X-rays or scans.
For some types of damage, you may undergo a CAT scan or MRI. A lawyer will use all of the image files to highlight the extent of your injuries.
Dental X-Rays
Another form of X-ray you may collect as evidence is a dental X-ray. Clenched teeth or impacts from the crash could cause chipped teeth, cracked teeth, or jaw issues. Along with your initial medical treatment, you have to follow up with a dentist. Dental X-rays can show if you suffered even deeper injuries.
Dental X-rays are typically recommended at least once a year for a healthy patient. If you have past dental X-rays, then a lawyer may use multiple X-rays to display how your mouth changed due to the accident.
After Pictures
After your initial treatments, your injuries may go through many changes. Scars may form, but scabs heal, and your body’s injuries may appear different over time. In the weeks and months after an accident, use standard portrait pictures to highlight the change. None of the changes and differences would have likely occurred if you hadn’t been part of the accident, and a lawyer can point out details as evidence.
You can accompany the pictures with a statement on your quality of life that details how the changes have changed your everyday living, both internally and externally.
Cosmetic Work
For severe injuries, you may need to seek cosmetic work. If you lost any teeth, dental cosmetic surgery may include implants or crowns. You may seek plastic surgery to hide scars and fix any major damage. Cosmetic surgery is another huge process that you might not have gone through if it weren’t for the car accident, and you should document your journey along the way.
Before-and-after pictures will highlight the transformation. You could also highlight any pain or suffering you went through due to the surgeries. While cosmetic surgery is often elective, the changes are a direct result of your car accident and often become a part of the healing process.
In a civil case, you may seek compensation for your cosmetic surgeries, and pictures will showcase the necessity of the work done to repair your injuries and return you back to its normal, pre-accident state as much as possible.
For more information on personal injury and car accident cases, contact us at Garrison Law Firm. Once we move forward with a case, we will gather photo evidence to highlight the impact and injuries you suffered. Our team can present your evidence in a compelling way and help you receive compensation for your trauma.