It is very common that when a motorist causes their vehicle to collide with a cyclist, brain trauma is one of the resulting injuries the cyclist sustains. It may be mild or serious, the helmet or head may never impact the ground or the car, but whip-lash dynamics can still cause brain injury. Emergency rooms all too often overlook this very serious injury and cyclists commonly focus on the obvious orthopedic injuries and neglect or overlook the brain injury.

PLEASE seek out help from a concussion specialist or neurologist if you suspect a brain injury.

Social media can almost never MAKE a case and can all-too-often BREAK a case. When an injured cyclist (or their friends, family and teammates) post online about a bike crash, that post is new evidence that may arise in the case now. Not only that, but insurance companies have entire teams of former investigators and agents who sit and scour the interwebs for any posts by insurance claimants- looking for any way to undermine a claim or discredit the injured party. A strict social media blackout during the time between your bike crash and the ultimate closure of your bike case, is the only way to ensure something posted online doesn’t badly harm your case.

When you are hurt in a bike crash, the providers will seek payment from you, the patient. The at-fault party and their insurer is NOT going to pay your providers (they will only ever settle with YOU and pay YOU for your claims, in exchange for a release). So- that means from day 1, until the close of your case or conclusion of your medical care, your medical bills are up to YOU to pay. You should use your health insurance as you would in any other medical event, plus you have a few additional options for help: MPC or PIP on your auto policy, HSA if you have one, cash-pay especially for services not covered by health insurance. Medical liens may also be offered by a provider, where they will treat you on a lien basis with the promise you will pay them from your eventual settlement.

Subrogation: this is part of every case, and it’s when the injured cyclist’s health insurance comes knocking and asking for reimbursement to the plan from any settlement or verdict obtained. The cyclist (or their lawyer) must investigate the state’s “Made Whole” laws as well as the applicable health plan to see if this right to repayment is in fact warranted. Self-funded ERISA plans are governed by federal law and should not be ignored or avoided.