When a catastrophic injury occurs, everything changes in an instant. In this video, Clarke takes you inside the very first moments after a life-altering accident and explains what’s happening behind the scenes, what decisions must be made immediately, and why time becomes the most valuable asset of all.
We’ll tell you what a good team of attorneys will be doing in the background to help support you in this difficult time: locating insurance coverage, preserving critical evidence before it disappears, and mobilizing trained investigators within hours. At the same time, we’ll explain the importance of compassion and restraint, ensuring that legal action never interferes with medical professionals whose primary job is saving a life.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
🚨 The First Questions After a Catastrophic Injury
🧾 Why Evidence Is So Time-Sensitive
🤝 Supporting Families in Crisis
🏥 Staying Out of the Way of Medical Care
📖 What a Lawyer Can and Can’t Do
Featured Keyword & Other Tags
Catastrophic accident, injuries, injury attorney, family, support, recovery, accident investigation, evidence preservation
Client Links
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Find us on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R40YMP
Transcript (Click To Read)
Clark: I’m Clark Speaks, the catastrophic injury lawyer. Welcome to the verdict.
Carson Grace Toomer: So you’re called to wherever you’re in your office, and you can overhear a phone call. Um, what exactly is going through your mind in that specific moment? You’re booking flights. I know you said that. Um, or you’re planning, Making travel plans. What is going. What is your checklist of things that you immediately going to provide to this family?
Clark: That’s a good question. The first two questions that come into my head is, okay, uh, if this is a catastrophic accident, right. And this is a catastrophic injury, the first thing that pops in my head is, is there enough insurance? You know, so I’ve got to get somebody working on that, right? So we have in house investigators, they’re going to, uh, that have investigated for law enforcement agencies and military and those kinds of things that now have access to databases and stuff that they can find sources, uh, of recovery. Right. Because I have to have a source from which to recover assets. The other thing is, I’ve got to go. I’ve got them thinking, how do we preserve this evidence? Is it raining? Is the wind blowing? Uh, what else might be? Are people moving? I’ve called people on accident reports dozens of times, and the phones don’t work. I mean, a lot of times people. Somebody else has got to them first, and they don’t. And they can’t. They don’t want to talk to you. They don’t want to get involved. And so we’ve got to sort of. This time becomes very precious under those circumstances. So now we have people who are trained to investigate those kinds of situations that can go out on the drop of a hat. And then, uh, and then the other thing I want to know is that I’m thinking about is, um, I want to get in front of a decision maker who has the ability to understand, even at a very difficult time, what. What we’re doing and what we need to do and can make a decision about, yes, we want to proceed. And this is how. And then. And this is what we want to do, you know, and can commit to. We’re going to go full steam ahead. We’re not gonna. We’re not gonna hide and wait and see and, and. And hope without action. We’re gonna act, and we’re gonna act right now. And then I want to be able to, uh, you know, you know, be respectful of the emotional situation that these people are going through. The spouse, the parent, the child, the whatever. And then I also want to be respectful, uh, of the things that the Medical, uh, providers have to do. I don’t want to be, uh, so forceful with my itinerary, my objectives, that I prevent them from doing a much more important objective, which is saving this person’s life. You know, so, so I’ve, you know, so those are the things that are going through my head right then and right there is the preservation of evidence, the access to insurance, uh, policies, uh, the emotional stability of the family. Because I know that whoever I’m talking with, they got to keep it together even though they don’t want to, you know, uh, they want to curl up in a bawl and cry, and they can’t because they got other people that depend on them, and they have to be able to function and make decisions. Um, and a lot of times the person with whom they usually make decisions is not available for consultation. And so I’ve got to be able to help them think through these things, you know, and so, um, and then also I’ve got to be, uh, you know, again, aware of the medical professionals and stay out of their way. Right.
Carson Grace Toomer: So how do you, how does that conversation go with that decision maker you’re juggling, Giving them, um, support, but also explaining to them that, you know, the coming weeks, maybe your job, their job, what you need from them and their involvement and getting what you have to go get. So how does that conversation go?
Clark: So the first thing is I’m going to ask them to tell me what’s going on from their perspective, what they know about what happened. And then I’m going to ask, uh, them how they’re doing, how they’re feeling, and if there’s any other, if there are any other things I need to be aware of, like, um, if there’s anything imminent that’s a problem, the next thing I’m going to find out from them is, uh, what questions do you have for me? You know, what are, what are your concerns? What do you want to, uh, what do you want me to address? And then I’m going to tell them what I’m capable of addressing. Uh, because at the end of the day, my capability is limited. Like, I can’t make people better. I can’t, you know, I can’t do that. Uh, you know, you know, uh, what I can do is I can, uh, gather evidence and tell a story and, uh, hold responsible people through their insurance companies accountable. And so that is my focus. And so what I need, uh, after we address those concerns and those, um, issues, what I need is the authorization to go to work. And that includes the, uh, signature of the person who has legal decision making authority. And it includes, uh, the affirmative, you know, the decision go to work, you know, and then at that point, I want them to take care of their family, take care of their responsibilities, receive what they can receive in terms of support from their church or their community or their friends or their neighbors or their pets, you know what I mean? I mean, uh, or whomever it is that might provide them with that emotional support. And then we’re going to go to work, right? And I want them to focus on taking care of their stuff, and I want us to focus on doing the things that we need to do to be able to tell their story and hold people accountable. And so in order to do that, I’m going to have to go over with them, uh, a representation agreement that talks about what we do and what we don’t do and what our responsibilities are and what their obligations are, is to keep us informed of changes of address, keep us informed of what’s going on with the, you know, uh, with the person who’s catastrophically injured and all that.
Carson Grace Toomer: Thank you, Mr. Speaks, um, for talking with me about the road to recovery, catastrophic injury. I’m Carson Grace Toomer, and this is Clark Speaks.
Clark: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We’ll see you next time.
