None of us lives an injury-free life. We’ve all picked up nicks and scrapes over the years, either through congenital ailments or injuries we’ve suffered along the way. Perhaps you’re missing cartilage in your knees because of an old football injury, or maybe you’re more prone to fractures because of osteoporosis. These sorts of pre-existing conditions can be exacerbated by a car accident, slip and fall, or other personal injury, and they give a defendant an excuse to try to dispute liability or downplay their role in what happened. If this happens to you, you need experienced legal help to push back and demand the fair compensation you’re owed. Contact Kreger Brodish to get that help.
What Are Pre-Existing Conditions?
A pre-existing condition refers to an injury or medical condition (such as a chronic illness or degenerative disease) that occurred or began before a person got into an accident that allegedly caused injuries. Common examples of pre-existing conditions include:
- Healed or healing bone fractures
- Previously sprained or torn ligaments
- Previously strained or torn muscles or tendons
- Prior concussions
- Whiplash
- Hernias
- Arthritis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Repetitive stress injuries
How Pre-Existing Conditions Affect Your Personal Injury Claim
Pre-existing conditions can affect your personal injury claim by making it more challenging to determine whether an accident caused your present injury or the degree to which a pre-existing condition contributed to your current injury or symptoms. For example, suppose you previously received a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease and then get into a car accident that leaves you with a herniated disc injury. The at-fault driver’s insurance provider might argue that your injury resulted from your degenerative disc disease rather than the car accident, or it might dispute the degree to which the accident contributed to the accident versus the degree to which your degenerative disc disease led to your herniated disc.
Pre-existing conditions may result in liable parties or insurers offering you less compensation for injuries you suffer in an accident related to your pre-existing condition. However, you may have the right to demand financial recovery for an injury that results from an aggravation of a pre-existing condition due to an accident. Moreover, failing to disclose pre-existing conditions during a personal injury claim can adversely affect your right to obtain compensation for your current injuries or condition, as an insurance company may ultimately discover your pre-existing condition and accuse you of fraud or challenge your credibility in your personal injury claim.
Proving Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Condition
Proving that an accident aggravated a pre-existing condition may require a more robust legal case than you might need for a new injury or condition from an accident. First, you will need to present medical records documenting your pre-existing condition. Your medical records should contain a diagnosis of your pre-existing condition and record the improvement of your condition through treatment or rehabilitation, or document the current status of your condition, including how the condition affects or limits you.
Next, you will need medical records from your current injury and treatment to compare your present condition to your condition before the accident to demonstrate that the accident aggravated your pre-existing condition. You may need testimony from medical experts. Your treating physicians or independent experts who have examined you and reviewed your records can explain how the accident aggravated your pre-existing condition, resulting in changes to your pain levels, physical abilities, or bodily functions caused by the accident.
Common Tactics Insurance Companies Use
Insurance companies frequently use accident victims’ pre-existing conditions to minimize or deny compensation in accident claims. For example, insurers may ask accident victims early in the claims process to sign a medical release, which authorizes the insurance company to access the injury claimant’s medical records. Insurers can use this access to dig through a claimant’s medical history for any evidence of a pre-existing condition on which the insurer can blame the claimant’s alleged injuries.
Other tactics that insurance companies use in personal injury cases involving pre-existing conditions include:
- Arguing that the claimant’s pre-existing condition, not the accident, caused their current claimed injury
- Arguing that the accident did not aggravate the claimant’s pre-existing condition
- Arguing that a claimant has exaggerated the worsening of the symptoms of their pre-existing condition following the accident
- Arguing that the medical evidence cannot ascertain the respective contributions of the pre-existing condition and the accident to the claimant’s current injury or condition
How Kreger Brodish Can Help
Pursuing full financial relief in a personal injury claim can be challenging when pre-existing conditions are in question. An attorney from Kreger Brodish can help you fight back against attempts to reduce your compensation and instead pursue the full and fair amount you deserve by:
- Thoroughly investigating your personal injury claim to obtain evidence that can help us distinguish your current injury or condition from a pre-existing condition, or prove how the accident aggravated your pre-existing condition
- Working with your doctors and other medical experts to develop a persuasive legal case to argue for your right to compensation
- Documenting your recovery expenses and other financial losses from the accident to ensure we pursue the maximum amount of compensation possible
- Identifying liable parties and applicable insurance coverage to evaluate your legal options for financial recovery
- Filing your claims and dealing with insurers on your behalf to protect your legal interests
- Vigorously fighting for the financial resources you need to recover from an accident, whether through a negotiated settlement or by taking your case to trial, if necessary
Contact Our Durham Personal Injury Attorneys to Learn More
Were you recently hurt in an accident that someone else caused? Is the insurance company arguing that your injuries are due to pre-existing conditions or are otherwise not covered by their policy? If so, you need experienced legal guidance and advocacy to protect your interests. Contact Kreger Brodish today for a free, no-obligation consultation to learn how our attorney can help you with filing personal injury claims in Durham, NC.
