What if my accident made a pre-existing injury worse?

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When you are in an accident and suffer injuries, you have many things going through your mind. How you will recover your health, what medical issues might you encounter along the way, or how you will face the financial requirements needed to help your injuries heal. You might also be wondering what will happen to your pre-existing injury and whether the accident might play a role in making it worse. All these thoughts may add to your worry as to whether the pre-existing injury might make it difficult or impossible for you to be successful with a personal injury claim. Before worrying yourself sick, talk to a personal injury lawyer who will be able to give you some guidance as to the particular circumstances of your accident and the settlement you might seek.

What is a pre-existing medical condition?

Legally speaking, a pre-existing medical condition refers to injuries or illnesses you might have had before the accident took place. If you have a pre-existing condition, this fact must be disclosed when filing your lawsuit since it will be taken into consideration when your compensation is calculated.

Pre-existing conditions may range from a previous injury that has not completely or properly healed to congenital abnormalities, and more.

Do pre-existing conditions offer advantages in personal injury claims and settlements?

Depending on what your pre-existing condition is, you may be benefitted in terms of your settlement. Let’s say you suffer from chronic pain in your back or neck and then you are involved in an accident where your neck or back get injured. This may make your medical bills even higher than if the original condition had not existed.

However, this may become a difficult point to prove and you may have to find a doctor who will be willing to testify to the fact that your current complications are all due to the recent accident. If you are successful in finding someone to go on record, you may be awarded a larger amount to cover your increased medical costs.

Are there any disadvantages to having a pre-existing condition when filing a claim?

In some cases, and depending on your specific pre-existing condition, it may be so difficult to determine when certain injuries happened that the settlement you receive may actually be reduced. It may also come into question whether you had really been doing everything in your power to recover from the previous injury as well as from the new one.

The defense might also argue that you are exaggerating the extent of your previous injuries in order to have them foot the bill for a pre-existing condition. Whether this is true or not it may still be used in an attempt to lower the amount of your settlement.

Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer

It is clear that having a pre-existing injury and then being in an accident where you suffer further injuries does not make for a straightforward personal injury claim. Atlanta personal injury lawyer Henningsen recommends you do your research and find someone with experience in this type of case. This is not something you should plan to tackle on your own since there is a great possibility that you will either leave money on the table or end up walking away with nothing at all.

This is a guest blog entry.