How a Preexisting Medical Condition or Injury Affects Your Personal Injury Case.

If you have experienced a personal injury due to the fault of someone else—whether that is a car accident, truck accident, slip and fall or the like, it is important that you understand what your legal rights are and the factors that can affect them. Having a pre-existing injury is a fact that could affect your personal injury lawsuit.

Pre-existing Injury

A pre-existing injury or medical condition is just what it says: an injury or medical condition that you had before incurred the new injury or medical condition that is the subject of your lawsuit.

While having a pre-existing injury or medical condition (like high blood pressure, a heart condition, clinical depression, asthma, or type-2 diabetes) will not disqualify you from recovering for your damages caused by your current injury/condition, it will affect the overall value of your claim.

Why?

Because the defendant or insurance attorney will try to shift the blame for your current pain away from the current cause (i.e., the accident that is the subject of the lawsuit) and onto your pre-existing condition only. Insurance companies try to pay as little as possible and they don’t want to pay for (and are not obligated to) injuries not related to the instant accident/incident.

This is why insurance companies in a personal injury action may try to label as many conditions as possible as pre-existing —in the hope that they will not have to pay for the related medical coverage and other losses.

Disclosure of a Pre-Existing Condition

If you do have a pre-existing condition, you will very likely have to disclose it. Not disclosing your pre-existing condition will only make things worse for you and your case.

However, if you do have a pre-existing condition and you disclose it as you should, all is not lost. The legal system recognizes that accidents can aggravate an old injury or make a medical condition worse, so you still have the right to be compensated.

If you can show that the new injuries you sustained in the current accident/incident made your old condition worse, you may still be able to recover for your damages, including medical bills, pain, and suffering.

Having a pre-existing condition can make your recovery a bit more complicated, but you still have a right to compensation.

Let Us Help

If you have been injured in a car or other type of accident, call us. We are personal injury attorneys. We offer consultations and we don’t get paid unless you win. We have offices in Baton Rouge, and we serve Baker, Denham, Gonzales, Port Allen, Prairieville, New Orleans, and Zachary. Call 225-200-0000 ToDay to schedule your free consultation or email us.