How Pre-Existing Conditions Affect A Personal Injury Case

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Transcript: 

Hi, I’m Ryan Fisher. I’m a partner here at the firm. One of the questions I get a lot from prospective clients is, “How is my preexisting condition going to affect my case?”

So let’s talk about that. First off, what is a preexisting condition? A preexisting condition is simply a medical condition that a person has that predates the injury.

So, for instance, you could have arthritis in your knee. You can have a bad back, and then you slip and fall, or you get into a car accident or something else happens to you. And how is that preexisting condition going to affect you? It is a common defense raised in these cases by the insurance companies. They try and argue that you’re trying to make a recovery or get compensation for a client that wasn’t really hurt in the accident, but was injured or had a condition that predated the accident.

So, as we get older, many of us have preexisting conditions and this is how we address that. First off, the law actually is on the side of the victim. In this case, you are entitled to compensation, but you’re entitled to compensation only for the injuries that stem from, in this case, I’m going to use a car accident as an example.

So you may have a sore back, or you may have arthritis in your back, but you’re able to go to work. You’re able to play golf. You just have to take some over-the-counter medications sometimes. Then you get into an accident and you and your sore back become much worse. Maybe you get sciatica. Maybe you have a herniated disc.

And instead of just treating yourself with over-the-counter medications, you have to get medical treatment, or you have to get injections or, you know, sometimes in extreme cases, you even have to have surgery. So while you do have a preexisting condition, that condition now has been made much worse or aggravated or accelerated or exacerbated, all legal words that we use, from this car accident.

So, as the lawyers that represent injured folks, it’s our job to educate our clients, but also educate the doctors as to how to treat it and how to charge it in their medical records. A lot of these cases or most of these cases are built on medical records. So it’s important that the doctor understands that before the accident.

Yeah, you had some soreness and some stiffness. but now you’re in you’re in much more severe pain and your symptoms have changed. So we advise our clients to be very specific when talking to medical providers, doctors, physical therapists, pain management physicians, and things like that. When describing your symptoms and how the symptoms have changed. And if a client does that and if a doctor pays attention to it and charts accurately, then it’s an easy argument for us to make to the insurance company or the court or a jury later on in the case.

Preexisting conditions are one of the main defenses that we see in many of our cases. So, it’s a good question. It’s kind of a hot topic. And if you hire the right lawyers like us here at the firm, the case will be handled appropriately. And that preexisting condition issue will be addressed early and will not rear its head and affect your compensation at the end of the case.

If you have a case, if you have a question, if you want to learn more about preexisting conditions, give us a call. We’re here to help you. Thank you.

For a free legal consultation, please contact Lowe Scott Fisher at 216-781-2600 or submit your information to our online Contact Form to have a member of our team reach out to you directly.