How A Pre-Existing Condition Can Impact Your Settlement

When you file a claim for a personal injury, the insurance companies will investigate your whole medical history. They do this to find ways to get out of your claim. For example, imagine if you injured your back and sought medical treatment five years ago. Then when the accident happened, you sustained a back injury. They may use the injury from years ago to argue that your new injuries are the result of a pre-existing condition and not the accident. If they are successful, they may be able to get out of paying the full compensation you are legally owed.

What The Insurance Companies Will Argue

The insurance companies are in the business of protecting their profits, so they will do anything to get out of paying a fair claim. We’ve seen insurance companies use a number of arguments against people with pre-existing conditions including:

• Your injuries were not from the accident but are from the pre-existing condition
• Your injuries were the result of overmedication or that your medication contributed to the accident
• Your pre-existing condition contributed to the accident

This is just the tip of the iceberg, they will use anything, even your own health against you.

What Do I If I Have A Pre-Existing Condition?

All of this may leave you to wonder what will happen if you have a pre-existing condition and how will it impact your claim. The impact depends on a lot of factors, but mostly will be determined by the quality of your legal representation in the case. A good attorney can help you get more value out of your claim. That is because with some conditions an accident injury can worsen in severity including:

• Degenerative back issues
• Brain injuries
• Osteoarthritis and other joint conditions
• Hernias
• Cardiovascular illnesses
• Fibromyalgia and other muscular disorders

In cases like these, your attorney can argue the eggshell doctrine.

What Is The Eggshell Doctrine?

The eggshell doctrine, also referred to as the “eggshell skull rule,” is a principle used in legal defenses. The principle is basically that frailty, weakness, or sensitivity, as the result of medical issues, can not be used in defense. Basically, it means that just because you were not in perfect health at the time of the accident, does not mean that your full claim has any less value. The damages inflicted by the negligent party are the damages you’ve experienced and not the damages an imagined perfectly healthy person would experience in the same scenario. This essentially says the plaintiff cannot be punished for their health condition at the time of the accident.

How To Protect Yourself When You Have A Pre-Existing Condition

There are several things you can do to protect yourself from the insurance companies using your pre-existing condition against you.

• Seek medical treatment at the time of injury. That way you can link any current injuries and subsequent treatments, regardless of your pre-existing condition to your accident.
• Do not sign a medical release form allowing the insurance companies to have access to your former medical records. They will use this release to look for things to use against you, like your pre-existing conditions. Instead, let your lawyer handle the disclosure of this information.
• Tell your attorney about your pre-existing condition. If they know about it, they can build their defense around your condition. Also, if you do not disclose your pre-existing condition, the insurance companies may use it against you as a way to damage your credibility.

Following these steps will help protect you against the tricks of the insurance companies.

To ensure that you are protected after an accident, regardless of your health, you need to work with a great attorney. The St. Pete’s Lawyer Michael Babboni has fought and won cases for people with pre-existing conditions. He’s known by his reputation of fighting all the way to court for his clients by the insurance companies, so they know they can’t pull any of these dirty tricks with him. Give us a call today at 1-727-381-9200 for a free consultation to learn more about how your pre-existing condition will impact your personal injury case.