Can a Pre-Existing Injury Affect My Car Accident Case?

A pre-existing injury can refer to any injury or condition you had before your recent car accident. If not handled carefully, a pre-existing injury could derail your car accident case.

Here at Walsh Woodard LLC, we understand how such health issues may affect your case. To help keep you from facing such troubles, we have put together some information to help you prevent damage to your personal injury lawsuit due to past injuries.

How Can a Pre-Existing Condition Be Used Against Me?

To receive fair compensation, you must prove your current injuries came about from your recent accident. But a pre-existing condition can be a stumbling block in the way.
Insurance companies or their attorneys may use your pre-existing condition against you. They may cite your pre-existing injuries as the cause of your current pain. If they can argue this successfully, you will lose out on the compensation you truly deserve.

How Do I Discredit Pre-Existing Injury Arguments?

There are ways to prove that your current injuries aren’t just the remnants of old ones. To do so, you must show that your pre-existing injury and your current injury are not one and the same. Doing so will ensure that you receive fair compensation.

To prove this, you will need to gather as much information about both your current and your pre-existing injuries as possible. This information will offer invaluable details needed to make your case. This is because a comparison of the two may prove that they are separate injuries.

For example, say your pre-existing injury only lasted a couple of days, after an accident that happened 30 years ago. If so, it is highly unlikely that this old injury just spontaneously resurfaced. It is more likely that your recent car accident injured you.

Or perhaps you experienced a different kind of pain, in a different part of your body, before your current accident. Now, instead of a stinging sensation in your back, you feel a sharp pain in your neck. In cases like this, it is again unlikely that a previous injury is currently to blame.

Perhaps the pain of your previous injury has since subsided, and your doctor has already cleared you with a full bill of health. Given this information, it would be hard to pin your current injuries on a previous one.

Particular details will vary by case. What’s important is to find out whether there are discrepancies between your new and old injuries. If there are, you will be better equipped for disputing claims concerning your pre-existing injury.

So What Steps Can I Take to Help My Case?

Discrediting pre-existing injury arguments depends heavily upon key medical information. For this reason, it is important to take certain precautions after suffering an injury.

First, you will want to describe your pain as best you can to your doctor. Tell them where your pain is occurring, when it occurs, and what the pain feels like. And of course, let them know any particular details you think are relevant to your situation. You should also keep a copy of all relevant medical records, notes, and images. This way, if you are in an accident later, it will be possible to distinguish new injuries from old ones.

When preparing for a legal battle, you will also want to be candid with your attorney. It is important to tell them about any previous accidents you’ve been in. You should also let them know about any pre-existing injuries you’ve sustained. With this information, your attorney can better prepare your case should a pre-existing injury argument arise. He or she can help ascertain if your accident aggravated an old injury or not. By doing this, your attorney can help determine what compensation you deserve.

Our Hartford Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help

Proving that your current injuries are the result of your recent car accident is possible. However, it takes careful legal maneuvering to accomplish. Our Hartford personal injury lawyers know how best to handle these situations.

If you’re concerned about how your pre-existing injury will affect your car accident case, contact us here, or by phone at (860) 549-8440. We can help you determine your best course of action as you pursue legal action.