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Having a pre-existing medical condition does not automatically prevent you from recovering compensation after someone else causes an accident. If a car crash, fall, or other incident aggravates an existing injury or makes a medical condition worse, the responsible party may still be liable for the additional harm caused.
Insurance companies, however, frequently examine an injured person's medical history when evaluating a claim. An insurer may argue that pain or physical limitations existed before the accident and therefore were not caused by its policyholder.
For accident victims in Winter Haven, the key question is often not whether a condition existed before the accident, but how the accident changed it.
A pre-existing condition is generally a medical problem, injury, or physical limitation that existed before the accident involved in your current personal injury claim.
Pre-existing conditions can include:
Having one of these conditions does not mean a negligent person gets a free pass for causing additional harm.
Someone with an existing back problem, for example, can still suffer a new injury in a Winter Haven car accident. An accident can also aggravate the existing condition enough to require additional treatment, create new limitations, or cause significantly more pain.
Our Winter Haven personal injury attorneys can evaluate medical and accident evidence to determine how a pre-existing condition may affect an injury claim.
Florida law recognizes that an accident can aggravate a condition that existed beforehand.
This is an important principle because defendants generally are not responsible for medical problems they did not cause. However, they can potentially be responsible for the additional injury or aggravation their negligence did cause.
Consider someone who experienced intermittent lower back pain before a collision. Before the accident, that person might have managed the condition with occasional treatment while continuing to work and participate in normal activities.
After being struck by another vehicle, the person's symptoms might become constant. They may require injections, physical therapy, surgery, or extended time away from work.
The fact that the back was not perfect before the crash does not answer whether the collision caused additional harm.
That difference can become central to the personal injury claim.
Insurance companies investigate injury claims to determine what they believe they are legally obligated to pay.
When medical records reveal similar symptoms before an accident, the insurer may argue that the current problems are unrelated to the incident.
An adjuster may point to:
This evidence can be relevant, but it does not necessarily resolve the issue.
Medical history needs context. A condition visible on an old MRI does not establish that the person experienced the same symptoms or limitations before the new accident.
The comparison between the person's condition before and after the incident can be extremely important.
Medical documentation is often central to a claim involving a pre-existing condition.
Doctors may compare symptoms, physical examinations, diagnostic testing, treatment requirements, and functional limitations before and after the accident.
Helpful evidence may include:
Prior medical records can sometimes help rather than hurt a claim.
For example, records may show that a Winter Haven accident victim had not sought treatment for a previous condition for several years before the collision. A sudden need for extensive medical care after the crash can provide important context when evaluating what changed.
Yes. Your attorney should know about relevant prior injuries, accidents, medical conditions, and treatment.
Trying to hide a pre-existing condition can create a much bigger problem than the condition itself.
Insurance companies may obtain medical records and investigate prior claims. If an injured person says they never experienced back pain before the accident and records later show years of treatment for back problems, the insurer may use the inconsistency to challenge credibility.
Being accurate from the beginning allows your attorney to understand potential issues and prepare for arguments the insurance company may raise.
A pre-existing condition can often be addressed. A credibility problem may be much harder to overcome.
Personal injury law sometimes refers to the "eggshell plaintiff" principle.
In general terms, a negligent party takes an injured person as they find them. A person does not lose legal protection simply because an existing condition makes them more vulnerable to injury than someone else would have been.
Imagine two people experience similar collisions. One walks away with minor soreness, while the other suffers significant complications because of an existing spinal condition.
The fact that a healthier person might have experienced less severe consequences does not necessarily excuse the negligent driver from responsibility for the harm actually caused.
Florida's standard civil jury instructions address aggravation of a pre-existing condition and instruct jurors on determining damages caused by the aggravation.
Medical history can become relevant when someone seeks compensation for physical injuries.
That does not necessarily mean every medical record from every provider throughout your lifetime is relevant to the case.
The scope of medical information sought can become an issue, particularly when an insurer requests extensive records unrelated to the injuries being claimed.
Still, accident victims should expect that relevant prior treatment may be examined when a pre-existing condition affects the same part of the body involved in the new claim.
This is another reason to discuss your complete medical history with your attorney before giving detailed statements about previous health conditions.
Being actively treated for a condition can make the medical analysis more detailed, but it does not automatically eliminate a claim.
The question becomes what additional harm resulted from the new accident.
Medical providers may need to distinguish between:
For example, if surgery had already been recommended before a Winter Haven car crash, it may be difficult to attribute the entire need for surgery to the collision. But the accident could still have caused other compensable harm depending on the evidence.
These cases require careful attention to the medical timeline.
An insurance company can dispute or deny a claim for many reasons, including disagreements about causation. That does not mean its position is necessarily the final word on whether compensation is legally available.
If an insurer argues that all symptoms are pre-existing, medical records and other evidence may show that the accident caused a new injury or materially aggravated the prior condition.
The distinction can affect compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other damages.
A claim involving prior medical problems may require more documentation than one involving a person with no relevant treatment history, but pre-existing conditions do not automatically erase an injured person's rights.
Insurance companies may closely examine pre-existing conditions, but an accident victim does not need to have been in perfect health before an accident to pursue compensation. The important issue is whether someone else's negligence caused a new injury or made an existing condition worse.
If you are dealing with an injury claim involving a pre-existing condition in Winter Haven, our attorneys are here to help. Call us today or connect with us online to schedule a consultation.
