Can Pre-Existing Conditions Affect Your Personal Injury Claim?

If you have a pre-existing medical condition, you’re not alone. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 19 to 50% of non-elderly adult Americans have a pre-existing medical condition. What happens when someone with a pre-existing condition is the victim of a personal injury claim? Can the pre-existing condition affect the claim? Jordan Law Center explains.

What is a pre-existing condition?

A pre-existing condition is a medical condition that you have before you’re hurt in a personal injury accident. A pre-existing condition can be an injury, like a broken bone, or it can be a degenerative medical issue or disease.

How Does a Pre-Existing Condition Affect a Personal Injury Claim?

A pre-existing condition may be compensated to the extent that it is made worse by a personal injury. The victim may be compensated only for the additional injury and suffering that comes from the condition worsening.

Pre-Existing Condition Compensation Chart

Nature of Injury	Effect of Pre-Existing Condition on Personal Injury Compensation
Pre-existing conditions made worse by personal injury	Compensation for the extent that the condition is made worse by the personal injury
No effect on the pre-existing condition	Compensation for other injuries and damages but not for the pre-existing condition
No pre-existing condition	Compensation for the full extent of injuries

How Does a Personal Injury Claim Work with Pre-Existing Conditions?

If you have a pre-existing condition, and most people do, you can still receive compensation for a personal injury accident. You don’t have to be in perfect health to be a personal injury victim.

However, the pre-existing condition can lower the amount of compensation you receive as compared to if you had sustained the entire medical condition from the personal injury.

Examples

For example, a person has a bad back, caused by nerve damage. They’re then in a car accident. In the trauma of the accident, they suffer additional nerve damage. They have significantly more back pain after the accident, requiring increased, ongoing medical attention.

In this scenario, the person may receive compensation for the increase in medical bills and pain and suffering. They are not compensated for the entire back problem, only the aggravation of the existing injury.

Another person is hurt in a slip and fall. The person falls and breaks their arm. The person is elderly and has osteoporosis. They may receive compensation for the broken arm, including treatment expenses and non-economic damages. They’re not compensated for osteoporosis in general, even if some therapies and treatments may prevent similar incidents. The victim’s compensation is not reduced because they were fragile—even if a healthy young person probably wouldn’t have broken a bone, the victim’s pre-existing condition doesn’t affect the damages for their arm. The defendant must compensate the victim for the harm that occurred but not for the underlying medical condition.

What You Need To Know About Pre-Existing Injuries and Personal Injury Claims

1. You may still receive compensation with a preexisting condition.

People with pre-existing conditions get hurt in personal injury accidents and receive compensation. If you have an injury or medical condition, that doesn’t in and of itself prevent you from receiving compensation. You may need to take extra steps to build the evidence, but you may still have a valid claim.

2. Compensation is based on damages caused by the personal injury.

One of the elements of a personal injury claim is called causation—the accident causes the injuries. For pre-existing conditions, the medical condition that is already there is separated out from the way that it is made worse. Only the additional harm is compensated.

3. If the pre-existing condition isn’t affected, you may claim compensation for other injuries.

You may have a medical issue that isn’t affected by the personal injury. For example, you may have high cholesterol. Tests following the accident may show that your cholesterol levels have not been affected by the accident. However, you have whiplash and scars. You may still receive compensation for these injuries.

Note: Work with an experienced personal injury lawyer to evaluate ways that your pre-existing condition may have been affected. A personal injury can impact the whole person, physically and mentally, in ways that you may not realize. A lawyer can ensure that your injuries are fully and fairly recognized in your claim.

4. The defendant takes the victim as they find them. You’re not penalized for having a pre-existing condition.

The defendant in a personal injury accident doesn’t choose their victim. Maybe the pre-existing condition was caused by unhealthy habits or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was age-related. It doesn’t matter. Your claim is not lessened in any way because of how or why a pre-existing condition may have developed. See Raino v. Goodyear Tire Rubber Co., 309 S.C. 255 (1992).

5. It’s up to the jury to decide.

There may be a factual question of whether the injuries are the result of the accident or whether they were pre-existing. If a case goes to trial, it’s usually the jury that resolves this issue. The jury can hear evidence to explain the nature of the medical condition and how it was caused or made worse by the accident. The medical evidence that you present may be especially important when there is a dispute about a pre-existing condition. See Watson v. Wilkinson Trucking Co., 244 S.C. 217 (1964).

What to do if you have a pre-existing injury aggravated in an accident

If you have a pre-existing injury aggravated in an accident, tell your lawyer about your pre-existing condition. They can explain how it might impact a settlement and how they can pursue your case. A lawyer can build the medical evidence and fight potentially invasive discovery requests that aren’t relevant to the case.

Get Legal Help

Jordan Law Center is a team of experienced litigators who represent people in personal injury claims, including cases involving pre-existing conditions. See how a medical injury or condition may impact your case. Get the legal help you need to get justice. Contact us now.

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