Can A Prior Injury Impact Your New Personal Injury Settlement?
If you are filing a lawsuit, you may be required to disclose whether you have had any prior injuries which resulted in back and neck pain, head injury or other general aches and pains. When the new accident happens, it may reaggravate some of these pains but more often, if the accident is serious enough, there are new injuries acquired because of the new crash.
All medical evidence that is relevant to any of the issues in the personal injury matter must be disclosed. The existence of pre-existing medical conditions or injuries does not necessarily hurt a personal injury case. People should not hide any medical evidence of past injuries since the insurers usually find out about the old injuries anyway. If someone is caught hiding old injuries, that could result in a serious attack on credibility that could undermine the personal injury lawsuit.
Some Common Prior Medical Conditions include:
- Injuries you have suffered from a previous unrelated accidents
- Birth defects or abnormalities
- Medical conditions such as asthma
- Injuries that have not properly healed or are in the process of healing
Effect of Prior Medical Conditions:
If you have injuries similar to the one you suffered in a new car accident, it does not mean that the driver at-fault can escape liability by pointing to a pre-existing condition. However, you may end up having to defend your current injury as being caused or aggravated by the new car accident. This can be done through a thorough review of your medical records, and possibly via testimony provided by a doctor or other expert witness.
Your lawyer should be ready to defend your prior medical history and prove that your current injuries are due to the accident and not a prior medical condition. In order for your lawyer to prepare for such a situation, it is important that you disclose all of your medical history as early as possible.
The matter can be more complicated if not dealt with properly. If you have been injured and wish to file a lawsuit, contact a personal injury lawyer for assistance. For more information and a free consultation on your accident or personal injury matter, contact Mazin & Associates, PC, Personal Injury Lawyers at (416) 625-2122.
