Personal Injury Claims Involving Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Injury

Personal injury claims allow accident victims to seek compensation from the person who negligently hurt them. However, a key issue is causation. The defendant only needs to pay compensation if they caused the pain and bodily limitations you experience. If you have a preexisting injury, then obtaining a settlement can be a challenge, and defendants will likely push back on any allegation that they are to blame for your pain. Call our firm to speak with a Greenville personal injury lawyer about your situation.

You Can Receive Compensation for the Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Injury

Let’s say you were injured a year ago at work. Maybe you slipped while walking into the office and ended up wrenching your back, leading to lower back pain. Then you get into a car accident a year later, and your back pain suddenly returns.

The negligent driver who hit you might claim they don’t owe you a dime because your back pain is really caused by the near-fall you experienced a year ago. They might claim the car collision didn’t end up causing pain.

Helpfully, you can seek compensation if the driver made your back injury worse. That’s called “aggravating” the injury. You can get a pre-existing injury settlement if you show that the defendant made your pre-existing injury worse or triggered it. We can rely on certain pieces of evidence:

• Medical testimony that shows the most recent accident aggravated your pre-existing injury.
• Your own testimony about how the accident has made your condition worse.
• Testimony from family members that you are more depressed or in greater pain after aggravating your pre-existing injury.

What is Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Injury?

Aggravation can take many forms:

• You make the pre-existing injury worse. You could have been struggling to heal from whiplash. After six months, you feel only a slight ache in your neck, but then you get into another car accident. Suddenly, your neck pain is much worse.
• You suffer additional complications. You might have suffered a concussion, which left you with short-term memory loss and impaired coordination. When you suffer a second concussion a year later, you experience new symptoms, including mood swings.
• Your injury affects more body parts. You could have struggled with nerve pain in your left arm after an accident. Six months later, you slip and fall, landing on that same arm. Now the pain has spread to your neck and down to your hip.

How to Receive a Settlement with a Pre-Existing Injury

After an accident, you should receive immediate medical attention and then reach out to an attorney. One question we ask is whether you have suffered previous injuries or are suffering from a medical condition.

The defense will ask for this information, too. They are looking for reasons to deny a claim. And they might allege you are really suffering from the pre-existing injury. In other words, the defense will claim the most recent accident has not injured you at all, and all pain and limitation flow from the initial injury.

We recommend the following steps to help with receiving an aggravation of a pre-existing condition settlement:

1. Don’t lie about your medical history. You might be tempted to hide a previous accident or an ongoing medical condition. However, the defense can probably gain access to your medical history, sometimes going back 10 or 20 years. There is no reason to hide anything.
2. Tell your Greenville personal injury lawyer about any previous accidents or injuries. We want to know about them. As mentioned already, you can still receive compensation for the aggravation of a pre-existing injury. We simply need evidence that shows the most recent accident made your condition worse in some way. An increase in pain is often enough.
3. Keep up with your medical treatment. It is critical to do everything possible to get well. That means taking advantage of all recommended medical care, including rehab and pain medication.
4. Avoid handling your own injury claim. It is harder to receive compensation when you have a pre-existing accident or injury. A lawyer will know how to make the strongest case possible.

What if Your Pre-Existing Injury Made You More Susceptible to an Injury?

Some people have pre-existing conditions that make them more vulnerable to injury. For example, a person with osteoporosis has suffered a weakening of their bones. They might be in the grocery store one day when a person taps them with their cart. Because their bones are so weak, they break a hip and immediately fall to the floor.

The defendant might argue that you are too fragile, and a normal person would not have even been injured. Nonetheless, you can still receive compensation under something called the “eggshell plaintiff” rule. Essentially, the defendant is responsible for all the consequences of their negligence, even if you are as fragile as an eggshell. The defendant has liability.

Compensation: How Much is Your Pre-Existing Injury Settlement Worth?

Your previous injury matters when it comes to calculating compensation. You cannot put the entire blame on the defendant for your damages:

• Medical treatment. You might still be receiving medical care for your pre-existing injury. In that case, the defendant responsible for the most recent accident will need to pay for the cost of additional care.
• Lost wages. The defendant is responsible for any additional work you miss because of the most recent accident.
• Pain and suffering. The defendant must pay compensation for the increase in pain and suffering you experience. You might already have been feeling pain from the previous accident. The defendant is responsible for any increase over and above what you felt.

You can also seek compensation for property damage caused by an accident, such as damage to your car. The legal team at Elliott Frazier — Family, Personal Injury, & Car Accident Attorneys, LLC can fight to obtain a fair settlement.

Speak with an Experienced Lawyer Today

Many people struggle with an injury of some sort. That is no reason why a defendant in a personal injury case should get out of having to pay compensation when they make your condition worse.

Contact us today to speak with an attorney in a no-obligation consultation.