What About My Pre-Existing Condition
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 645
Tags:
None
When a claim is made for personal injury the response from the insurance company usually includes a contention that the injured party had a preexisting injury or condition. Insurance companies argue that it is the preexisting injury or condition, which is the real cause of the claimant’s problem rather than the injury or condition which is the subject of the claim. It is the goal of the insurance company to lesson or minimize the significance of the injuries from which the claim arises. The argument is many times: “The claimant had a bad back before the collision therefore we do not have to pay the claimant for the back injuries suffered in the collision.”
This is a fallacious, but many times very effective, argument. If the claim goes to trial, the insurance lawyer seeks to “muddy the water” by introducing into evidence the claimant’s prior medical records and emphasize any prior condition in hopes that the jury will lose its focus on the injuries which are the subject of the claim.
This insurance company ploy is especially effective in back injury cases. Virtually all of us past the age of 40 have a condition known as degenerative disk disease. The term sounds horrendous. However, it refers to a very simple aging process in which the bones of the spine become worn out and change shape. For most of us this condition is asymptomatic. That is, the condition doesn’t hurt or give us pain. Most people do not even realize they have this condition. When the body is in a motor vehicle collision or is otherwise subjected to trauma, often the preexisting degenerative disk disease becomes, for the first time, symptomatic and produces pain. This condition can be very serious depending upon the nature of the trauma and the condition of the victim. In this situation, insurance companies argue that they should not have to pay for the injury to the victim because they had degenerative disk disease before the collision. This argument is made even though the victim may never have had any symptoms from the preexisting condition.
This situation creates a challenge to the efforts to obtain an adequate recovery for the injured victim.
North Carolina law provides that: When a person’s negligent conduct proximately causes an injury which brings into activity a dormant or incipient disease or condition, or one to which the injured person is predisposed, he is liable for the entire damages of the injured person resulting from such injury. When a person’s negligent conduct proximately causes an injury to a person suffering from a disease or condition which is aggravated or made worse by the injury, he is liable for damages to the extent that his wrongful act proximately and naturally aggravated the disease or condition.
As always, if the parties cannot agree, it will be up to a jury to decide the very important issues relating to the nature and extent of injuries sustained in a collision and the impact of the injury upon the victim.
A fair minded and conscientious jury will not be confused by the insurance company’s efforts to confuse the issue by the use of irrelevant or misleading prior medical records. By being vigilant and thinking through the issues clearly, a jury will assure that the justice system is working fairly and that injured victims will be fully compensated for all injuries suffered and will not be short changed by confusion concerning preexisting conditions.