Preexisting Conditions & Personal Injury

There are many people in the United States who live with preexisting conditions of varying severity. Most of the time, these conditions may not profoundly affect a person’s life, but if a sufferer has been involved in an accident that was caused by the negligence of another person, it is not uncommon for their insurance company to attempt to use this as a reason to deny a claim for damages. If this happens to you, contacting an attorney can be a good idea.

Where Did The Harm Come From?

In a personal injury lawsuit, a plaintiff must establish four criteria. There must be:

• A duty of care that exists toward the plaintiff on the part of the defendant;
• A breach of that duty;
• Harm that was directly caused by that breach; and
• The lack of any other cause that could have led to harm.

Negligence must be the primary cause of harm to the plaintiff, and sometimes it can be quite difficult to establish that fact if there is evidence of a preexisting condition – for example, if someone has Ehlers-Danos syndrome (a connective tissue disorder leading to frequent dislocations), and is injured in an auto accident, it will often require the judgment of a medical expert to be able to determine which injuries might have occurred regardless of the preexisting condition.

What Can I Do?

If you are in the position where you have been injured due to another person’s negligence, you may feel as though it is impossible to recover any damages for what you have been through. In most cases, this is not true – you still have the right to try and recover for your injuries, particularly if they are severe. This is particularly true in auto accident cases. If a person’s injuries are sufficiently “significant and permanent,” the plaintiff is allowed to file suit in the standard manner instead of having to pursue an insurance claim.

Another thing that you can do in these situations is to ensure that you have documented your medical history carefully. If you have the medical records to accurately show the nature of your condition (as much as can be shown, given the capricious nature of many medical issues), and as much information as possible about the accident itself, you can use this to chart a decline in your overall health.

Call A Winter Park Personal Injury Attorney

Given the prevalence of preexisting conditions, it is quite common for accident victims to not start from the picture of perfect health – but it can still lead a person to think they cannot recover for new injuries. This is almost never the case – a Winter Park personal injury attorney from the Hornsby Law Group can help guide you through the legal process to give you the best possible chance at recovery. Contact our office today for a free consultation.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0627/Sections/0627.737.html