The Impact Of Pre-Existing Conditions On Personal Injury Claims In Indiana

In this article, you can discover…

• How insurance companies see pre-existing conditions
• Whether a pre-existing condition may impact your personal injury claim
• How an attorney can help you overcome challenges posed by pre-existing conditions

How Do Pre-Existing Conditions Affect Personal Injury Claims In Indiana?

Pre-existing injuries can sometimes help or complicate a case, and it’s vital to communicate your full medical history to your attorney. The type of injury you received and how fully it’s healed can have a significant impact here.

For example, breaking your arm 10 years ago will likely not impact how an insurance company sees a current broken arm sustained in a car accident, even if the same arm was broken. The 10-year-old injury is clearly fully healed and had nothing to do with your auto accident.

When insurance companies try to argue that your current pain and suffering weren’t worsened much by your most recent accident, a skilled attorney can argue that the new injury has taken away even more from you and deserves redress.

This pre-existing injury doesn’t make your current pain less valuable, it makes it more valuable. Imagine a robber who takes a thousand dollars from a millionaire versus a robber who takes a thousand dollars from someone who had only $1,010 to start. This is the same concept and helps in explaining to insurance companies the genuine impact your recent accident has had on you.

How Do Insurance Companies Investigate Pre-Existing Conditions?

Lawyers in Indiana will issue subpoenas to gain access to your medical records and determine if anything in your past could be used to explain your current pain.

For this reason, it’s important to be forthright and honest with your attorney about your medical past so that a strong legal response can be more easily prepared. This honesty can also help legally suppress subpoenas on sensitive and unrelated matters, such as a past STI or an abortion.

Attorney Thomas Scifres has been serving Indiana clients just like you for over 30 years. If you’re worried that a pre-existing medical condition may impact your settlement, allow personal injury attorney Thomas Scifres to review your case and lend his help.

Still have questions? Ready to move forward with your unique case?

Reach out to Thomas Scifres at (812) 359-8007 for an initial consultation today.

What Advice Can This Firm Give To Help You Overcome The Challenges Posed By Pre-Existing Conditions?

The most helpful strategy you can adopt is to have a can-do, positive attitude. Contrary to what you may assume, playing up your status as a victim doesn’t work well with many jurors or with insurance companies.

Instead, emphasizing that you are doing your best, seeking to live life well in spite of current and past injuries, and working hard can inspire sympathy, trust, and compassion. These factors can go a long way in winning you damages that are truly helpful as well as encouraging you psychologically to thrive and do your best in spite of setbacks or injuries.

Can You Describe A Case When A Client Had A Favorable Outcome In Spite of A Pre-Existing Claim?

One client in particular stands out. He had extensive and complex surgery years ago, requiring hardware in his neck. While his abilities were already slightly impacted, a catastrophic accident with an 18-wheeler did further damage and made his problems much worse.

The insurance companies first looked at this and sought to dismiss it as a bogus claim. However, our legal team directed their attention to the past surgery itself, helping them understand how much more impacted this client was by his recent accident.

By owning the prior neck surgery and prior condition we were able to highlight successfully how much harder life had become for this client, not simply in terms of earning potential but in his quality of life and ability to enjoy himself during down time.

This became a substantial settlement simply on the basis of honesty, being clear about medical history, and showing the insurance companies how this client was impacted post-accident.

For more information on the Impact Of Pre-Existing Conditions On Injury Claims, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (812) 359-8007 today.