Aggravating Old Injuries

I’m David Holub, an attorney focusing on personal injury law in northwest Indiana.

Welcome to Personal Injury Primer, where we break down the law into simple terms, provide legal tips, and discuss topics related to personal injury law.

Today’s question comes from a listener who says “I have had problems with my back before, but the pain is much worse since the crash and it won’t go away, do I have a case since my back was not in perfect shape before the crash?”

This is a question frequently heard from people inquiring about a potential claim. People are concerned that they might be disqualified from suing because of a prior condition or injury.

Here is the question stated in simple terms:

“I’m really hurting after this accident, but I’ve been hurt in the past, do I still have a claim?”

The answer is always yes.

The law allows for a person who suffers from a pre-existing medical condition to recover for an aggravation or exacerbation of that condition.

For example, if a person has back surgery, and as they are leaving the hospital the automatic doors malfunction and knock them to the ground, the law will permit a recovery for a new injury, such as a broken arm, and an aggravation to the back condition, such as the need to redo the back surgery.

It is very important to be forthright with your doctor if you have a prior medical condition which is changed because of an accident.

Your medical care providers need to know about prior conditions in order to assess the full nature of an injury incident. For example, a person with a sore neck after an accident who has no prior neck injury may be assessed very differently than a person with neck pain after an accident who suffered a fracture to their neck 10 years earlier playing football.

Legally however, people who aggravate old injuries in an accident are entitled to recover damages just as are people who receive new injuries.

Never hesitate to consult one of our attorneys if you need help to better understand your legal rights.

I hope you found this information helpful. If you have questions about your legal rights if you get hurt due to the carelessness of another person, or as a result of substandard medical care, or due to a product defect, construction injury, or any other type of personal injury, please give us a call at (219) 736-9700. You can also learn more about us by visiting our website at DavidHolubLaw.com – while there make sure you request a copy of our book “Fighting for Truth”.