If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to receive compensation for your medical bills and other damages. However, if you have a pre-existing medical condition, it can affect the amount of compensation you may receive. In some cases, it may even preclude you from revering any compensation whatsoever.
Consider speaking with an experienced attorney if you are someone who is considering filing a personal injury claim with a pre-existing medical condition. Our Santa Fe personal injury lawyers at Slate Stern Law can assess the validity of your claim and ensure that you can recover the compensation you deserve.
What is a Pre-Existing Medical Condition?
A pre-existing medical condition is any physical or mental health condition that existed before the accident occurred. This includes conditions like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, depression, and anxiety. Pre-existing conditions may also include injuries resulting from accidents in the past, including back injuries, neck injuries, bone fractures, and others. Even if the individual was not actively managing their condition prior to the accident, it still counts as a pre-existing medical condition.
How Does My Pre-Existing Condition Impact My Personal Injury Claim?
Having a pre-existing medical condition does not mean that you are not eligible for damages from the accident. However, it can complicate things because it makes it more difficult to determine which injuries were caused by the accident and which were already present prior to the incident. As such, the defendant may argue that some of your injuries were already present prior to the incident and thus should not be taken into account in determining compensation amounts.
Having an experienced attorney on your side can help ensure that all legal matters are handled properly and ensure that you receive fair treatment throughout the process. If you suffered injuries because of someone else’s negligence in Santa Fe or other parts of New Mexico, keep in mind that the state gives you a limited amount of time to bring your personal injury claim. Under New Mexico Statutes § 37-1-8, injured persons typically have three years to file a claim for compensation.
How Can I Prove That My Injuries are Related to the Accident?
In order to prove that your injuries are related to the accident and not your pre-existing medical condition, you will need evidence from an expert witness or physician who can testify that your injuries were caused by the incident in question and not by your preexisting medical conditions or prior incidents. It is important to note that when gathering evidence for this purpose, all records of previous treatments must be presented in order for them to be taken into consideration by insurance companies or courts of law.
Additionally, keeping track of any changes in symptoms after an accident can also help prove causation between an injury and an event. For example, if you had chronic headaches before an automobile accident but then experienced increased frequency/severity after being involved in one—your attorney could use this as evidence that at least some of your headache symptoms are related directly to the car crash rather than just existing beforehand.
The inability to prove that your new injury is not related to the accident may even preclude you from obtaining compensation, which is why you do not want to take your chances. Contact a skilled attorney to help you gather all available evidence to strengthen your claim.
Discuss Your Case with a Lawyer at Slate Stern Law
It is important for individuals filing personal injury claims to understand how a pre-existing medical condition may affect compensation amounts awarded due to an incident or accident involving another party’s negligence. If you are considering filing a personal injury claim, consult with our lawyer at Slate Stern Law to determine how your pre-existing medical condition may affect your claim. Call (505) 814-1517 for a consultation.