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Car accidents often cause people to suffer serious injuries. If you sustained any type of injury in a crash, you may not associate your current injury with a prior injury—but the insurance company probably will. Even if it has been years since you injured your back or neck, the insurance company will be asking you questions about your medical condition.
Before you answer the insurance company’s questions about your medical history, it is wise to speak with a personal injury lawyer first. You will want to disclose all your prior injuries to your lawyer so that your attorney can advise you how to best handle your situation. It is always good to be truthful because an insurance company will do everything to dig deeper and find out if you had any type of condition that existed before your car accident.
Pre-Existing Conditions and Car Accident Claims
If you lie or fail to disclose your injuries, your injury claim can be negatively affected; an insurance adjuster will question your character and credibility. For this reason, it is best to tell your attorney everything—no matter how dissimilar your past injury is to your current injury. Although it is best to be truthful and disclose your prior injuries to your attorney, it is not wise to give the insurance company a recorded statement or sign a medical authorization form. Unfortunately, they will use this information against you to lower their liability
While you might assume that revealing a pre-existing condition may harm your case, an attorney who has represented clients with pre-existing injuries will know how to present this information in the best light so that you can get the most compensation possible. Some of the ways a lawyer can show the insurance company that your pre-existing injury was worsened in the crash includes:
- X-rays
- MRIs
- Medical experts
- Doctor’s testimony
- Witnesses
A comparison of your diagnostic tests and medical records before and after the crash can help support the claim that your pre-existing injury was aggravated and made worse from the collision. To learn more about your rights to full and fair compensation, please order a free copy of our book, What You Need to Know After a Florida Auto, Truck, or Bike Accident.
