Your Prior Injuries Matter
People sometimes assume that things that happened to them before they were injured don’t matter. For example, why would anyone care if you had been in a car wreck five years ago or had surgery on your knee after a skiing accident three year ago? The fact is that these things matter. And they might matter a lot, depending on your case.
When you are injured as a result of someone else’s carelessness, that other person (or their insurance company) are required to pay you for:
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the injuries they cause
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prior medical conditions that they worsen
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dormant medical conditions that only started bothering you after this injury.
As personal injury lawyers, we are required to prove your case. We must prove that the other person’s conduct was wrong and we must prove how you were harmed as a result of that conduct. If you had suffered any prior injuries to your body in the areas where you were injured this time, we need to determine what those prior injuries were, how well you had recovered from them, and how badly your body was re-injured. This isn’t an exact science; it requires a great deal of work to be able to properly prove these harms.
If you suffer injuries to a part of your body that had been injured before, it is important that you tell your lawyer about this. It is also best for you to return to your original physician to have them take a look at your new injuries. They are in the best position to know how badly you have been re-injured. It’s all about comparing your physical condition “before” and “after” the incident.
