The Impact of Pre-Existing Injuries on Personal Injury Claims
When you suffer a personal injury, you may feel like the insurance company is coming at you from every angle—and you’re probably right. The other party’s insurance adjuster’s job is to find ways to drive down the value of your claim and save their employer money. Unfortunately, this means that victims with pre-existing injuries and health conditions may be negatively affected once the insurance company discovers them.
That’s where we step in to help. When you have a personal injury attorney advocating for you from the very beginning, you can feel confident about your fight for fair and full compensation. Call Hedge Copeland at 251-432-8844 to set up a consultation now.
The Insurance Company’s Goal
When the other party’s insurance adjuster reaches out to you after your accident, they may seem very friendly. Maybe they ask how you’re feeling, if you’ve been to the doctor and if you’re experiencing any pain.
Even these innocent questions have an ulterior motive. But then the questions get a little more personal and a little bit more probing. They ask if you’ve ever suffered an injury similar to this before. They ask for access to your medical records and if you’re willing to give a recorded statement. It’s all phrased very innocuously to make it seem like cooperating is in your best interests.
However, everything they do at this stage is designed to weaken your claim and reduce the amount of money they have to offer you. Every question you answer gives them information that they can use against you, and every request you agree to makes it easier for them to offer you less money.
How Your Claim May Be Affected
Once the insurance company finds out that you do have a pre-existing injury, either because you told them or because you granted them access to your medical records, you can expect the conversation around your claim to change. They may say that since you were already injured prior to the accident, they can’t possibly take responsibility for your injury during the crash. They may drop their settlement offer to an embarrassingly low number or rescind it completely.
The outcome depends largely on whether or not you have an attorney advocating for you. If you have a lawyer, they will put a stop to this far before it begins. If you negotiate on your own, you’re likely out of leverage at this point.
An Attorney Can Help Protect Your Personal Injury Claim
This is just one reason you need a personal injury lawyer fighting for you when you’ve been injured. Insurance companies are incredibly crafty, and they have invested a substantial amount of money and time into finding the best ways to pay accident victims as little as possible. When you bring an attorney to the table, you ensure that they can’t use those same tricks and techniques on you.
Your attorney will make sure that you don’t give the insurance company carte blanche access to your medical records. They only need to know about the records related to this accident, not your entire health history. Your attorney will also reveal your pre-existing injury at the right time and in the right way, ensuring that the insurance company doesn’t see it as a fast track to the end of your negotiations.
The fact is, a pre-existing injury does not have to affect your personal injury claim. The other party won’t pay for everything related to your pre-existing injury, which you already knew. However, they are absolutely liable for how their actions worsened your current injury. Your attorney will know how to prove this via medical documentation and how to calculate what you are actually owed. The earlier you bring an attorney on board, the better it is for your case.
Choose Hedge Copeland and Fight for the Compensation You Deserve
The team at Hedge Copeland is ready to help you fight for the compensation you are owed. You don’t have to take on the insurance company alone and try to navigate the claims process. Let’s sit down and talk about your next steps. Call us at 251-432-8844 or reach out online to schedule a consultation now.
