Having a pre-existing injury does not automatically prevent you from recovering compensation after a Nevada car accident. If a crash worsens an old back injury, aggravates a previously injured knee, or causes symptoms from an existing condition to become more severe, you may still have a claim against the at-fault party. The key issue is not whether you were perfectly healthy before the collision. Instead, the evidence must establish what harm the accident caused, including aggravation of a condition you already had.
If a car accident aggravated an existing injury or medical condition, contact George Bochanis Injury Law Offices at (702) 388-2005 to discuss your claim.
Key Takeaways
- A pre-existing injury does not automatically disqualify you from receiving compensation after a Nevada car accident.
- You generally cannot recover damages for a condition that existed independently of the crash, but you may pursue compensation for accident-related aggravation.
- Nevada civil jury instructions specifically address aggravation of pre-existing conditions.
- Medical records from before and after the collision can help distinguish your prior condition from the harm caused by the accident.
- Insurance companies may closely examine your medical history when disputing causation or the value of your claim.
- Complex medical histories can affect how long it takes to document, evaluate, and resolve a claim.
Can You Recover Compensation If You Had an Injury Before the Accident?
A prior injury does not give another driver permission to make your condition worse without being held responsible for the additional harm caused.
Nevada’s civil jury instructions directly address this issue. Instruction 5.3 concerns pain and suffering arising from the aggravation of a pre-existing condition. It explains that a person is not entitled to damages for a physical or medical condition that existed before the accident but may recover damages for pain, suffering, or disability caused by aggravation of that condition.
The instruction further addresses situations in which an existing condition made the injured person more susceptible to harm than a normally healthy person. These Nevada laws on pre-existing conditions reflect an important principle for accident claims: the responsible party generally must account for the injured person’s actual condition rather than assuming how the same collision might have affected someone without the prior condition.
This principle is sometimes described as the “eggshell plaintiff” or “eggshell skull” rule. In practical terms, being unusually susceptible to injury does not necessarily excuse the person whose negligence caused additional harm.
How Do You Separate an Old Injury From a New One?
One of the central challenges in a pre-existing injury claim is determining how your physical condition changed because of the collision. Suppose you experienced intermittent lower-back pain before a crash but could work, exercise, and complete normal daily activities. After the collision, the pain becomes constant, you develop new symptoms, and your doctor recommends treatment that was not previously necessary. The claim may focus on that measurable worsening rather than treating the entire back condition as a new injury.
Why Are Medical Records So Important?
Medical records can establish a timeline of your condition. Records from before the collision may show your previous symptoms, diagnoses, treatment frequency, physical restrictions, and periods of improvement. Post-accident records can then document new symptoms or changes in severity.
Relevant evidence may include:
- Imaging studies from before and after the accident
- Primary care and specialist records
- Physical therapy notes
- Prior surgical records
- Prescription histories
- Records describing previous pain or physical limitations
- Post-crash diagnoses and treatment recommendations
Consistency can be particularly important. Tell your medical providers about your prior condition and accurately explain how your symptoms changed after the collision. Trying to conceal an old injury can create credibility problems if an insurer later obtains records showing that the condition existed before the crash.
How Can a Pre-Existing Injury Affect the Value of Your Claim?
A pre-existing condition can make calculating damages more complicated because compensation should reflect the additional harm caused by the collision, not unrelated symptoms that would have existed anyway.
Damages associated with an accident-related aggravation may include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, disability, and other losses attributable to the worsening of the condition. Getting your medical bills paid can become more complicated when insurers dispute which treatment resulted from the collision and which treatment relates only to your prior medical history.
The stronger the distinction between your condition before and after the accident, the easier it may be to demonstrate the additional harm for which you are seeking compensation.
Can the Insurance Company Use Your Medical History Against You?
An insurance company may investigate your medical history when evaluating whether the collision caused the injuries included in your claim. If records show similar symptoms before the accident, an adjuster may argue that your current problems are attributable entirely or partly to the prior condition.
That argument does not necessarily defeat your claim. The relevant question may instead be whether the crash aggravated the condition, increased your symptoms, accelerated your need for treatment, or caused additional limitations.
For instance, an insurer might point to a five-year history of neck pain. Your medical records could also show that the pain had been controlled for two years before the collision and that you required extensive treatment only after the crash. That distinction can be important when evaluating causation.
A car accident lawyer may review medical records, accident evidence, physician opinions, and other documentation to establish a clear comparison between your health before the collision and your condition afterward.
Will a Pre-Existing Injury Make Your Nevada Car Accident Claim Take Longer?
Claims involving pre-existing conditions may require additional medical investigation because the parties need to distinguish existing health problems from accident-related aggravation.
Before meaningful settlement negotiations occur, it may be necessary to obtain older medical records, compare diagnostic tests, determine whether your condition has stabilized, and obtain medical opinions concerning causation and future treatment. Insurers may also request additional documentation when they believe your symptoms overlap with an earlier injury.
Your Las Vegas car accident case timeline depends on factors beyond your medical history, including the severity of your injuries, disputes over fault, available insurance coverage, and whether litigation becomes necessary. When the medical evidence is complicated, a settlement can take longer because resolving the claim before the extent of the accident-related aggravation is understood could undervalue your losses.
Waiting for appropriate medical evidence does not mean every pre-existing injury claim will be lengthy. It means the value of the claim should be based on a sufficiently developed picture of what the collision actually changed.
A pre-existing injury can make a Nevada car accident claim more medically complex, but it does not automatically eliminate your right to compensation. Nevada’s approach recognizes that an accident can cause compensable harm by worsening an existing condition, including when the injured person was more susceptible to harm than someone in perfect health. If a Nevada car accident aggravated an existing injury or condition, contact George Bochanis Injury Law Offices at (702) 388-2005 to discuss your claim.
