At Munro Byrd, we have the privilege of representing clients with personal injuries from all walks of life and of all ages. It isn’t uncommon for our clients to suffer personal injuries to parts of their body that had been previously injured or problematic. For example, many of our clients suffer injuries to their back or their neck in car wrecks, falls, or trucking collisions. Some of those clients had problems with their back or neck before the recent trauma, and as a result of the new injury, their pain will flare up, increase in severity and require new and additional treatment, time out of work, and even accelerate the timeline of a progressive disability.
When personal injury clients come to us, they have questions about whether they can recover for their worsened condition. Basically, they want to know if they can be compensated for the new personal injuries they suffered. The answer to their question is, “Yes.” Virginia law allows people to recover for what is called an exacerbation, or worsening, of a pre-existing condition.
This principle is well-established in Virginia law. To begin with, an injured person is entitled to recover for the bodily injuries they sustain and their effect on their health according to their degree and probable duration. See Virginia Model Jury Instruction 9.000 (General Personal Injury and Property Damage). More specific to this situation, Virginia has a specific rule addressing how a judge or jury is to consider evidence regarding pre-existing conditions which provides as follows:
If you find that the plaintiff had a condition before the accident that was aggravated as a result of the accident or that the pre-existing condition made the injury he received in the accident more severe or difficult to treat, then, if you find your verdict for the plaintiff, he may recover for the aggravation and for the increased severity or difficulty of treatment, but he is not entitled to recover for the pre-existing condition.
See Virginia Model Jury Instruction No. 9.030 (Aggravation of Pre-Existing Condition).
Sticking with the back pain example, what this means in practical terms is that an injured person is not entitled to recover for the fact that he has back pain. However, the injured person is entitled to recover for the fact that his pain increased from a three to a seven. Further, if the injured person requires additional treatment for the increased back pain, he can recover for that, too. This allows personal injury clients to recover the costs of emergency department care, primary care treatment, physical therapy, and, potentially, surgery.
As in any case, to recover damages for an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition, medical evidence is required. This means that a doctor or similar provider (like a physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner, or chiropractor) will have to testify that injuries were proximately caused by the actions of another person (such as by a car accident, a fall at a store, or other incident). That health care provider will have to provide testimony that personal injuries were sustained by the client and will also have to explain what those injuries are.
If you have been injured in a car accident, a trucking accident, or suffered an injury at a store, please contact us. Our firm regularly handles personal injury cases and has extensive experience representing people who suffered an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition. We are here to help.
We cannot promise similar results in all cases, but if you have questions about a personal injury claim in Virginia, call us. We litigate such cases in Roanoke City and County, Montgomery County (Christiansburg, Blacksburg), Lynchburg, Abingdon, Martinsville, Rocky Mount, Wytheville, Bedford, Covington, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Lexington, or Staunton. We practice in rural areas like Bath County, Campbell County, Giles County, Craig County, Smyth County, Alleghany County, Pulaski County, Franklin County, Campbell County, Carroll County, Patrick County, Floyd County, Stuart County, Pittsylvania County, Henry County, and Wythe County. We also litigate in Virginia federal courts, including those divisions in Roanoke, Abingdon, Danville, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Alexandria, and Richmond.