SORTING OUT THE MESS - INJURIES "CAUSED BY" AN ACCIDENT

VERSUS UNRELATED MEDICAL CONDITIONS

12-5-06

            It is very common to run into situations where injured persons whom we represent have other medical conditions that they are dealing with such as coronary artery disease, diabetes, emphysema, C.O.P.D., and an entire gambit of conditions.   The critical part of every case is proving that the injuries you claim to have sustained as a result of an accident are, in fact, caused by the accident.   This is known as proving "causation."   Causation is one of the biggest concerns for insurance companies when they are evaluating claims and determining how much money to offer in settlement of your claim.

            Causation issues can be complicated.   You need to make sure that you attorneys have been down that road before so that they know the methods of proving causation.   Many people who have personal injury claims have representatives who simply submit their medical records and bills to the insurance company and hope that the insurance company will either ignore or overlook other un-related medical conditions or pre-existing medical conditions to the same area of the body which they are claiming was injured by the subject accident.

            To obtain the best possible results and settlements when representing people who have pre-existing conditions or other unrelated medical conditions often means that the attorney has to go the distance, taking the steps necessary to obtain a letter (called a narrative report) from one or more of their client's doctors.   Additionally, certain cases even require that we try to arrange an in-person meeting with our client's doctor or doctors to sort out the injuries that were caused by the accident.

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