Workers' comp insurance companies often deny claims when an on-the-job injury involves a prior injury or condition. This short video explains how you can still get work injury benefits, if you prove your case the right way.
Transcript
This question comes up a lot: “can I get comp if a prior condition gets worse and by work injury or can I can come if a work injury gets worsened by prior condition?” the answer is yes if you prove it the right way. Let me give you a little example, say you've had a bad back for years but it's never kept you out of work. then one day at work you feel a pop and suddenly you can't work on it anymore. To get benefits you've got to prove that back condition either worsened your work injury or the work injury worse than your back condition. You should expect the insurance company to deny the claim saying it's all a prior condition and it would have happened anyway.
So that begins your process of proving your case and the first step for you is to be honest and specific with both your employer and your doctor about the incident that made life change. The next step, after you fully explain the injury to everyone, is proving it the right way legally. you're just going to need a trained professional to help you here because if you don't prove it the right way a skeptical insurance company will never pay and if you got to go to battle and a contested hearing you'll never be able to convince a commissioner based on the proper legal standard and here's the legal standard. You’ve got to get a doctor's testimony or opinion or properly worded medical records that say your injury got worsened by the prior condition or your prior condition worsened your injury to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. It ain't as easy as it sounds. Now, if you do get benefits you're entitled to all the benefits that any other workers comp claim it gets, including permanent disability compensation for any permanent disability that results from the combination of that prior condition and the new disability caused by your work injury. The stakes are high for you and it could be an uphill battle. Get somebody level the playing field for you. If this is speaking to you, I hope you call us so we can guide you through it.
