If you have suffered an injury at work, an illness can sometimes make it hard on your compensation claim. A pre-existing condition can impact the benefits that you receive. The benefits will be the most impacted if there is a relation medically to the claim. For example, if you already have a history of knee arthritis and then you suffer a knee injury. That will impact how much you can get in workers compensation.
After an injury in the workplace, your employer is going to gather up evidence to show that the permanent impairment that you have is a result of a condition that you already have, rather than from the industrial injury. This is going to mean that it can affect your North Carolina workers compensation claim. If you have a claim for workers compensation, it is important to have a workers compensation lawyer on your side.
How your Pre-existing Condition Relates to Your Claim
If you have been injured previously on the same body part in an accident that happened at work, it is possible that your benefits for this claim will be reduced to account for that previous claim. The employer will still need to pay all of the medical bills for treating this new injury. If you are not able to work because of it, your employer will need to pay you disability benefits temporarily.
However, at the time of your claim closure, you may find that your permanent disability benefits will be different. Without the help of a workers compensation lawyer in Charlotte, NC, you will only receive compensation for the increase in permanent impairment, if there is any. If the condition is not going to permanently worsen from the injury, you are not going to receive any award.
If you have a pre-existing condition worsened from the injury, you need to work with a workers compensation lawyer. It is likely that you will receive benefits that account for the condition worsening, rather than for the whole injury.
Your doctor will be able to evaluate the condition to see how much this accident worsened the pre-existing condition. They will also need to note whether this condition is permanent or temporary. You can consider going with a doctor who has treated work-related injuries in the past.
Unrelated Pre-existing Conditions
If you have a pre-existing condition not related to the injury, then it won’t have any significance to your claim. You will need to rely on your own personal insurance to deal with the pre-existing condition. The pre-existing condition only matters if it is somehow related to the accident.
If you have diabetes and get injured, the employer will not be responsible for paying any of the health-related bills. They will only have to pay for the injuries that came from the slip and fall.
Your pre-existing conditions can sometimes influence how much you will be able to get for your workers’ compensation claim. Working with a workers compensation lawyer will ensure that you are able to get all the compensation that you deserve. Your employer may try to use a pre-existing condition against you in order to not pay you anything or to severely reduce the amount that they have to pay to you. This can make paying the medical bills hard. Working with your own NC workers comp attorney will make it easier to get the compensation that you deserve.
If you have been in an accident, it is important to get the right legal team to help you out. The professionals at Ted A. Greve and Associates is here to help you with your workers’ compensation claim today!
