A pre-existing condition is one of the many factors that can make your workers’ compensation claim much more complicated than it may initially seem. Under current California law, workers’ compensation covers reasonable medical expenses, a substantial portion of lost wages, and certain out-of-pocket costs stemming from work-related injuries or illnesses, but only if those losses come directly and entirely from your accident at work.
The presence of pre-existing conditions for workers in Santa Ana can make it significantly more challenging to effectively seek benefits through workers’ compensation. Your employer may not want to cover your injury and may try to argue that you were already dealing with an injury before you filed your claim. Support from a skilled workers’ compensation lawyer can be crucial to establishing that you have valid grounds for your claim, especially if the injury you seek benefits for has made a previously diagnosed condition noticeably worse.
In the context of workers’ compensation law, a pre-existing condition is any physical injury or chronic illness that the claimant was experiencing before filing their workers’ comp claim. Notably, this condition does not necessarily have to have been formally treated or even diagnosed by medical professionals to qualify as pre-existing—the salient fact is not how subjectively bad the injury is or what care the injury needed, but that it existed before the workplace accident.
It is worth emphasizing that having a pre-existing condition does not disqualify a worker from seeking workers’ compensation benefits for an injury or illness they acquire on the job. However, insurance companies are often more than willing to assume that certain symptoms stem from a pre-existing condition rather than a new injury and thus deny you compensation for the new injury. This is why previously diagnosed conditions can be challenging to overcome during Santa Ana workers’ compensation claims.
Workers in Santa Ana can file a workers’ compensation claim over the aggravation of a chronic condition caused by a workplace accident, dangerous working conditions, or both. For example, any new damage resulting from a workplace slip and fall that aggravated an old knee injury could form the basis of a new workers’ compensation claim.
Similarly, someone with a chronic lung problem, such as asthma, who inhaled hazardous materials at work and then significantly worsened should have grounds to seek workers’ compensation benefits. In both scenarios, though, the affected worker would only be able to seek compensation for injury that the work-related accident directly caused. In these cases, only future medical bills to treat the worsened condition would be covered, not any costs associated with treating the prior underlying condition.
Although a pre-existing condition will not prevent you from applying for and receiving workers’ comp benefits after a new work-related injury, you can expect the process to be more complex. It would be best to obtain a workers’ compensation law firm’s assistance to improve your odds of obtaining fair benefits through workers’ compensation.
One of our qualified attorneys can discuss how pre-existing conditions for workers in Santa Ana could affect your claim for workers’ compensation. Call us today to set up a confidential consultation.
