Virginia is actually fairly liberal on this issue. If you can show any aggravation of a pre-existing injury, then you are entitled to your FULL workers’ compensation benefits.
The basic keys to your claim:
- You need to be an employee.
- There has to be a work-related accident;
- The accident needs to have caused some new element of your injury. As long as you can show that there was some type of anatomical change in relation to the specific body part that came about as a result of the work accident—no matter how small— even if the pre-existing condition was severe, you are still able to claim the entirety of your injuries as a workers’ compensation claim. This is particularly the case if, despite your pre-existing injuries, you were able to perform your work duties up until the time of the work accident.
As long as the doctor can say ANY portion (even just a small amount) of your pain and treatment is due to the work-place accident, you can claim your full benefit amount.
- It doesn’t matter that you had a pre-existing injury. Any adjuster who denies your claim just because you had a pre-existing injury isn’t being honest.
An Example:
If you had knee surgery because of a sports injury in the past and you were treating for the pain up to the date of the workplace accident, you can still get your workplace accident benefits. The key is that the doctor has to be able to say some new element was introduced because of the workplace accident or that the workplace accident aggravated your knee injury.
Please don’t be fooled by the insurance adjuster who says you can’t get benefits because you have a pre-existing condition. It’s OK to have a prior injury as long as some new element happened because of an incident at work. But there must be some anatomical change — even one that is slight.
One thing our firm does, among many, is make sure that not only the worker understands the liberalness in the law – we make sure the doctor understands the law is liberal on this point too. Sometimes a face-to-face or short telephone conference with a doctor and us can mean the difference between a worker being awarded benefits or not awarded benefits.
Contact Virginia Attorney Joe Miller if You Were Hurt at Work
Don’t let the employer or its insurance company fool you or make you take a deal that isn’t right. Workers’ compensation lawyer Joe Miller fights for Strong Justice. He’ll help you get the recovery you deserve. He knows Virginia Workers’ Compensation law. If you have been injured at work, call the Work Injury Center at888-694-1671.
