Personal Injury: Disclosing Prior Medical Care

 A. Any prior injury, or medical care is relevant in determining what injury you sustained from your accident. For example, a person who hurts their neck in an automobile accident should expect to be questioned by the doctors, and the insurance company, concerning any previous injuries to the neck and shoulder region. The reason for this inquiry is that the insurance company is entitled to know if you are seeking compensation for an old condition that has been aggravated by an accident, or if this is an entirely new traumatic injury. Of course, even an aggravation of an old injury can be covered in the claim.

            Uninformed injured victims sometimes believe they should not disclose prior medical problems of a significant nature. They reason that the prior problem is not the cause of the current injury and fear that if they reveal the earlier injury they will be denied medical care or compensation needed as a result of this accident. The danger here is that the injured person is withholding evidence that may, or may not, be relevant. When you withhold evidence from the doctors, or the insurance company, you raise the question as to whether or not you are being truthful on other topics.

            For example, assume that a person injured their knee in a basketball game many years ago. If that same person then suffers a broken hip in a car accident it is important to disclose the prior knee injury. Although the prior knee injury is not relevant to a broken hip suffered in a car accident, the failure to disclose it could adversely impact your case.

            The best policy is to provide full, and complete disclosure on all topics involved in litigation. Any time you withhold information from your doctors, or the insurance companies, you can harm your case to a far greater extent than ever would be done by revealing the information. If you have questions as to what type of information is relevant, or should be disclosed, you should consult with an attorney of your choice.