Workers’ Comp And Pre-Existing Conditions
When a person’s job makes a pre-existing medical condition worse, the “aggravation” of that pre-existing medical condition is considered a new injury for purposes of workers’ compensation.
For example, suppose that you suffered a serious knee injury playing high school football. Eventually, the injury healed — almost good as new, in fact, save for a limited range of motion, or a manageable level of pain. For years or even decades after, the old knee injury didn’t give you any real problems at work or otherwise. You could do your job and lead a normal life. Then, something happens at work to aggravate the old injury and you are suddenly unable to work at all.
The Question Is: What Happens Next?
More often than not, employers and workers’ compensation insurance providers will deny you workers’ compensation benefits in this situation by claiming that the “new injury” isn’t new at all — that it is simply the inevitable worsening of the pre-existing knee injury.
At Wolf, Baldwin & Associates, P.C., we are no strangers to the workers’ compensation courtrooms of southeastern Pennsylvania, nor to cases where clients have been unfairly denied medical and wage loss benefits because of pre-existing medical conditions. If this is the situation you are faced with, we encourage you to take advantage of the knowledge, resources and more than 30 years of experience we have to offer. Both of our workers’ compensation attorneys, Levi S. Wolf and Daniel E. McCabe, are certified specialists in the practice of workers’ comp law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Are You Suffering From An Aggravated Pre-Existing Medical Condition?
Offices in Pottstown, Pennsburg, West Chester, and Reading, Pennsylvania
Local: 610-228-4582 | Toll Free: 610-228-4582
If doing your job has made a pre-existing medical condition worse and you are no longer able to work and support yourself because of the injury, call our offices directly, or contact our lawyers online for a free consultation.
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