Having a pre-existing medical condition does not automatically prevent you from receiving Louisiana workers' compensation benefits after a workplace injury. An employee may already have back problems, arthritis, a prior knee injury, or another medical condition when an accident at work makes that condition significantly worse.
Louisiana courts have long recognized that a work-related accident can be compensable when it aggravates, accelerates, or combines with a pre-existing condition to produce disability.
For injured workers in Covington, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, the key question is often not whether a condition existed before the accident. The more important issue is whether the workplace accident contributed to the employee's current injury or disability.
Louisiana workers' compensation generally covers employees who sustain qualifying injuries by accidents arising out of and in the course of employment.
A pre-existing condition does not necessarily disqualify an injured employee.
Louisiana courts have repeatedly held that an employee may recover when a work accident aggravates or accelerates a pre-existing condition and produces disability. The Louisiana Supreme Court has also explained that an employer essentially takes an employee as the employer finds that person.
Our Louisiana workers' compensation attorneys can evaluate whether a workplace accident aggravated an existing condition and what evidence may help establish the connection.
An aggravation occurs when a workplace accident causes an existing medical problem to become symptomatic, more severe, or disabling.
Consider a New Orleans employee who has degenerative changes in the lower back but has been performing a physically demanding job without significant restrictions. The employee then suffers an accident while lifting equipment and develops severe pain that prevents a return to the same work.
The fact that imaging shows pre-existing degeneration does not automatically establish that the new disability is unrelated to work.
The issue is whether the workplace accident aggravated, accelerated, or combined with the underlying condition to produce the disability being claimed. Louisiana Supreme Court decisions recognize this principle.
Many employees have medical histories that predate a workplace accident.
Common examples can include:
The existence of one of these conditions does not answer whether a new Louisiana workers' compensation claim is valid.
A worker in Covington might have experienced occasional back discomfort for years but never missed work or required restrictions. A later workplace accident that causes substantial new symptoms and disability presents a different situation from simply experiencing the natural progression of the earlier condition.
Causation is critical.
An employee generally has the burden of establishing the relationship between the workplace accident and the resulting disability. Louisiana case law recognizes circumstances in which a causal presumption can arise when an employee was not experiencing disabling symptoms before an accident, disabling symptoms begin with the accident and continue afterward, and the evidence indicates a reasonable possibility of a causal connection.
Evidence may include:
The medical timeline can be particularly important.
If a Thibodaux employee performed regular duties before an accident but required surgery, restrictions, or significant treatment immediately afterward, that sequence may be relevant to determining causation.
Pre-accident medical records can help establish what your condition was actually like before the workplace injury.
Those records may show that an underlying condition existed but was stable, manageable, or non-disabling.
For example, an employee may have received treatment for a knee injury several years earlier and then returned to unrestricted work. If a new accident causes substantial knee damage and renewed disability, the earlier records can help distinguish the prior condition from the employee's current problems.
Insurance companies may closely examine prior medical treatment when a Louisiana workers' compensation claim involves the same body part.
That makes accuracy important.
Trying to hide a previous injury can create credibility problems. A more effective approach is to document what the earlier condition involved and explain how the worker's condition changed after the new accident.
A claim can become more complicated when an employee was actively receiving treatment immediately before the workplace accident.
That does not automatically eliminate the possibility of workers' compensation benefits.
The medical evidence may need to distinguish between the employee's baseline condition and the changes caused by the workplace event.
Questions can include:
For a New Orleans worker who was already treating for back pain, the difference between the employee's functional ability before and after the accident may become especially important.
Workers' compensation insurers may argue that current symptoms are entirely attributable to a prior condition rather than the workplace accident.
Medical evidence can be crucial in responding to that argument.
A treating physician may be able to explain whether the accident aggravated the underlying condition, caused new objective findings, or changed the employee's ability to work.
Louisiana law does not require an employee to have been in perfect health before a compensable accident. The Louisiana Supreme Court has recognized that a pre-existing disease or infirmity does not defeat a claim when a work injury aggravates, accelerates, or combines with it to produce disability.
For an injured employee in Covington, the focus should therefore remain on the relationship between the work accident and the employee's post-accident condition.
When an injury is compensable, Louisiana workers' compensation can provide benefits related to necessary medical treatment resulting from the work injury.
In a pre-existing condition case, disputes may arise over which treatment is attributable to the workplace aggravation.
An insurer might accept that a minor strain occurred while disputing more extensive treatment, such as injections or surgery. The insurer may argue that those procedures address the underlying degenerative condition rather than the work-related aggravation.
Medical opinions, imaging comparisons, treatment history, and the employee's functional changes can all become important.
Workers in Thibodaux facing disputes over medical treatment should preserve records concerning both their pre-accident and post-accident care.
Potentially.
The existence of a prior condition does not by itself prevent an employee from receiving disability benefits when a workplace accident causes compensable disability.
Louisiana Supreme Court precedent recognizes that an accident that aggravates or accelerates a pre-existing condition can result in compensable disability.
The specific benefits available depend on the employee's medical condition, ability to work, wages, and other circumstances.
A worker who cannot return to employment at all may face different benefit questions from someone who can return to modified work but earns less because of accident-related restrictions.
Report the workplace accident promptly and seek appropriate medical treatment.
When speaking with your doctor, provide an accurate history. Explain the previous condition as well as what changed after the workplace accident.
You should also preserve:
Whether you work in Covington, New Orleans, Thibodaux, or elsewhere in Louisiana, consistency can matter. Your accident report, medical history, and description of your symptoms should accurately reflect what happened.
A pre-existing condition does not automatically defeat a Louisiana workers' compensation claim. When an accident at work aggravates, accelerates, or combines with an existing condition to cause disability, the resulting injury may still be compensable.
If you are dealing with a workplace accident that worsened a pre-existing condition in Covington, New Orleans, or Thibodaux, our attorneys are here to help. Call us today or connect with us online to schedule a consultation.
