Hog Law Case Results

Automobile Accident Resulting in Back Surgery

Description:

Our client, 61 years of age, had an extensive prior medical history of low back pain dating back to when he was 13 years old. In later years, he also had an MRI of his low back revealing lumbar spondylosis at L4-5 and L5-S1, also revealing "L5-S1 disc extrusion" resulting in low back surgery in 2011. His surgeon reported: "He did well after surgery and his symptoms improved significantly." Four years later, a careless driver of a 2004 Nissan stopped at an intersection and slowly approached the center of the intersection, she failed to see our client, she continued to proceed through the remainder of the intersection and violated our client's right of way, causing a severe collision. After this crash, he presented to the emergency room with chief complaints of severe back pain, he followed up with his primary care physician with continuing complaints of low back pain; a repeat MRI study of his low back revealed an "L3-4 disc protrusion" with increased complaints of numbness down his left leg leading to a surgery six months later. The insurance company argued his complaints of injury were "pre-existing conditions." After filing suit, with the help of the prior medical records, we were able to prove the above crash caused "new injury" to his low back, causing an L3-4 disc protrusion, plus an aggravation to his pre-existing condition.

he case demonstrates:

The importance of having copy of all medical records (including the prior medical records) to draw an accurate medical timeline. With such records, we proved how the crash caused a new back injury (plus an aggravation to a pre-existing condition) resulting in a second surgery.