You're Already Banged Up--You're Still Covered Under Workers' Compensation
When you’re hired for a job, your employer hires your whole self—warts and all. So if you’re injured on the job, you should be able to receive workers’ compensation benefits to cover you, even if your prior medical conditions played a role in your current medical condition.
In one Illinois case, a teacher severely injured her knee at work while she was performing her job duties. The accident required medical care and lost time at work. What made this case more complicated, was the teacher’s medical history. She had other medical conditions, which included surgery, and she had been taking blood-thinning medication.
For these reasons, the issue was raised whether or not workers’ compensation benefits should be available to cover the recent accident involving her knee. Perhaps she would not have been so badly injured by this accident, had she not had the other medical factors coming into play as well.
But under Illinois workers’ compensation law, if your work injury was a cause of your current medical condition, then you should be covered and entitled to receive benefits to compensate you for your loss. The fact that you may have been in a weakened condition, or otherwise more prone to injury, should not cut off your right to benefits.
The significant question to answer, is whether your work accident made your medical condition worse, or made it degenerate faster than it would have otherwise. If the answer to this is yes, then likely your current condition is covered. If, though, your injury is just the result of the typical process your medical issues would ordinarily take, separate and apart from the recent accident, then you’re not likely to be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.
For the teacher and her knee injury, she had several factors that may have contributed to the treatment she needed for her injury. But after the accident she did have a significant increase in pain and swelling, and there was no other explanation for that other than the work accident. For this reason, it was covered under workers’ compensation.
Employees are not expected to be in perfect health and fitness. Each has his or her own conditions and limitations that are unique to the individual. The workers’ compensation system was designed with this in mind, and therefore it does not necessarily penalize workers for prior injuries or conditions which may have made the current situation worse.
We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.
