Yes. In Nevada, you can recover compensation when an accident worsens a pre-existing condition, because the at-fault party is responsible for the harm they caused, even to an already-injured body. You cannot claim the original condition itself, but you can claim every way the crash made it worse.
How Does Nevada Treat a Pre-Existing Condition After a Crash?
Nevada follows the “eggshell plaintiff” rule, which means the driver who hit you takes you exactly as you were, fragile spine and all. If the wreck aggravated an old back injury or arthritis, you can pursue the added pain, treatment, and lost time that followed. Most car accident claims involve some prior medical history, and the insurer will try to twist that history against you.
Which Old Injuries Get Worse in a Motor Vehicle Accident?
Certain conditions flare up badly after a violent impact. A body already carrying damage has less room to absorb a new blow. An impact a healthy body could shake off instead pushes an already-weakened area past its breaking point. The conditions aggravated most often include the following:
- Herniated or degenerative spinal discs
- Prior concussions and brain injuries
- Arthritis in the joints and spine
- Old fractures that never fully healed
- Chronic neck and shoulder problems
A collision can turn a manageable condition into a lasting disability by aggravating a pre-existing injury. What begins as neck pain may develop into a catastrophic injury affecting your spine, increasing both the extent of your losses and the value of your claim.
How Insurers Use Your Medical History Against You
Insurers love a pre-existing condition, because it hands them an easy argument: you were already hurt, so the accident changed nothing. Their adjusters comb through years of records, hunting for anything to pin your pain on. Common tactics insurance companies use to turn your medical history against you include:
- Blaming all your pain on the old injury
- Demanding years of unrelated medical records
- Arguing you skipped treatment before the crash
- Claiming your symptoms are simply normal aging
- Twisting an old scan to dispute new damage
None of those arguments holds up when the medical timeline is clear. A doctor who compares your condition before and after the wreck can separate old damage from new, which is exactly what the insurer hopes you never bother to do.
How Do You Prove the Accident Made It Worse?
Proving aggravation comes down to a clear, documented before-and-after picture of your health. The stronger that record, the harder it becomes for anyone to write your injuries off as old news. Solid claims usually rest on:
- Prior medical records showing your baseline
- New imaging taken right after the collision
- A treating doctor’s opinion on the change
- A consistent log of your worsening symptoms
- Statements from family about your new limits
The same proof applies no matter how you were hurt. Whether a car crash or a dangerous property caused the flare-up, a premises liability claim follows the identical before-and-after logic to show what the incident added.
Timing protects all of it. Under NRS 11.190(4)(e), you generally have two years from the accident to file suit, and waiting hands the insurer a chance to argue the delay proves your injury was never serious.
Can You Recover Extra When a Driver Was Reckless?
Sometimes you can recover more than just the cost of the aggravation itself. Under NRS 42.005, a driver who acted with malice or conscious disregard for your safety, such as one who chose to drive drunk, can owe punitive damages on top of your medical and pain-related losses. Those awards punish the choice itself, apart from what your injuries cost you.
Do Not Let the Insurer Blame Your Past
A pre-existing condition is no reason to accept less, whatever the adjuster claims. For over 20 years, our team at Hanratty Law Group has helped Nevada personal injury victims prove exactly what an accident added to their lives, down to the last symptom. We know how to separate old injuries from new harm and make that difference count where it matters.
Call 702-821-1379 for a free consultation. You can also contact us online and get a clear, honest read on your claim at no cost.