Whether you work as a healthcare provider or a construction worker, a salesperson or a teacher, you are at risk of sustaining occupational harm. You could slip on wet flooring while entering your place of employment or severely strain your back while lifting something heavy. In addition to acute injuries like these, you could develop chronic conditions caused by repetitive trauma. You could even be made ill by exposure to toxins in the workplace.
One type of workplace harm that is not often discussed is the exacerbation or aggravation of a preexisting condition. Although most people might assume that workers’ compensation benefits are not available for these, that’s not true. If an eligible worker’s physical harm is caused directly by work-related activities, workers’ comp benefits are generally available for them.
Proving a claim
The challenge with this particular kind of claim is that the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system is tough to navigate successfully at the best of times. Workers frequently discover that it is not often easy to prove that certain kinds of physical harm are work-related unless they’ve been injured in an on-site accident witnessed by numerous co-workers.
Proving that the potentially debilitating aggravation of a preexisting condition is work-related can take some genuine effort on the part of workers. Trying to secure necessary medical documentation validating the underlying claim being made isn’t always easy and trying to convince an insurance claims adjuster that you wouldn’t have been this damaged absent your job-related activities isn’t easy either.
As a result, it is particularly important for workers who are interested in filing this specific kind of claim to seek legal guidance before submitting an application for benefits.