Pre-existing Conditions

3. My elderly mother is diabetic, has high blood pressure and takes dozens of pills for various other ailments.  Recently, she developed a bed sore because she was left in soiled nightclothes too long.  Will her pre-existing conditions offset any recovery?

Pre-existing conditions are always relevant, however, they are not always a major issue in a nursing home abuse case. Firstly, juries recognize instinctively that elderly people may have health problems.

Secondly, a defense lawyer’s over-reliance on a elderly plaintiff’s pre-existing condition may backfire and appear as if the defense is blaming the victim.

Thirdly, the law generally provides that “you take your victim as you find him.”  Once I have thought about what I want to prove in a case, I will research and sketch out what I expect and hope will be the jury instructions used by the judge.  In my view, jury instructions used in nursing home abuse cases often minimize the weight afforded pre-existing conditions.  Thus, my goal will be for the jury to focus on the damages and pain that actually happened, rather than pre-existing conditions.