Saadia Zambrano, a soldier who was stationed at Fort Stewart died from injuries she sustained during a car accident last week. While there is no reason to assume that she had pre-existing conditions as a result of her military career, this does bring up an interesting question – can pre-existing conditions affect your ability to sue after a car accident? Not Necessarily As a general rule, pre-existing conditions do not mean that you are prevented from suing for damages after a car accident. However, you should be aware that if you have a pre-existing condition, your insurance company (or the insurance company of the person you are suing) will try to argue that this is the exclusive cause of your injuries and that you are not entitled to any compensation. You Must Be Careful about Documentation In order to ensure that your rights are protected in such a case, you need to be careful about gathering documentation both of your pre-existing conditions and of any symptoms that arise after your accident. If Ms. Zambarano did in fact have pre-existing conditions from her military service, for example, her family would need to be able to prove that those were not the cause of her death if they wanted to sue. Get a Lawyer In all cases, it is important to get an attorney to protect your rights so that you know someone is fighting for you and not for the insurance company. This is especially true in these kinds of cases because the insurance company will have a legitimate reason to make the claim that the pre-existing condition caused your pain or injury.