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WHERE THE MEDICAL AND LEGAL FRATERNITIES CONVERGE AND DIVERGE
Author(s) -
Kapila S.,
Kapila H. B.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2009.04922_4.x
Subject(s) - plaintiff , appeal , fraternity , compensation (psychology) , damages , medicine , honour , notice , medical assessment , actuarial science , law , family medicine , psychology , social psychology , business , political science
The medical fraternity is regularly requested by lawyers and insurance companies to assess a level of impairment of an injured person. The purpose of this assessment is to assist and provide some guidelines for lawyers and insurance companies to make a reasonable and accurate punitive level of compensation to the injured person. The medical assessment aims to define the level of impairment once “maximum medical improvement” has been reached. This assessment should be determined solely on objective findings. Doctors should not determine disability (alteration of an individual's capacity to meet personal, social or occupational demands) or a handicap (the impairment which substantially limits one or more of life's activities) which are subjective findings. The decision in Cummins v G James Safety Glass Pty Ltd 1994 of the NSW Workers Compensation Court, as it was then, highlights where the medical and legal fraternities converge and diverge. In this case, Burke CCJ opined, “the concept of permanent loss of efficient use is not concerned solely with the physiological or anatomical restrictions of movement. It is a much wider concept. It is concerned with use.” His Honour awarded the worker on the basis of disability rather than impairment. The decision was subsequently followed in Leanne Lukacic v Vickarni Pty Ltd t/as Chester Jakes Pharmacy 4 February 2005, where the Appeal Panel considered and accepted the earlier decision of Burke CCJ. The role of the Medical fraternity is to assess impairment. This case sets the precedence for focus on disability and allows for plaintiff lawyers to apply for punitive compensation for patients who have no objective signs.