... © 2019 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. 2019 American Medical Association Author: Mohammed I. Ranavaya, MD, JD, MS Published by the American Medical Association, 2019 Reviewed by Christopher R. Brigham, MD, MMS Physician's Guide to Medicolegal...

... that—by virtue of the authority vested in them and the weight given to their opinions by claims personnel, attorneys, judges, and others—errors and injustices may occur if they do not understand or correctly use medicolegal terms. © 2018 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. 2018 American...

... professional to evaluate impairment, but in cases that involve pain, disability, and medicolegal (forensic) issues, a truly independent medical examiner typically is most appropriate. All specialties share the same elevated risk of iatrogenesis when treating and evaluating/forensic roles are mixed because...

.... Impartiality, objectivity, and an understanding of medicolegal issues are required of the evaluator. IME reports are not confidential and likely will be read by many stakeholders in a claim. Accordingly, nonmedical personnel should find it easy to read and understand the IME. © 2020 American Medical...

...Charl Els, MBChB, FCPsych(SA), MMedPsych; Barry Gelinas, MD, DC; Rose M. Carter, QC; Les Kertay, PhD Independent medical examinations (IMEs) are elective evaluations of clinical conditions and differ from a clinical consultation in several important ways. They are conducted in many medicolegal...

... knowledge, skills, and experience in both clinical medicine and the assessment of medicolegal issues. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. 2017 American Medical Association An independent medical evaluation (IME) is “a usually one-time evaluation performed by an independent...

... ), the AMA Guides Newsletter, and other publications in this suite. But because of the surge of CRPS-related medicolegal claims and the mission of the AMA Guides to assist those who adjudicate such claims, a discussion of CRPS is warranted, especially because of what some believe to be confusing...

... is a mythical medicolegal concept, not a clinical or pathologic reality. © 2009 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. 2009 American Medical Association Attributing degenerative disc disease (DDD) to “cumulative trauma” at work is a myth that is not supported by current scientific...

... and Disability . This article focuses on the critical elements of a highly complex ophthalmic medicolegal evaluation. The resulting report should include detailed vocational, general medical and ophthalmic histories, plus the ocular anatomic examination, in addition to ancillary testing including manual...

... disability trust fund). The California system's fund is called the subsequent injuries benefits trust fund (SIBTF). 2 This article describes the different desired and needed qualifications and requirements that a physician should have to perform medicolegal evaluations for SIBTF. To that end...

... evaluation is often required. A Goldmann visual field test of each eye is required, insofar as the results are integral to the determination of a verifiable visual system impairment rating, as determined by the best-corrected visual acuity and visual field scoring. In the context of a medicolegal report...

...). The chapter states that most mental illnesses were judged to be ineligible for impairment evaluation “Because the Guides is generally used in medicolegal settings (eg, Worker's Compensation)” (6th ed, 349). The chapter specifies several mental illnesses as being eligible for impairment evaluation despite...

..., some patients, perhaps having been led to believe by a healthcare professional or from a website that their chronic pain may be due to CRPS, research and then report and demonstrate the symptoms and signs. In the context of a medicolegal claim, subjective complaints and findings may be motivated...

...-mail us at question@impairment.com . You may also connect to these sites via www.impairment.com/links.htm . MEDICOLEGAL Expert American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants Nonprofit organization of legal nurse consultants www.aalnc.org American Board of Chiropractic Consultants...

... physicians and possibly laypersons, including adjusters, attorneys, hearing officers, and judges who may have varying degrees of knowledge about neurophysiology and clinical neurology). Since medicolegal decisions are often based on EDX results, the findings must be valid and reliable. The physician examiner...

... magnification, and up to (6) frank malingering. Especially in medicolegal evaluations, assessment of response bias is critical to ensure accurate determination of diagnosis; symptom severity and source; and appropriate treatment and compensation decisions as well as prevention of iatrogenic complications...

.... A treating physician knowledgeable about the use of the Guides may be the appropriate professional to evaluate impairment in certain circumstances. However, in cases dealing with issues such as pain, disability, and medicolegal (forensic) issues, a truly independent medical examiner typically is more...

... of and occurring in the course of employment and what approximate percentage of the permanent disability was caused by other factors both before and subsequent to the industrial injury, including prior industrial injuries…. 3 A physician preparing a medicolegal report is tasked in part to determine...

... syndromes, sympathetically maintained pain, whiplash, and traumatic injuries, are addressed in greater detail. Chapters on medicolegal and adjudicational issues are included. The presentation has strengths and weaknesses; no text can be all things to all people. Unfortunately, the outline format...

... the numerous occupational and nonoccupational factors were assessed. Background: This was an orthopedic medicolegal evaluation to address eligibility for disability retirement benefits under the employer's trust fund. At the time of the evaluation, the case had been accepted by the state division...