Impairment ratings in personal injury cases are important.
They are different from disability ratings.
What are Impairment Ratings?
An impairment rating is purely a medical determination. Permanent impairment is any anatomic or functional abnormality or loss after the person has reached maximum medical improvement.
Permanent disability is not purely medical. A permanent disability exists when the actual or presumed ability to engage in gainful activity is reduced. In other words, this is an administrative determination. It is not solely a medical determination. It is based on that person’s ability to engage in gainful activity. That gainful activity is the activity that the person was engaged in before the injury.
Impairment Ratings Personal Injury-Two or More Impairments
Where a person has two or more impairments, they are not added together. The value of each is determined. That determination is then transposed to a common denominator such as the whole man. These values are combined, not added. A combined values chart exists under the AMA guidelines by which a combination is assessed.
The actual measurement of the impairment is based first upon the determination of the prescribed neutral position for each motion. If the person cannot assume the prescribed neutral position, then the degree of deviation is determined.
A second measurement is made based upon how far the person can move in relation to full range of motion in that plane.
Impairment Ratings Personal Injury-Other Considerations
Aside from the loss of function and/or mobility of a body part, there is an impairment rating that is given based upon pain and on the overall importance of the joint. If the impairment is of your smallest toe, that is not of great importance in the overall scheme of things. If however the impairment is in a shoulder joint or knee joint, that affects overall performance of a number of other functions. In addition if there is pain associated with movement or lack of movement, that too enhances the impairment rating.
The guides provide for impairment ratings of not only of the extremities but also for the back, the nervous system, the respiratory, the cardiovascular system, the visual system, eye, ear, nose and throat, digestive system, the reproductive and urinary system, the endocrine system, the skin and for mental illness.
Functional Capacity Evaluation
In addition to getting the impairment rating, there may be some logic in sending the client to a physical therapy shop such as Pivot Physical Therapy for a Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) and then have the treating doctor sign off on the FCE. That provides some additional support for the impairment rating.
Impairment Ratings-Case Law
The case law dealing with the propriety of impairment ratings goes back nearly 100 years. In Sykes v. Brown, 156 Va. 881 (1931), the court dealt with future damages. Also see Exxon Corp. v. Fulgham, 224 Va. 235 (1982)
Call or contact us for a free consult. Also for more info on impairment ratings personal injury see the Wikipedia pages. Also see the post on this site dealing with proof of damages issues.
