Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recovery?

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NicolaM

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Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recovery? An affirmative answer so far as physical injuries are concerned (notably ‘whiplash’ and low back pain) is provided by studies of the incidence and outcome of these conditions when compensation is and is not available (Balla, 1982; Schrader et al, 1996) or has been eliminated by legislative changes (Carron, DeGood & Tait 1985; Cassidy et al, 2000; Mills & Horne, 1986)


Taken from http://www.mheap.com/rta.html which is the first document I looked up on the internet. There are some papers referenced in that paragraph.

I could find more if you wish.

This association is very well documented.

Nicola

Mod Edit: This thread was split from here Work Related Repetitive Strain Injury - effect on my record, compensation etc?
It was not started by NicolaM
 
Re: Repetitive Strain Injury - sue employer?

This is another, perhaps pertinent to the type of discussion in this thread
http://www.eatonhand.com/pot/pot504.htm
Worker's compensation litigation and chronic pain: Unfortunately, when persistent pain is labelled work-related, a complicated scenario often develops which promotes dissatisfaction and hinders recovery.
This is particularly evident when the primary problem is persistent pain and not simply the early result of a cut or break. Obviously, any chronic health problem can have profound effects on a person's life.
However, the influences of compensation and litigation can be so overwhelming to a patient that medical treatment becomes irrelevant or even counterproductive to recovery.
This is an entirely different issue than malingering, personality disorder, or laziness, for it seems to develop as a result of a particular set of circumstances
 
Re: Repetitive Strain Injury - sue employer?

NicolaM said:
Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recovery? An affirmative answer so far as physical injuries are concerned (notably ‘whiplash’ and low back pain) is provided by studies of the incidence and outcome of these conditions when compensation is and is not available (Balla, 1982; Schrader et al, 1996) or has been eliminated by legislative changes (Carron, DeGood & Tait 1985; Cassidy et al, 2000; Mills & Horne, 1986)


Taken from http://www.mheap.com/rta.html which is the first document I looked up on the internet. There are some papers referenced in that paragraph.

I could find more if you wish.

This association is very well documented.

Nicola
Click to expand...

NicolaM said:
This is another, perhaps pertinent to the type of discussion in this thread
http://www.eatonhand.com/pot/pot504.htm
Worker's compensation litigation and chronic pain: Unfortunately, when persistent pain is labelled work-related, a complicated scenario often develops which promotes dissatisfaction and hinders recovery.
This is particularly evident when the primary problem is persistent pain and not simply the early result of a cut or break. Obviously, any chronic health problem can have profound effects on a person's life.
However, the influences of compensation and litigation can be so overwhelming to a patient that medical treatment becomes irrelevant or even counterproductive to recovery.
This is an entirely different issue than malingering, personality disorder, or laziness, for it seems to develop as a result of a particular set of circumstances
Click to expand...

Sorry for not being clear. When I referred to 'evidence', I was thinking of a relevant published peer-reviewed paper in a respected adacemic journal, not
1) One academic's essay relating to Road Traffic Accident injuries (not work-related), or
2) A set of opinions with no supporting evidence.
 
Re: Repetitive Strain Injury - sue employer?

[broken link removed]
Iowa Orthepaedic Journal

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Spine

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
(medical Journal of Australia)

These are peer reviewed papers, in respected journals, showing an association between litigation and delayed return to work and poorer prognosis.

There are many such articles in peer reviewed journals.

There is a well recognised association with litigation and delay to recovery. This is not specific to a particular injury

Also, if you look at my second post, perhaps you did not see the references? eg: Carron, DeGood & Tait 1985 :That is from a paper published in Pain (a peer reviewed journal)
The reference to Mills & Horne, 1986 is from the NZ medical Journal.

Suffice it to say that there is a wealth of evidence to support an association between litigation and poorer prognosis.


Nicola
 
Re: Repetitive Strain Injury - sue employer?

NicolaM said:
[broken link removed]
Iowa Orthepaedic Journal

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Spine

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
(medical Journal of Australia)

These are peer reviewed papers, in respected journals, showing an association between litigation and delayed return to work and poorer prognosis.

There are many such articles in peer reviewed journals.

There is a well recognised association with litigation and delay to recovery. This is not specific to a particular injury

Also, if you look at my second post, perhaps you did not see the references? eg: Carron, DeGood & Tait 1985 :That is from a paper published in Pain (a peer reviewed journal)
The reference to Mills & Horne, 1986 is from the NZ medical Journal.

Suffice it to say that there is a wealth of evidence to support an association between litigation and poorer prognosis.


Nicola
Click to expand...

You're missing the 'elephant in the room'. Mommah claimed that "Putting alot of energy into suing your employer while likely make your condition worse not better ( lots of medical evidence)". There is nothing in these papers to suggest that the cause of the worse outcomes is the legal involvement. Half-an-ounce of common sense would suggest that more serious injuries are more likely to have legal involvement, and therefore worse outcomes don't come as a huge surprise.
 
Re: Work Related Repetitive Strain Injury - effect on my record, compensation etc?

That is incorrect Complainer.
Have a look at this link [broken link removed] (the first above), and read the discussion portion, and look at the references.

Studies compare like with like, when there is a comparison between groups of people, the characteristics of the groups of people are made as similar as possible to exclude (in this example) more serious injury being the reason for differences between the group: eg: people with the same level of injury are compared together. If this is not done, then the results will not be valid. That is a basic premise for this type of research paper.

Interesting discussion, but I think we are side-lining the OPs original question, and should move on.
:)

Nicola
 
Re: Work Related Repetitive Strain Injury - effect on my record, compensation etc?

NicolaM said:
That is incorrect Complainer.
Have a look at this link [broken link removed] (the first above), and read the discussion portion, and look at the references.

Studies compare like with like, when there is a comparison between groups of people, the characteristics of the groups of people are made as similar as possible to exclude (in this example) more serious injury being the reason for differences between the group: eg: people with the same level of injury are compared together. If this is not done, then the results will not be valid. That is a basic premise for this type of research paper.

Interesting discussion, but I think we are side-lining the OPs original question, and should move on.
:)

Nicola
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I don't see that there is a clear message here. If you look at the studies referenced from that paper;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8259932 - shows a link between litigation and not returning to work;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2932671 - show no link betwen litigation and long-term outcome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2521897 - shows no improvement for those who litigated (but does not show any deterioration either)

I don't see anything to clearly uphold Mommah's claim.
 
Re: Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recover

Here's a meta-analysis specific to compensation/litigation and outcomes.
In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses.
Meta-analyses would be viewed as the gold standard in epidemiology and evidence based medicine.


Money matters: A meta-analytic review of the association between financial compensation and the experience and treatment of chronic pain.
Rohling, Martin L.; Binder, Laurence M.; Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Jennifer
Current issue feed
Health Psychology. Vol 14(6), Nov 1995, 537-547.
Meta-analytic procedures were used to determine the relation between disability compensation and pain. Of the 157 relevant identified studies, only 32 contained quantifiable data from treatment and control groups. The majority of these exclusively examined chronic low back pain patients (72%). Overall, 136 comparisons were obtained, on the basis of 3,802 pain patients and 3,849 controls. Liberal procedures for estimating effect sizes (ESs) yielded an ES of .60 (p < .0002). Conservative procedures yielded an ES of .48 (p < .0005). Both ESs differed from zero, indicating that compensation is related to increased reports of pain and decreased treatment efficacy. These results are interpreted in light of current models of pain.

This is a second meta-analysis, looking at associations between compensation and outcomes, this time with respect to surgery

This systematic review and meta-analysis of the surgical literature shows a strong association between compensation status and poor outcome after surgery

There is a lot of evidence to show poorer outcomes when there is litigation involved, backed up by gold standard meta-analyses.


Clear as mud now? :)
It's all getting a bit too technical here..

Nicola
 
Re: Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recover

Indeed it is getting a bit technical, and statistics was the only subject I failed in college, so I have to confess I get a bit lost in that area. Both of these studies looked at compensation, not litigation. In the US, 'Workers Comp' provides insurance-based compensation for workplace injuries. This is a very different approach to litigation.

From 'Money Matters' study; "Financial reimbursement provided to a person in response to a complaint of pain. All forms of compensation were included without restriction to its source(e.g. workers' compensation, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Veterans Administration (VA) benefits, and civil settlements)."

From the JAMA study; "[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]No studies examined litigating patients exclusively[/FONT]"

I'm not sure how applicable these fairly old US studies would be to the Irish environment, with our legislation, particularly H&S legislation.
 
Re: Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recover

Complainer,
There is an association between the two issues.
It is well recognised.
We can banter back and forth about various studies, but that is the bottom line.

Nicola
 
Re: Does the process of litigation itself encourage disability and compromise recover

Complainer said:
In the US, 'Workers Comp' provides insurance-based compensation for workplace injuries. This is a very different approach to litigation.
Click to expand...

I have some small experience in this area and I can say that they are not that that terribly different.
 
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