Christopher Lear Jan 16, 2018 a 6:01 pm PST

Hopefully, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee will specify that the impairment ratings for breast cancer are calculated by reviewing the consensus-derived estimates developed by medical specialists which reflect the severity of the medical condition and
the degree to which the impairment decreases an individual’s ability to perform common activities of daily living (ADL), excluding work. Hopefully they will note that the impairment ratings provided in the AMA Guides, 5th ed. were designed to reflect functional limitations
and not disability. They should recognize that the whole person impairment percentages listed in the Guides estimate the impact of the impairment on the individual’s overall ability to perform activities of daily living, excluding work, as listed in Table 1-2 of those Guides. Perhaps they will also recognize that their failure to do so will carve a single exception to those Guides for this one particular type of injury which would be unfair to every single injured worker who has their non-breast injury impairment calculated using this methodology. Perhaps they will also recognize that nobody is screaming foul simply because the AMA Guides specifically states that male mammary gland injury is, by definition, 0%. Those crying foul on behalf of women's breast injuries should have, in fairness, noted that this is unfair gender discrimination and since they are so obviously driven by their desire to eliminate gender discrimination it is odd that they would have missed that language in the AMA Guides.