By Dr. Christopher Brigham

Greetings, and welcome to this week's impairment tip.

This week's impairment tip is courtesy of Leslie Dilbeck, W.C.C.P., CIR, Senior Consultant for Brigham & Associates.

A common error in hernia cases is that the evaluator will reference Table 6-9, Class 1, page 136 (5th ed.) and assign impairment based on the last qualifier:

Occasional mild discomfort at site of defect but not precluding most activities of daily living.

However, the error is that the first qualifier is not met:

Palpable defect in supporting structure of abdominal wall.

Therefore, if a palpable defect is not present at MMI then there is no ratable impairment based on the Hernia rating criteria in the Guides.

Brigham is the editor of the Guides Newsletter and Guides Casebook. To view more of these tips visit:

www.impairment.com/tips

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