Disability Assessment in Road Traffic Disability Assessment in Road Traffic Accident Accident

  --An Insight into Private Medico-Legal An Insight into Private Medico-Legal

PracticePractice

Prof(Dr) Mahabalesh ShettyProf(Dr) Mahabalesh ShettyDepartment of Forensic Medicine Department of Forensic Medicine

ToxicologyToxicology K S Hegde Medical Academy K S Hegde Medical Academy

Nitte University Nitte University Mangalore.Mangalore.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

BASED ON GUIDELINES & GAZETTE NOTIFICATION (Committee under chairmanship of DGHS, GOI) issued by Ministry of

Social Justice & Empowerment, GOI, (Extraordinary) Part II, Sec. 1, June 13, 2001.

As per the Act, authorities to give a disability certificate will be a medical board duly constituted by the central and state government.

The medical board should consist of at least three members, out of which one shall be a specialist in the concerned specialty.

The standard guidelines and tools mentioned in the notification have to be used in evaluation of disability for proper certificate.

“Disability”- is a Medico-legal term signifying loss of function and earning power. (At page 400 of Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 23rd Edition)

Medically- disability is physical impairment and inability to perform physical functions normally

Legally- disability is a permanent injury to body for which the person should or should not be compensated

ILC-2010-SC-MAC-Oct-1. Raj Kumar Vs. Ajay Kumar & another ... Hon'ble Mr. Justice

R.V. Raveendran , Hon'ble Mr. Justice H.L. Gokhale

Disability :Refers to any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner considered normal for a human being

Permanent Disability refers to residuary incapacity or loss of use of some part of body ,found at the end of treatment and recuperation, which is likely to remain for rest of life of the injured it can be either partial or total

Partial Permanent disability: It Refers to persons inability to perform all the duties and bodily functions that he could perform before the accident

Total Permanent disability: It refers to persons inability to perform any avocation or employment related activities as a result of the accident

The treatment of RTA patients includes team of doctors.

Physical impairment evaluation certificate is to be issued only by Medical Doctors who are registered

under

“The 1st schedule of M.C.I. Act, 1956”

ILC-2010-SC-MAC-Oct-1Raj Kumar Vs. Ajay Kumar & another ... Hon'ble Mr. Justice R.V. Raveendran , Hon'ble Mr. Justice H.L. Gokhale , ...

The doctor who treated an injured –claimant or who examined him subsequently to assess the extent of his permanent disability can give evidence only in regard to the extent of permanent disability

The tribunal should also act with caution if it proposed to accept the evidence of doctors who did not treat the injured but who give ready to use disability certificates without proper medical assessment

Even if the disability issued by medical board they may be accepted subject to evidence regarding the genuineness of such certificates

Tribunal may invariably make it a point to require the evidence of the doctor who treated the injured or who assessed the permanent disability

The doctor who assessed the extent of disability of the claimant is tendered for cross examination with reference to certificate

If the tribunal is not satisfied with the medical evidence produced by the claimant it can constitute a medical board (From a panel maintained by it in consultation with reputed local hospital/medical colleges) and refer the claimant to such medical board for assessment of the disability

Tribunal has rejected the prayer of the appellant for interim award pointing out that the certificate which has been filed by the appellant after one year is from a private doctor

Madhya Pradesh High Court:Babuliya Alias Babulal vs Mukeshkumar on 23 February, 1998

.

Learned Counsel Shri Vibhuti Nanavati for the

appellant-Insurance Company firstly submitted that the

learned Tribunal committed grave error in coming to

the conclusion that total disability of the claimant could

easily be assessed at 50% for the body as a whole. He

submitted mat the learned Tribunal should have

discarded the evidence of Dr. Advait Sukumar Mehr,

Exh. 43 who is not a qualified Neuro.Gujarat High CourtUnited India Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Rameshbhai Somabhai Vankar And ... on 6 October, 2006

In India, 1,20,000 people died and 12,70,000 sustained serious injuries in 2012 due to Road Traffic Accidents

Even if 10 % of the injured patients needs disability certificate for compensation .The medical board wont be able to furnish the same

The magnitude of road accidents and fatalities in India is alarming

This is evident from the fact that every hour there are about 56 accidents (about one accident every minute). Similarly, every hour more than 14 deaths occur due to road accidents i.e. one death in every 4 minutes.(the ratio is 1: 5)

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has amended the Persons with Disabilities Rules, 1996 in December 2009 with a view to simplify the process of issuing disability certificates

A doctor can now assess and issue the certificate even at PHC in case of visible disabilities such as amputations, complete paralysis, and blindness

Medico legal consultant may be called up and asked to give evidence in courts designated for motor vehicle accident cases in road traffic accident if he has issued disability certificate

Experience is the best teacher

Guidelines for evaluation of various disabilities and procedure for certification issued by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment vide Notification No. 16-18/97-NI. dated the 1 st June 2001 in the Gazette of India. Published by Authority, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

MANUAL FOR DOCTORS TO EVALUATE

PERMANENT PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT

Based on Expert Group Meeting on Disability Evaluation & National Seminar on disability Evaluation and Dissemination D.G.H.S. – W.H.O. – A.I.I.M.SNew Delhi – 1981

The Key To success

Honesty, Knowledge & Integrity

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and

useless, and knowledge without integrity is

dangerous and dreadful ”