OBJECTIVE MEASURES – NICE, BUT NOT THE HOLY GRAIL

I see a common phrase when I read reports from insurance doctors. It goes like this:

There is no objective evidence of impairment or injury.

This phrase is used to discount and dismiss the reality of an individual’s injuries, disabilities and pain. The assumption behind this statement is that if the injuries were real there would be objective evidence to show it. This is an artificially high standard of evidence that is hardly ever found.

There are many examples of things in our daily life that we cannot see, but know to be true. And, we never question it.

Take gravity, for example. Only the truly uninformed would doubt it’s existence. Yet, we cannot see it and cannot measure it directly. We can only see the effects of gravity.

Rain falls down. When you let go of an object it falls to the ground. These are the effects of gravity. This is real evidence – no one disputes this.

I cannot see your pain. But, if I squeeze your sore wrist and you yell, I can see, or hear, the effects of your pain. This too is real evidence.

This is really common sense. I only write about it because so many people are hurt by insurance doctors. By hiding behind the Holy Grail of objective evidence, insurance doctors can feel good about denying injured people the help they need. But, at whose expense.

If insurance doctors wanted to be fair, only a little empathy and common sense would be needed.

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Mike