Diagnosis and prognosis in compensation claims.
Psychiatric syndromes following compensable injury are not unusual in surgical practice. All such patients show exaggeration of their symptoms; compensation neurosis and malingering in particular are difficult to separate clinically. The signs and symptoms are reviewed. The prognosis has been assessed in 52 cases of compensation neurosis/malingering; remission of symptoms was usual except for spinal injuries, but return to previous occupation was not common and, despite the triviality of 70% of the injuries, 73% of the patients were off work for more than 6 months. The factors affecting prognosis are discussed, but the effect of legal settlement of claims could not be assessed accurately.
D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D014942:Workers' Compensation; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology*