Patient Asks for Psychiatrist to Complete Short-Term Disability Paper

[FlowRate]

An appeal to authority is not fallacious in this case for two reasons:
1. The entire conversation is about what reasonable psychiatrists do. Being an experienced psychiatrist is one part of being a reasonable one. (We're not as interested in a new intern's opinion.)
2. In medicine, clinical experience is considered a weak form of evidence when other, more rigorous, forms of evidence are not readily available.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mad Jack]

Ultimately the AMA and the AAPLS have opined that treating providers should not become involved in legal matters, including disability. Dunno how you work around that.

What part of the tolerance section of the return to work guidelines do you use? Cause you read the professional guidelines in that area, before offering an opinion, right?

The forms typically only ask the facts of the case so far as the ones I've seen in the inpatient setting, and appear to then be reviewed by someone in medical review at the companies involved. They specifically ask that these forms be filled by the treating physician, likely so that they can be reviewed for initial denial or whether they should proceed to further evaluation by an occupational medicine physician that specializes in these matters. They're basically glorified doctor's notes that do not in and of themselves approve disability for the patient but rather serve as evidence to clarify the case.

Totally agree that someone specializing in the area of occupational medicine and disability should be the one doing actual disability evaluations though.