Adjusters should track a claimant’s use of pain medications

Adjusters should always inquire as to what medications a claimant takes on a regular basis, because the side effects of some of them might be misinterpreted as psychological impairments that form the basis of a claim.
“We don’t realize how important this is,” said Dr. Zohar Waisman, a psychiatrist and assessor at Evolve Assessments & Diagnostics.
He was speaking to delegates attending a seminar at the Ontario Insurance Adjusters’ Association 2009 Professional Development & Claims Conference on Feb 4 in Toronto.
Waisman went on to indicate that certain medications, especially pain medications, might sometimes explain symptoms such as lack of energy. In addition, they could have a potential impact on cognitive ability.
During an assessment process, when a claimant notes extreme fatigue and loss of energy, it is often chalked up to depression or anxiety when in fact it could be a side effect of pain medication, he said. Also, high doses of pain medication can result in extremely poor scores on psychological tests.
Medically we tend to “screw things up” by giving people very high doses of medications that affect their cognitive ability and their energy, Waisman said.
Furthermore, many people take much more than the recommended dosage of pain medications; the withdrawal symptoms can be dangerous and life threatening.
Antidepressants, which do not cause chemical dependency, are a viable alternative to pain medications, he noted. Some can work on pain receptors in the spine and brain to reduce pain. There is, unfortunately, a stigma of dependency attached to these types of medications, despite research that proves this to be untrue, Waisman pointed out.
He urged adjusters to ask for OHIP claim records and request information on a patient’s medical intake when working on a case to determine whether there are other factors to symptoms.