A number of people have asked me to set up a question and answer forum to see if we can thrash out some of the more complicated issues. For example I have seen two claimant recently who are alleging that prescribed medication caused significant side-effects and damage, both claiming economic damage, one who alleges the medication made him a compulsive gambler and the other alleging that the medication made her a zombie and she had to sell her profitable business at a loss. Both did not manifest any significant psychiatric disorder when assessed. Do they have a claim? The man who was a compulsive gambler had been a compulsive gambler previously and despite knowing about this unusual side effect for at least 12 months continued taking the medication. A further problem arises when one considers the issue of not counting for secondary psychiatric impairment. Is a side-effect from a medication a physical injury or consequential upon a physical injury? If so, it does not count. Bullying, as we know, seems to have become today’s equivalent of RSI. Is it bullying when a manager tells a poorly performing worker “the time so trying is passed, it’s time to start performing!”
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