I commend AFOEM President, Dr Peter Connaughton on his opinion piece. It is time for professional bodies like AFOEM to add their weight to initiatives for change to our compensation systems that can unnecessarily contribute to poor health outcomes for those injured at work.
Here is a link to the statement:
Opinion Piece
Dr Connaughton refers to the recent Victorian Ombudsman’s Report that identifies significant problems related to the financial incentives paid to WorkSafe Agents.
Here is a link to my earlier commentary about the Victorian Ombudsman’s Report, its relevance nationally and particularly to my home state of Tasmania .
Through the Looking Glass – A Call for Greater Transparency
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About Tasworkdoc
As an occupational physician in private medical practice in Hobart, Tasmania - the southernmost state of Australia, I see workers referred by their general practitioners with various types of work-related injuries and diseases. These are mostly musculoskeletal injuries, both of traumatic and gradual onset as well as various associated psychological disorders. With interaction with patients for treatment and providing advice about rehabilitation, I have the opportunity, first-hand, to observe interactions between individual patients and compensation systems. I also conduct independent medical assessments, including impairment assessments for musculoskeletal injuries and asbestos-related disease compensation. This provides another perspective of workers within compensation systems.
Insult and Injury 
Thank you Peter, it is good to see that Dr Peter Connaughton AFOEM President has added his voice to this debate.
Peter, it was most timely for the AFOEM to prepare and release the Code of Ethics for its members. Some years ago, I innocently thought that the principal role of occupational medicine physicians was to act as an interface between Medicine proper and the employers of injured workers. However, many became willing pawns in the adversarial arena, often being on the side of third party insurers. To make matters worse, they were not inclined to become at all knowledgeable in pain medicine matters. Little wonder that the speciality developed a bad reputation. I had hoped the situation has improved, but evidently the Victorian Ombudsman’s Report does not give them a clean bill of health.
Thanks John
You might be interested to read the article just published about Adversarialism in Workers Compensation.
Peter Sharman
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