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The government's whiplash summit today
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The government's whiplash summit today
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Minister Jonathan Djanogly has said today, following his 'whiplash summit' that in the summer the government will consult on the feasibility of introducing independent medical panels to replace the c
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The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 2/5/2012 3:12 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 5
First: 2/5/2012
Last: 30/7/2012
Minister Jonathan Djanogly has said today, following his 'whiplash summit' that in the summer the government will consult on the feasibility of introducing independent medical panels to replace the current assessment of whiplash injuries either by GPs or by doctors employed by medical reporting organisations.

The Ministry of Justice has said: “Independent (eg, court appointed) medical panel doctors without direct client links to either the claimant or defendants could help to provide a transparent and consistent approach to assessment and easier identification of exaggerated or fraudulent injuries.”

Hmm. What do you think about this? Are doctors not already independent?

Re: The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 2/5/2012 6:37 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2035
First: 12/3/2010
Last: 19/5/2013
Helen,
 I regret that as the Tory Party has had so many members with, shall we say 'punishing' hobbies, I opened your thread in a fever of voyeuristic anticipation!   What revelatory announcements had been made at the Whiplash Summit?  Had Miss Demeanour offered special terms to her Boys in Blue?   Were we to see the Mr.Cameron attend Prime Minister's Questions in S&M drag?

But I am sadly disappointed, not to say deflated.   Except........  "Exaggerated and
fraudulent injuries"?  That's more like it, Matron!

Nhoj

Re: The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 2/5/2012 10:13 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 3037
First: 27/3/2012
Last: 18/5/2013
A good discussion topic Dr.HelenLB! No doubt about independence of the doctors, but this policy seems to be surely better & will be able to minimize the injustice.

Re: The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 3/5/2012 9:18 AM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 5
First: 2/5/2012
Last: 30/7/2012
In Response to Re: The government's whiplash summit today:

I share your disappointment, John! On a more serious note, though, after the summit the Government has announced that it will be setting up panels, so its a question of 'watch this space' as to how that will work, I suppose. Interestingly, it also quoted research published in January by LV= car insurance which indicated that 60% of GPs have seen an increase in the number of patients they believe are feigning whiplash in the last two years. That seems quite a lot doesn't it?

HB

Re: The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 3/5/2012 12:01 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2035
First: 12/3/2010
Last: 19/5/2013
I have two friends who were recently 'rear-ended' while stationary by a car going at 40mph. They both ended up in the back seats as the fronts collapsed, posibly a good thing as a lot of energy was absorbed, but they both have whip-lash, as well as other injuries and fractures.

A definition of 'whip-lash' is essential - I thought that some insurance companies were writing into their policies that a collision at less that 10mph (or something) was ineligible for whip-lash compensation.  This seems a much fairer criterion than a clinical one, as whip-lash is intrinsically a soft-tissue injury that is most difficult to quantify.  This recent model study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19887145 found that 54kph (33.5mph) was the minimum before such injury was likely to occur, so even 10mph is generous.

However, the work of the Thatcham Centre shows that speed is not the only criterion.   Seat and in particular head rest height and design can significantly influence the risk of whip-lash injury, and no doubt the adjustment by individual drivers and passengers and their use, or not, of seat belts.    The Thatcham test is carried out at only 16kph (10mph) in line with the insurers' embargo.
See: www.thatcham.org/safety/ppts/IIWPG_March_05_euro.ppt

John

Re: The government's whiplash summit today

posted at 9/5/2012 3:57 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 5
First: 2/5/2012
Last: 30/7/2012
Thanks for the links, John. Interestingly, some of the commentators did say that better car design means fewer serious injuries and therefore more less serious, including whiplash.

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