Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission

Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) (Catastrophic Injury) Rules 2018

Instrument 2018 No. MRCC65

1 Name

This instrument is the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) (Catastrophic Injury) Rules 2018.

2 Commencement

This instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

3 Authority

This instrument is made under subsection 122A(1) of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988.

4 Purpose

The purpose of this instrument is to prescribe conditions that must be satisfied for the purpose of the definition of catastrophic injury in section 4 of the Act.

5 Definitions

In this instrument:

Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988.

catastrophic amputation injury, see section 9.

catastrophic blindness injury, see section 11.

catastrophic brain injury, see section 8.

catastrophic burn injury, see section 10.

catastrophic injury, see subsection 4(1) of the Act.

catastrophic nerve injury, see section 7.

employee, see subsection 4(1) of the Act.

FIMTM score sheet is the Functional Independence Measure score sheet which is a basic indicator of severity of functional limitation, being the version of the document as it exists on the day of commencement of this instrument and published by the Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre.

Note: The FIMTM score sheet is available at: https://ahsri.uow.edu.au/aroc/whatisfim/index.html by opening the page and clicking on the excel diagram under the heading “AN-SNAP Calculator With Benchmarks”.

injury means an injury in respect of which compensation is payable under the Act.

Note: Under paragraph 5A(1)(a) of the Act, an injury includes a disease suffered by an employee. For disease, see subsection 5B(1) of the Act.

Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) tool is a common cognitive screening or assessment tool used in clinical practices, being the version of the document as it exists on the day of commencement of this instrument and published by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority.

Note : The Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) tool is available at: https://www.ihpa.gov.au/what-we-do/standardised-mini-mental-state-examination-smmse by opening the page and clicking on the heading “Standard Mini-Mental Examination (SMMSE) tool”.

6 Conditions of a catastrophic injury

For the purposes of the definition of catastrophic injury in subsection 4(1) of the Act, an injury is a catastrophic injury if both of the following conditions are satisfied:

(a)   the injury results in an impairment assessed by a FIMTM credentialed medical or health care professional at a score of 5 or less on any of the items on the FIMTM score sheet;

(b)   the Commission is satisfied that the injury is:

(i)                 a catastrophic nerve injury; or

(ii)               a catastrophic brain injury; or

(iii)            a catastrophic amputation injury; or

(iv)             a catastrophic burn injury; or

(v)               a catastrophic blindness injury.

7 Catastrophic nerve injury

An injury is a catastrophic nerve injury if the injury is a lesion of the spinal cord, cauda equina, brachial plexus, lumbosacral plexus, cervical plexus or coccygeal plexus which results in one or more of the following:

(a)   sensory deficit;

(b)   motor deficit;

(c)   bladder dysfunction;

(d)   bowel dysfunction.

8 Catastrophic brain injury

An injury is a catastrophic brain injury if the injury results in an impairment of cognitive, physical or psychosocial functions and it results in:

(a)   one or more of the following:

(i)         a period of post traumatic amnesia of at least 7 days;

(ii)       a significant brain imaging abnormality;

(iii)    a score for the Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) tool of less than 25; or

(b)   damage to the brain similar in effect and severity to that referred to in subparagraph (a)(i), (ii) or (iii).

9 Catastrophic amputation injury

An injury is a catastrophic amputation injury if the injury results in:

(a)   one or more of the following:

(i)         a forequarter amputation;

(ii)       a shoulder disarticulation;

(iii)     a hindquarter amputation;

(iv)     a hip disarticulation;

(v)       an amputation involving the loss of 65% or more of the length of the femur; or

(b)   the loss of at least two of the following:

(i)         50% or more of the length of the tibia of the left leg;

(ii)       50% or more of the length of the tibia of the right leg;

(iii)       the thumb of the left hand at or above the first metacarpophalangeal joint;

(iv)        the thumb of the right hand at or above the first metacarpophalangeal joint.

10 Catastrophic burn injury

An injury is a catastrophic burn injury if the injury is:

(a)     full thickness burns:

(i)       for a person aged 16 years or above at the time of the injury–greater than 40 per cent of the total body surface area; or

(ii)     for a person aged under 16 years at the time of the injury–greater than 30 per cent of the total body surface area; or

(iii)  to the hands, face or genital area; or

(b)     inhalation burns resulting in vital capacity or forced expiratory volume in one second which is less than 50% of that predicted for the person’s age, height and ethnicity.

11 Catastrophic blindness injury

An injury is a catastrophic blindness injury if the injury results in one or more of the following:

(a)     visual acuity after correction by suitable lenses of less than 6/60 in both eyes;

(b)     constriction to within 10 degrees of fixation in the better eye irrespective of corrected visual acuity;

(c)     a combination of visual defects resulting in the same degree of visual impairment as that specified in paragraph (a) or (b).

Note: A person would have visual acuity of 6/60 if he or she is only able to see at a distance of 6 metres a symbol which a person with normal vision could see at a distance of 60 metres.