Most doctors are unfamiliar with the process of obtaining Federal Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS, but are more often than not familiar with the process, procedures, and correlative headaches associated with Worker’s Comp benefits. Because of this greater familiarity, there is often an underlying suspicion that comes along with it — that rendering any medical opinion must be accompanied by some underlying justification and “objective” methodology of supporting the medical opinion. And this is understandable.
In this day and age of malpractice lawsuits, of questioning every test, procedure and opinion, it is rare that a medical doctor is comfortable and secure in rendering a medical opinion about one’s ability or inability to perform one or more of the essential elements of one’s job, based solely or primarily upon clinical examinations and reviewing of diagnostic results.
Enter the FCE — the “Functional Capacity Evaluation”. The FCE provides “cover” for a doctor’s medical opinion, because the doctor can point to an apparently “objective” evaluation — a third party rendering a number of physical tests, exertional exercises, physical capacity movements, etc., which serve to provide a framework from which a doctor can render an “objective ” opinion.
Why it is accepted that pointing to someone else’s evaluation — as opposed to relying upon one’s own clinical examinations, reviewing one’s history, reviewing diagnostic test results, etc. — is any more valid, is a great mystery. But if it makes the doctor feel more comfortable, then a person considering filing for Federal Disability Retirement benefits under FERS or CSRS should go ahead and agree to submit to an FCE, if that is what it takes to get the doctor on board.
Sincerely,
Robert R. McGill, Esquire
Filed under: OPM Disability Actors - The Doctor | Tagged: attorney specialized in helping injured federal workers, bad decisions by the federal owcp, civil service disability, convincing your doctor to support your fers disability claim, CSRS disability retirement federal attorney, dhs disability retirement, disability retirement for federal employees, disability retirement for federal law enforcement agents, doctors' familiarity with owcp workers comp and fers disability claims, doctors' objective methodology for proving opm disability claims, essential elements of jobs, essential elements of jobs not so essential according to evaluation, evaluation of functional abilities for owcp federal employees, fbi disability retirement, federal disability law blog, federal law enforcement occupational injury, federal va employee with disability, FERS disability retirement, functional abilities evaluation for federal employees, Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), giving to your doctor the tools he needs to support your opm disablity case, helping your doctor to help you in your fers disability application, how to help your doctor to help you in your csrs disability application, how to keep a doctor in your side for opm disability filing, injury compensation for federal employees, irs disability retirement, law firm opm disability, occupational rehabilitation programs and us government disability retirement, OPM disability retirement, opm disability retirement benefits, opm legal services law firm, owcp disability retirement, owcp disability retirement really is usually meant "opm disability retirement", physician's security in rendering a medical opinion for an opm claim, postal employee disability retirement, representing federal employees from any us government agency, representing federal employees in and outside the country, us federal employees and malpractice lawsuits, USPS disability retirement, what can a federal worker do after a serious injury?, what you can do to convince your doctor to help you with your opm claim, when health care providers won't help the disabled federal worker, when the opm objects to your doctor's medical opinion, why doctors are afraid the owcp questions his procedures and opinions, why sometimes doctors won't cooperate with the disabled federal workers, workers comp and keeping a doctor to your side, workers comp disability retirement, workers' compensation program and opm disability for federal workers | 1 Comment »