QME EXAM PREP QUESTIONS
WITH CORRECT ANSWERS
LATEST EXAM
3 factors to establish in making a causation determination - Answer-
(1) Presence of
pathological conditions and disability
(2) Relevant work exposures
(3) Non-industrial exposures (other causes of disease)
5 major types of causation - Answer- (1) Direct
(2) Contributing
(3) Acceleration
(4) Precipitation
(5) Aggravation
Direct causation - Answer- Work exposures are directly responsible
for the health
outcomes
,Contributing causation - Answer- Several factors led to the disease;
work exposure is
one of these factors
Acceleration - Answer- Disease process is accelerated by virtue of
work exposure. The
date of the onset of the disease is much sooner than it would have
been in the absence
of the exposure
Precipitation - Answer- Work exposure *precipitates* the
manifestation of the illness. For example, an underlying tendency or
asymptomatic problem was present, but the
work exposure causes it to clinically manifest
Aggravation - Answer- A medical condition may be present already,
but work exposure
makes it worse
Principle of "taking employees as you find them" - Answer- The
employer cannot avoid liability for an occupational injury by claiming
that the injury would not have happened if the worker had been in a
different physical or emotional condition before the accident
Criteria for compensation of psychiatric injuries - Answer- (1)
Diagnosed mental
disorder
, AND
(2) Causes disability or need for medical treatment
AND
(3) Employee can demonstrate that events of employment were
predominant cause of
the injury
Limits for claims of psychiatric injury - Answer- (1) Actual events of
employment were the predominant cause (> 50%) among all
combined causes of the psychiatric injury
(except if the injury is a derivative of an underlying physical injury)
(2) If the injury resulted from a violent act or from direct exposure
to a significant violent act, the actual events of employment must
have been a substantial cause of the injury
(contributed >= 35% of the causation from all sources combined)
(3) Employee was employed by employer >= 6 months (not
continuously), unless the injury was caused by a sudden and
extraordinary employment condition
(4) Injury was not substantially (>=35%) caused by "lawful,
nondiscriminatory, good faith personnel actions" (e.g., being passed
over for promotion or being transferred to another department)
(5) Claim cannot be filed after notification of termination or layoff
Perception is not disability - Answer- Disability is not based on how
much stress should have been felt by employee, but rather how much
stress is felt by an individual worker reacting uniquely to the work
environment. Stress must have proximately caused the injury.
WITH CORRECT ANSWERS
LATEST EXAM
3 factors to establish in making a causation determination - Answer-
(1) Presence of
pathological conditions and disability
(2) Relevant work exposures
(3) Non-industrial exposures (other causes of disease)
5 major types of causation - Answer- (1) Direct
(2) Contributing
(3) Acceleration
(4) Precipitation
(5) Aggravation
Direct causation - Answer- Work exposures are directly responsible
for the health
outcomes
,Contributing causation - Answer- Several factors led to the disease;
work exposure is
one of these factors
Acceleration - Answer- Disease process is accelerated by virtue of
work exposure. The
date of the onset of the disease is much sooner than it would have
been in the absence
of the exposure
Precipitation - Answer- Work exposure *precipitates* the
manifestation of the illness. For example, an underlying tendency or
asymptomatic problem was present, but the
work exposure causes it to clinically manifest
Aggravation - Answer- A medical condition may be present already,
but work exposure
makes it worse
Principle of "taking employees as you find them" - Answer- The
employer cannot avoid liability for an occupational injury by claiming
that the injury would not have happened if the worker had been in a
different physical or emotional condition before the accident
Criteria for compensation of psychiatric injuries - Answer- (1)
Diagnosed mental
disorder
, AND
(2) Causes disability or need for medical treatment
AND
(3) Employee can demonstrate that events of employment were
predominant cause of
the injury
Limits for claims of psychiatric injury - Answer- (1) Actual events of
employment were the predominant cause (> 50%) among all
combined causes of the psychiatric injury
(except if the injury is a derivative of an underlying physical injury)
(2) If the injury resulted from a violent act or from direct exposure
to a significant violent act, the actual events of employment must
have been a substantial cause of the injury
(contributed >= 35% of the causation from all sources combined)
(3) Employee was employed by employer >= 6 months (not
continuously), unless the injury was caused by a sudden and
extraordinary employment condition
(4) Injury was not substantially (>=35%) caused by "lawful,
nondiscriminatory, good faith personnel actions" (e.g., being passed
over for promotion or being transferred to another department)
(5) Claim cannot be filed after notification of termination or layoff
Perception is not disability - Answer- Disability is not based on how
much stress should have been felt by employee, but rather how much
stress is felt by an individual worker reacting uniquely to the work
environment. Stress must have proximately caused the injury.
