Necessity of developing a disability evaluation guideline

Background: Although doctors expend their best effort in treating their patients’ illnesses or injuries, the patients may retain some disabilities even after treatment. Accordingly, some conflicts occur between the patients’ expectations of financial compensation for their disabilities and the financial manager’s policy to efficiently distribute limited resources. The mediation of these social conflicts requires the determination of the degree of physical disability, which can be done by doctors alone. Hence, a reliable disability evaluation guideline should be established. However, currently, only a few educational programs on disability evaluation are available for doctors and there is no reliable guideline for disability evaluation.Current Concepts: There were attempts to implement the American Medical Association guideline in Korea; however, it is currently not being used efficiently because it is quite complicated and unsuited to Korean settings. Mcbride’s disability evaluation, published 60 years ago, is being used, but it is not realistic and unreasonable in Korea. To prepare a standard guideline for disability evaluation, the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences published a booklet, “Disability Evaluation Guideline: Explanation and Case Studies”, based on the American Medical Association guideline. The academy published the booklet’s revised version (2nd edition), ‘Disability evaluation guideline and utilization’, in 2016. However, Korean Academy of Medical Sciences guideline still not being used because it is too complicated to use.Discussion and Conclusion: Fair disability evaluation is a social responsibility given to doctors, and there should be a useful guideline for disability evaluation that reflects the characteristics of each medical society or association.