Potential Issues of Utilising Surveillance Material in Personal Injury Claims

Surveillance has become a common approach utilised in personal injury matters. The extent to which a few short surveillance opportunities should be extrapolated to reflect the general level of functioning of the claimant is a matter for careful consideration in each individual case. In a medicolegal setting, Sydney psychiatrists that are MAS Assessors, DRS Assessors and AMS’s are required to give claimants the opportunity to explain any apparent inconsistencies between the history provided by the claimant and the video footage. Sometimes this can yield interesting results, such as it being identified that there was hours of footage of the wrong person. Discrepancies between the claimant’s account of impairment and the level of functioning in the footage may compel an adjustment in the assessment of Whole Person Impairment. Less commonly, there may be such a discrepancy as to call into question the presence of a diagnosis at all. Ultimately, any substantial discrepancy between material which seems to be objective and the account provided by a claimant will compel the assessing specialist to doubt the reliability of the claimant’s history.