Lawyer Karen Capen looks at the implications of a recent Alberta court case involving chronic fatigue syndrome. She thinks Canada’s physicians should pay close attention to this precedent-setting case.
Few medical diagnoses are more hotly debated than chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Now, an Alberta court has added to the controversy. In Baillie v. Crown Life, a judge ruled that a women with CFS qualifies for long-term disability benefits.1 Crown Life was ordered to pay benefits to plaintiff Sharon Baillie, a former senior computer systems analyst with the insurance company.
Part of the case dealt with the insurance policy and the time requirements for filing a claim. For physicians, however, the ruling’s importance centres on how difficult it is to diagnose the condition.
This legal recognition of CFS, which the Alberta court handed down in March, should alert doctors of the need to understand the range of symptoms that fall within the condition’s diagnostic profile. The symptoms assigned to CFS generally include at least 6 months of extreme fatigue that reduces a person’s activity by 50% or more. This is accompanied by at least 4 other problems such as aching muscles and joints, headache, sleep disturbances, memory and concentration problems, and sore throat. Although the cause has yet to be determined conclusively, it is thought to involve a virus and/or a weakened immune system.
In recognizing CFS, the Alberta court recognized that a number of medical bodies have done the same thing, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
You can read the rest of this article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1229657/pdf/cmaj_159_5_533.pdf
Comment in:
What causes chronic fatigue? [CMAJ. 1999]
What causes chronic fatigue? [CMAJ. 1999]
Source: Capen K. Chronic fatigue syndrome get court’s nod of approval as legitimate disorder. CMAJ. 1998 Sep 8;159(5):533-4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1229657/pdf/cmaj_159_5_533.pdf