Bill Proposes Criteria for Rating Impairments Caused by Breast Cancer

Whether a woman is of childbearing age would not be an appropriate factor for doctors to consider when determining impairment ratings in breast cancer cases, under a bill that could be heard by the California Assembly Insurance Committee on Tuesday. Doctors would be required to account for skin disfigurement, loss of function in the upper extremities, neurological deficits, lymphedema, pain, the presence or absence of the breast, and other impairments, under Assembly Bill 479, by Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego. Gonzalez Fletcher introduced permanent disability rating legislation in ea...