Appeals Court Shoots Down AMA Sixth Edition Impairment Ratings

The Kansas Court of Appeals dealt another blow to the much-criticized sixth edition of the American Medical Association's impairment guides, ruling that using it to determine a workers' disability rating violated his constitutional rights by depriving him of a remedy for his workplace injury. "I assume this means we'll be revisiting the guidelines next year when we reconvene," said Kansas state Sen. Julia Lynn, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee that produced the 2013 legislation adopting the guidelines.   In Pardo v. United Parcel Service and Li...