XN000022-1991-01-30 — Page 13

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1991

HE SAID THERE WAS ON THE FACE OF IT A CASE FOR THE 50 PER CENT SUPPLEMENT TO BE RE-CONSIDERED.

PATENTS

UNDER THE EXISTING ARRANGEMENT, MR YEUNG SAID THE COMMISSIONER FOR

MADE AN OFFER OF COMPENSATION TO LABOUR

PNEUMOCONIOTIC WHOSE DISABILITY HAS BEEN DETERMINED.

THIS OFFER ALLOWED THE PATIENT TO ELECT TO RECEIVE EITHER

*

A

ON

ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION BASED

THE ASSESSED LOSS OF BARNING CAPACITY, WHICH MIGHT BE AND WAS USUALLY INCREASED BY UP TO 50 PER CENT TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE FACT THAT THE CONDITION OF PNEUMOCONIOTIC PATIENTS USUALLY DETERIORATED OVER TIME, OR

A FIRST PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION ON The INITIALLY ASSESSED

LOSS OF BARNING CAPACITY, WHIHC WAS THEN INCREASED REGARD TO THE CONDITION OF THE PATIENT AS ASSESSED A TIME SEVEN TO EIGHT YEARS LATER.

PATIENT

WHO

HAVING SECOND

HE SAID IT DEPENDED ON WHETHER A

FOR SETTLED

A ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION PLUS THE

CENT THE 50 PER

INITIAL SUPPLEMENT WOULD HAVE LOST OUT, HAD THEY ELECTED TO GO FOR AN PAYMENT FOLLOWED SEVERAL YEARS LATER BY A SECOND ASSESSMENT.

TO DATE, ONLY 67 OUT OF 2,095 PATIENTS HAD OPTED FOR TWO ASSESSMENTS AND ONLY 18 HAD BEEN FULLY COMPENSATED.

AMONG THESE 18, EIGHT HAD CHANGED THEIR OCCUPATIONS, HE SAID.

THE AVERAGE DEGREE OF DISABILITY DETERMINED THE SECOND TIME AMOUNTED TO 22.5 PER CENT, WHICH COMPARED WITH AN AVERAGE DEGREE OF EXPECTED DISABILITY OF 16.7 PER CENT HAD THEY SETTLED FOR THE ONCE- AND-FOR-ALL PAYMENT PLUS THE SUPPLEMENT, HE ADDED.

AS REGARDS THE REMAINING 10 PATIENTS WHO CONTINUED WITH THEIR THE ORGINIAL OCCUPATIONS, THE AVERAGE DEGREE OF DISABILITY DETERMINED SECOND TIME AMOUNTED TO 44.5 PER CENT, WHICH COMPARED WITH AN AVERAGE DEGREE

SETTLED OF EXPECTED DISABILITY OF 18.5 PER CENT HAD THEY THE ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL PAYMENT PLUS THE SUPPLEMENT.

FOR

"ON THE BASIS OF THESE COMPARISONS, I AM BOUND TO SAY THAT HAVING TWO ASSESSMENTS RESULTS IN LARGER AMOUNTS OF COMPENSATION BEING PAID, AND TO THIS EXTEND PROVIDES A BETTER DEAL FOR PATIENTS INVOLVED.

"THAT SAID IT MUST BE EMPHASISED THAT PATIENTS WERE AND ARE FREE TO CHOOSE EITHER METHOD OF COMPUTING COMPENSATION," HE SAID,

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