Catastrophic SABS Amendments: How Catastrophic Are They?

On October 27th, Thomson Rogers’ personal injury lawyers, David Payne and Adam Tanel presented at the Brain Injury Association of Niagara Conference.

Below is an excerpt of their paper:

On June 1, 2016, significant changes to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) came into effect.

These changes include:

1. Cutting the combined limit for attendant care benefits and medical rehabilitation benefits from $2,000,000.00 to $1,000,000.00;
2. Cutting off non-earner benefits after 2 years;
3. Eliminating the GCS criterion for catastrophic impairment;
4. The introduction of diagnostic imaging and the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) as a CAT criterion;
5. Requiring a marked impairment in 3 domains (rather than 1) to qualify as catastrophic under Chapter 14 of the AMA Guides; and,
6. New “Kid-CAT” criteria for brain injury victims under the age of 18.

This paper will seek to explain these changes in detail, as well as provide strategies and coping mechanisms for health care workers who will face a host of new challenges as a result of these amendments.

View full paper: Catastrophic SABS Amendments: How Catastrophic Are They?
Appendix A: New CAT definition as found in the revised SABS
Appendix B: Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule Summary Chart
Appendix C: GOSE Structured Interview
Appendix D: Complete List of Ontario Association of Children’s Rehabilitation Services Facilities in Ontario