What can I claim secondary to acute articular cartilage tear?
1 condition in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list acute articular cartilage tear as a factor. If DVA has accepted your acute articular cartilage tear, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionAcute articular cartilage tear
- Conditions it may open1
- SourceRMA SoPs
- Chart Review$600 + GST
How a secondary claim works
Some Statement of Principles factors are not about service at all — they name another condition. Where DVA has already accepted your acute articular cartilage tear, and another condition's SoP lists acute articular cartilage tear as a factor, that part of the next claim is already established on your file. How a secondary claim works, in full →
Conditions that list acute articular cartilage tear as a factor
Quoted from the instrument. A pathway existing is not the same as a claim succeeding — each factor carries thresholds your record has to satisfy.
Osteoarthritis
BoP No. 62 of 2017
Balance of Probabilities — factor (7): “having an acute articular cartilage tear of the affected joint within the 25 years before the clinical onset of osteoarthritis in that joint” [clinical onset] — factor (30): “having an acute articular cartilage tear of the affected joint within the 25 years before the clinical worsening of osteoarthritis in that joint” [worsening]
This condition has a Balance of Probabilities instrument only, so the same test applies whatever your service type.
Other accepted conditions that also open osteoarthritis
If any of these is also on your file, it reaches some of the same conditions acute articular cartilage tear does.
What DVA means by acute articular cartilage tear
A claim is tested against the definition first. If the diagnosis on your file does not meet this wording, the factors below never get reached — so it is worth checking that what your doctor wrote matches what the instrument requires.
Acute articular cartilage tear, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, acute articular cartilage tear: (a) means an injury involving tearing or damage of the articular (hyaline) cartilage of a joint resulting in a sudden onset of pain and tenderness; and (b) excludes chronic tears and degenerative tears of articular cartilage.
Note the exclusion. This instrument expressly excludes chronic tears and degenerative tears of articular cartilage. A diagnosis of that is not a diagnosis of acute articular cartilage tear, and a claim framed the wrong way fails on the definition before any factor is considered.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(3) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, acute articular cartilage tear where it was already present before or during service. If service caused acute articular cartilage tear outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 21 of 2019 · BoP No. 22 of 2019 · 3 factors
Reviewed by Dr Thomas Perkins
Founding doctor, Veterans Health Centre · former RAAF aviation medical officer · 13 years working exclusively with ADF members and veterans. Full profile →
Acute articular cartilage tear accepted?
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