What can I claim secondary to frostbite?
1 condition in the Repatriation Medical Authority's Statements of Principles list frostbite as a factor. If DVA has accepted your frostbite, each of these has a documented pathway to a further claim.
At a glance
- Accepted conditionFrostbite
- 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 frostbite, and another condition's SoP lists frostbite 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 frostbite 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 (9): “having frostbite involving the affected joint before the clinical onset of osteoarthritis in that joint” [clinical onset] — factor (32): “having frostbite involving the affected joint 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 frostbite does.
What DVA means by frostbite
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.
Frostbite, for the purposes of the Statement of Principles, for the purposes of this Statement of Principles, frostbite: (a) means a thermal injury involving the freezing of skin, subcutaneous tissues or deep tissues; and (b) excludes hypothermia and other cold injuries not associated with the freezing of tissues. (3) While frostbite attracts ICD-10-AM code T33, T34 or T35, in applying this Statement of Principles the meaning of frostbite is that given in subsection (2). (4) For subsection (3), a reference to an ICD-10-AM code is a reference to the code assigned to a particular kind of injury or disease in The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM), Tenth Edition, effective date of 1 July 2017, copyrighted by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, ISBN 978-1-76007-296-4.
Note the exclusion. This instrument expressly excludes hypothermia and other cold injuries not associated with the freezing of tissues. A diagnosis of that is not a diagnosis of frostbite, and a claim framed the wrong way fails on the definition before any factor is considered.
Aggravation-only factors. In this instrument, subsections 9(2) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, frostbite where it was already present before or during service. If service caused frostbite outright, those factors are not available to you.
RH No. 11 of 2018 · BoP No. 12 of 2018 · 2 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 →
Frostbite accepted?
Contact us for more information.