Mesenteric panniculitis

Mesenteric panniculitis — DVA SoP factors

Every factor in the Repatriation Medical Authority Statement of Principles for Mesenteric panniculitis. DVA can only accept a claim for Mesenteric panniculitis if at least one of these factors is met and connected to your service. Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) applies to operational service; Balance of Probabilities (BoP) applies to peacetime service.

Source: Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles as held by the Veterans Health Centre. SoPs are amended and replaced regularly; always confirm the current instrument at rma.gov.au before relying on it.

RH No. 49 of 20184 factors

Meaning of mesenteric panniculitis: For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, mesenteric panniculitis: (a) means an inflammatory condition of the fatty layer (panniculus) that underlies the mesentery, omentum and peritoneum in the abdominal cavity, and which is clinically symptomatic or requires treatment; and (b) excludes sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis, retroperitoneal fibrosis (Ormond disease), peritoneal adhesions, acute peritonitis, infectious peritonitis, and the radiological phenomenon of "misty mesentery" not diagnosed specifically as mesenteric panniculitis.

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 49 of 2018

At least one of the following factors must as a minimum exist before it can be said that a reasonable hypothesis has been raised connecting mesenteric panniculitis or death from mesenteric panniculitis with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
having an abdominal infection with tuberculosis or atypical mycobacteria at the time of clinical onset of mesenteric panniculitis;
(2)
having an abdominal infection with tuberculosis or atypical mycobacteria at the time of clinical worsening of mesenteric panniculitis;
(3)
for mesenteric panniculitis of the colon only, having undergone colonoscopy within the 48 hours before the clinical worsening of mesenteric panniculitis;
(4)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for mesenteric panniculitis;

Aggravation-only factors: the factors in subsections 8(2) to 8(4) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, the condition where it was suffered or contracted before or during (but did not arise out of) the person’s relevant service.

Accepted — what is it worth?

A Statement of Principles decides one thing only: whether DVA accepts liability for mesenteric panniculitis. It says nothing about how much you are paid. Compensation is worked out separately, from impairment points under the GARP — so a condition can be accepted and still rate few points, or rate more than you expect once it is combined with everything else on your file.