Mitral valve prolapse

Mitral valve prolapse — DVA SoP factors

Every factor in the Repatriation Medical Authority Statement of Principles for Mitral valve prolapse. DVA can only accept a claim for Mitral valve prolapse 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. 15 of 20231 factors

Meaning of mitral valve prolapse: For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, mitral valve prolapse: (a) means a degenerative, structural disorder of the mitral valve apparatus in which there is systolic displacement of an abnormally thickened or redundant mitral leaflet into the left atrium, and where this disorder has been confirmed by echocardiographic studies; and (b) excludes: (i) flail mitral valve leaflet; (ii) inherited connective tissue disorders including Marfan syndrome; (iii) isolated mitral regurgitation in the absence of echocardiographic evidence of mitral valve prolapse; and (iv) mitral valve disorder due to rheumatic heart disease.

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 15 of 2023

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 mitral valve prolapse or death from mitral valve prolapse with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for mitral valve prolapse;

Aggravation-only factors: the factors in subsection 9(1) 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 mitral valve prolapse. 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.