Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury — DVA SoP factors

Every factor in the Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles for Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. DVA can only accept a claim for Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury 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. 94 of 2018 · BoP No. 95 of 20184 factors

Meaning of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: (a) means damage to the brain resulting from the transfer of kinetic energy to the brain from external physical forces, as manifested by at least one of the following: (i) loss of consciousness for more than 30 minutes; (ii) anterograde amnesia for more than 24 hours; (iii) an intracranial lesion, including an abnormality attributable to the injury seen on structural imaging (conventional magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography scanning); (iv) penetration of the dura mater; or (v) a Glasgow Coma Scale score of less than 13; and (b) excludes injury from radiation, electricity, heat and surgery.

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 94 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 moderate to severe traumatic brain injury or death from moderate to severe traumatic brain injury with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
experiencing a specified event at the time of the clinical onset of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury;
Note: specified event is defined in the Schedule 1 - Dictionary.
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for moderate to severe traumatic brain injury;

Aggravation-only factors: the factors in subsection 9(2) 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.

Balance of Probabilities (BoP) — Statement of Principles No. 95 of 2018

2 factors

At least one of the following factors must exist before it can be said that, on the balance of probabilities, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury or death from moderate to severe traumatic brain injury is connected with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
experiencing a specified event at the time of the clinical onset of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury;
Note: specified event is defined in the Schedule 1 - Dictionary.
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for moderate to severe traumatic brain injury;

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