Innovative approaches to future expenses: integrating multidisciplinary methodologies

BACKGROUND: Accidents and injuries are a leading cause of disability among young people. Currently, in forensic medicine practice, the Italian legal-insurance system relies on internationally established methodologies. ANIA (National Association of Insurers), asked for an innovative medical-legal evaluation system aimed at ensuring the correct financial compensation for biological damage. The study aims to investigate the correlation between the compensation proposed on the basis of a rehabilitation assessment and the functional deficit of patients. METHODS: Patients had to be able to hold a colloquium in Italian, have a litigation that is still being discussed; to be clinically stable so that the functional impairment resulting from the accident could be objectively analyzed. All individuals were assessed through a multidisciplinary evaluation: forensic evaluation that was performed by a forensic physician; physiotherapy evaluation performed by a physiotherapist and occupational therapy evaluation performed by an occupational therapist. RESULTS: The statistical analysis revealed several significant correlations between functional deficits, remaining life expectancy, and the proposed compensations for different types of rehabilitation interventions (hydrotherapy, motor rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and the use of aids). The total scores from the DASH, BERG, KOOS, LEFS-I, TSK, FSS, and SF-36 scales showed significant positive correlations with total functional deficit and total compensation. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the study suggests that adopting integrated, multidisciplinary evaluation methodologies in the future could ensure compensation that is more appropriate, based not only on the severity of the pathology but also on the residual functional damage.