I Feel You Could Be a Funeral Director Scam

The "I Feel You Could Be a Funeral Director" Scam

1) The latest and most prolific of scams is called Transferable Skills Analysis (TSA) using National Occupation Classification(NOC).

2) A caseworker, who may never have seem the claimant, will put into a computer “the diagnosis”, and out will pop some suggested occupations. Specific cases may be basically unsuited to the suggested occupations. Telling someone to be a funeral director when he has zero people skills is just a joke. However caseworkers are serious and do terminate coverage with those expectations.

3) There are several problems with this:

 That program was NEVER designed to be used that way; it is just a gimmick used by WCB.  When I gradually unlayer the issues of someone with chronic pain, I will come up with a list of 10 –20 problems; one cannot simply put one problem in and get a realistic account of what one can do. For example you cannot simply put in “cervical radiculitis” and cover all the problems a case will have. Chronic pain spreads to other segments; in the neck it is found to spread quite regularly and is called somatic pain, with extrasegmental spread, facet and other structure pains. Headaches and occipital neuralgia from tight neck muscles could be factors. Medications for chronic pain, fatigue, lack of sleep, and so forth take their toll. I do not believe the system of seeing someone for a brief assessment or merely doing a chart review will give anywhere near an accurate assessment. This again is not giving the patient the benefit of the doubt. People with cervical radiculitis will invariably develop a regional myofascial pain syndrome due to somatic spread of pain.  The reason case workers are able to put in “A” diagnosis is on their forms there is just a place for ONE diagnosis. It is expedient for doctors to put in simple terms like neck strain when actually it is much more complicated. Anyone with sense would know that if someone had not recovered, it was because there case was not as simple as a one diagnosis problem but this common sense seems to escape case workers. I, as a doctor, was totally unaware this abuse was occurring and will never put ONE diagnosis down ever again.  Some years ago, Canada Disability Pension Plan had a scheme whereby if someone could do a certain job, s/he could not qualify for disability. The courts ruled that this so-called occupation had to be suitable and readily available, and to give enough income. Only 1/10 people can make it as a salesperson in insurance. Suggesting all workers are suitable for such and can make reasonably gainful employment is rubbish. Not only does WCB have to suggest occupations, there is a real onus on them to see if it is suitable and viable for a claimant to do so. I do not believe that a computer program is at all useful in the multidimensional problems that chronic pain involves. The way it is used is just plain criminal.