Dr. Christopher Brigham Responds to New York Workers' Compensation Alliance on AMA Guides
Blogs are the new paradigm for open communication and opinion on the Internet. As such, whenever the New York Workers' Compensation Alliance posts it's opinions on this blog, readers are permitted to "comment" on that particular post. Recently, we posted a blog post entitled "AMA Guides Guru Tries to Intimidate and Silence the Workers' Compensation Alliance's Protected Political Speech". This was based upon a letter threatening a libel action we received from Phil Walker, Esq on behalf of himself and Dr. Christopher Brigham.
Dr. Christopher Brigham, the above-mentioned guru, has recently replied to our post and his "comment" (and a link to his website) are now permanently part of the archives of this blog. The tone of Dr. Brigham's letter, apparently sent with the consent of his sometimes partner, Phil Walker,Esq., is far different than the accusatory and intimidating letter previously sent by Mr. Walker on their behalf. In fact, it might be labeled even "gracious" and can be read as an "olive branch" to the New York Workers' Compensation Alliance.
In that spirit, Dr. Brigham, please accept this as our respectful response:
Dear Dr. Brigham,
We thank you for offering to provide our Alliance members with a live training seminar to better learn about the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. However, the Alliance has a firm grasp on the inadequacies of the AMA Guides and we believe it is these inadequacies which led the State of New York Insurance Department to reject the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment and cancel your contract to apply them at our Workers' Compensation Board.
However, we do believe that a debate over the unfairness of the AMA Guides to injured workers is long overdue. Therefore, we respectfully suggest a Lincoln/Douglas style debate as pictured above between yourself and workers' compensation expert, Dr. John Burton, who has labeled the Guides as "hokum" and 'not evidence based". This debate could be held at the Alliance's upcoming Fall meeting in Albany, New York. Please let us know if you would be interested, and if so, we will contact Dr. Burton. Until then, thank you for your generous offer and your opinions on the matter. This blog will always be a forum for differing opinions on matters of public concern to injured workers. We respect your right to your opinion, as evidenced by our publishing your 4/23/08 letter above.
Sincerely,
The New York Workers' Compensation Alliance