Medical Resources

In hearing and deciding applications for review and appeal, Board members examine, interpret and evaluate medical evidence presented by applicants. Members are also required to assess the credibility of this evidence. The resources listed below help them in accomplishing these tasks.

Guidelines and Tables of Disabilities

In evaluating medical evidence, Board members consider tools created by Veterans Affairs Canada to guide decision-making for disability pension and disability award applications.

The Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines and Medical Guidelines are policies that are intended to help individuals prepare their applications for service-related disabilities and to guide decision-making.

The Tables of Disabilities are legislative instruments used to determine the extent or severity of service-related disabilities.

Discussion Papers

The Board commissions discussion papers to provide general information on medical issues. The papers are prepared by experts in the field selected by the Board and their aim is to present a balanced view of the current medical knowledge on a particular topic. They are not peer reviewed. They are updated regularly to keep up with evolving medical knowledge. The Board currently has two discussion papers. The second one, on orthopaedics, will be posted here shortly.

• Discussion Paper on Hearing Loss

Reference books and documents

Some of the resources listed here as a convenience are made available by external sources in English or French only.

• AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment
• The Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties
• Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary
• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM-IV-TR
• Le Larousse médical
• Merck Manual
• Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, National Academies Press
• Pathologie médicale de l'appareil locomoteur
• Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
• Textbook of Cancer Epidemiology

Other documents

• CFB Gagetown Herbicide Spray Programs 1952-2004: Fact Finders' Report, Dr. Dennis Furlong
• Cancer Incidence Study 2003 Australia Veterans of the Korean War
• Health Study 2005 Australian Veterans of the Korean War
• Mortality Study 2003 Australian Veterans of the Korean War
• Statements of Principles, Australia, Department of Veterans Affairs

Medical sites

• Mayo Clinic
• Medline Plus
• Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy
• The New England Journal of Medicine

Date modified:

2015-02-24