If the physician is to evaluate the symptom of abdominal pain as a basis for compensation, he should be alert in determining its significance by obtaining a detailed history and carrying out a careful examination supplemented by appropriate laboratory study. For pain is a universal symptom, and if it is preponderant, there may be difficulty in establishing its significance with respect to a claim for compensation. The pain must be proved to be the result of a compensable cause.
In relation to compensation, pain in the abdomen may be divided into three categories:
First there is pain in the abdomen resulting from the specific hazards of an occupation, as for instance painter's colic or the pain associated with hematuria resulting from the specific tumor of the bladder which occurs in aniline dye workers. The history and the physical examination will establish pain of this type as clearly the result of