What role does a permanent impairment rating play in valuing my Georgia injury?

· 2 min read

A permanent impairment rating is a physician’s percentage estimate of how much function a person has permanently lost, and in a Georgia personal-injury case it serves as supporting evidence of permanence rather than a formula that sets the award. Unlike the workers’ compensation system, a tort jury is not bound to convert an impairment percentage into a fixed dollar figure.

What the rating measures

A physician, often using a recognized guide such as the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, assigns a percentage reflecting permanent loss of function to a body part or the whole person. The rating documents that the injury has caused a lasting, measurable deficit. It is a medical conclusion about the degree of permanent damage, expressed in numerical form so it can be compared and explained.

How it fits a personal-injury claim

In a tort case, the impairment rating is one piece of proof, not the engine of the valuation. It helps the jury in several ways:

  • It objectively supports that the injury is permanent, not temporary.
  • It frames the severity of the functional loss in concrete terms.
  • It supports related claims for future care, lost earning capacity, and the human cost of the disability.

But the jury values the injury as a whole. Georgia damages include both economic losses and non-economic harm such as pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, and the rating does not cap or dictate those amounts. A modest percentage can still accompany large damages if the affected function is central to the person’s life and livelihood.

Why the expert basis matters

Since the impairment rating is itself a physician’s expert opinion, it must satisfy O.C.G.A. § 24-7-702, the gatekeeping reliability standard Georgia courts enforce under Daubert. A rating grounded in accepted methodology and the objective record carries more persuasive weight, and the defense may offer a competing physician with a lower figure.

The bottom line

A permanent impairment rating helps prove that a Georgia injury is lasting and measures the degree of functional loss, strengthening claims for future damages and non-economic harm. It informs the jury’s judgment but does not set the value; in a tort case, the jury weighs the rating alongside all the evidence to value the injury as a whole.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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