TY - JOUR T1 - Dr. Fitzcharles, <em>et al</em> reply JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1622 LP - 1622 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.130446 VL - 40 IS - 9 AU - MARY-ANN FITZCHARLES AU - PETER A. STE-MARIE AU - YORAM SHIR Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/40/9/1622.abstract N2 - To the Editor:We thank Dr. Harth for his comments1 on our article examining the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) of Ontario, Canada, decisions regarding fibromyalgia (FM) as a compensable condition following workplace injury2. In reaching decisions regarding health-related issues, the WSIAT is reliant on input from the medical community that must therefore be reliable, accurate, and reflective of the current state of the medical condition under consideration.Dr. Harth takes issue with our concern that the WSIAT relied heavily on the opinion of specialists, rheumatologists in particular, in adjudicating the appeals. In our study of decisions, we observed that the WSIAT assigns considerable weight to the opinion of the rheumatologist (74% of appeals) or advice of a board expert (59% of appeals), but in only 13% of appeals was the evidence provided by the family physician noted to be important. Dr. Harth, a “medical consultant to the WSIAT for many years,” suggests that family physicians may not be the best-placed healthcare professionals to care for patients with FM because of “GP attitudes” and especially because “23% thought that patients with FM were malingerers.” … Address correspondence to Dr. M. Fitzcharles, Montreal General Hospital, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A4, Canada;, E-mail: mary-ann.fitzcharles{at}muhc.mcgill.ca ER -