Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2020L01404:reg:7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2020L01404
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 7
Character Range: 1696–3560

7               Kind of injury, disease or death to which this Statement of Principles relates
(1)          This Statement of Principles is about otitic barotrauma and death from otitic barotrauma.
Meaning of otitic barotrauma
(2)          For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, otitic barotrauma means an injury to the middle or inner ear arising from inequalities in the barometric pressure between the surrounding atmosphere and the air within the middle ear space.
            Note 1: Clinical manifestations of otitic barotrauma typically include:
                (a) disruption of the ossicle chain;
                (b) hearing loss;
                (c) otalgia;
                (d) perforation of the               tympanic membrane;
                (e) rupture of the round or oval               window membranes with vertigo or perilymphatic fistula; and
                (f) tinnitus.
Note 2: Otitic barotrauma is also known as otic barotrauma.
(3)          While otitic barotrauma attracts ICD‑10‑AM code T70.0, in applying this Statement of Principles the meaning of otitic barotrauma is that given in subsection (2).
(4)          For subsection (3), a reference to an ICD-10-AM code is a reference to the code assigned to a particular kind of injury or disease in The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM), Tenth Edition, effective date of 1 July 2017, copyrighted by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, ISBN 978-1-76007-296-4.
Death from otitic barotrauma
(5)          For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, otitic barotrauma, in relation to a person, includes death from a terminal event or condition that was contributed to by the person's otitic barotrauma.
Note: terminal event is defined in the Schedule 1 - Dictionary.