Allianz knocked a PTSD claimant's impairment from 13% to 7% - below the 10% damages threshold - after challenging psychiatric ratings from a low-speed crash.
In a determination decided on April 22, 2026, the Personal Injury Commission of New South Wales sided with the insurer in Allianz Australia Insurance Limited v Wikeepa [2026] NSWPICMP 284, revoking the original medical certificate and placing the claimant's whole person impairment below the critical 10% threshold under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017.
The collision
The crash itself was remarkably minor. On July 5, 2023, Bethany Wikeepa was rear-ended by an insured van on General Holmes Drive at Mascot, Sydney, while moving forward on a green light at roughly 10 to 20 km/h. No airbags went off. The at-fault driver later told investigators he was doing about 5 km/h, and photographs showed minimal damage to the rear of her vehicle.
Yet the aftermath told a different story. Wikeepa was immobilised at the scene, taken by ambulance to St Vincent's Hospital and spent about a week there while doctors investigated a suspected cervical fracture - later cleared by MRI. She went on to report nightmares, panic attacks, hypervigilance and an inability to drive.
The original assessment
When Medical Assessor Gerard Walsh examined her in December 2024, he diagnosed PTSD, major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder, all tied to the crash. Applying the Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale across six categories, he placed her at Class 3 - moderate impairment - in four of them. After a 2% deduction for pre-existing psychiatric illness, he certified 13% whole person impairment, clearing the 10% threshold.
Allianz fights back
Allianz argued Walsh had not properly accounted for a documented pre-accident history of anxiety and depression treatment, and that the Class 3 ratings overstated what the claimant's own presentation actually showed. The President's delegate accepted the challenge, finding reasonable cause to suspect the ratings were inflated.
A different conclusion
The Review Panel - Member Gary Victor Patterson alongside Medical Assessors Gerald Chew and Surabhi Verma - re-examined Wikeepa remotely in February 2026 and reached a markedly different conclusion. They confirmed PTSD linked to the accident but found major depressive disorder was not clearly established on current presentation. Across the PIRS categories, they downgraded three of Walsh's Class 3 ratings to Class 2, arriving at a base impairment of 6%. Adding 1% for mild treatment effects brought the final figure to 7%.
The Panel found no basis for deducting pre-existing impairment, noting that while Wikeepa had prior episodes of mental illness, those had resolved before the crash.
What it means for insurers
For claims professionals, the takeaway is pointed. The review mechanism works - and PIRS outcomes are only as reliable as the clinical judgment behind them. Two assessments of the same claimant, roughly 14 months apart, produced results on opposite sides of the 10% line. The difference came down to how each assessor read the claimant's functioning at the time of examination.
