[Incapacity to work, occupational disability and disability--legal basis, definitions and comments].

The precise and correct understanding of terms in insurance medicine like incapacity to work, occupational disability and disability by physicians in general praxis and as experts is of great importance for patients. Swiss physicians are first of all requested to presumably judge incapacity to work retrospectively with regard to the previous professional activities and prospectively taking into account alternative activities that can be envisaged after appropriate medical measures. In contrast occupational disability and disability in the legal sense require a permanent and important impairment of the health status ensuing economical losses in the labour market.