Legal Definitions - malinger

Malinger (verb)

To malinger means to pretend to be sick, injured, or disabled, or to deliberately exaggerate existing symptoms, primarily to avoid a duty or responsibility, or to gain some form of benefit.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1 (Avoiding Work Obligation): A construction worker, facing a particularly demanding week of heavy lifting, calls in sick claiming a severe, sudden back injury. However, medical examinations find no objective evidence of such an injury, and the worker is later seen engaging in strenuous activities at home. The worker is malingering by feigning an injury to avoid their work duties.

  Explanation: This scenario demonstrates malingering because the worker is fabricating or exaggerating a physical ailment (back injury) with the clear intention of escaping a professional obligation (demanding work tasks).

• Example 2 (Seeking Financial Benefits): Following a minor slip-and-fall incident, an individual consistently reports excruciating, debilitating pain and an inability to perform basic daily tasks, despite medical imaging showing only a very slight sprain. Their primary goal is to secure a substantial long-term disability payout from an insurance company. This individual is malingering.

  Explanation: In this case, the person is malingering by significantly exaggerating the severity of their symptoms beyond what medical evidence supports, with the specific aim of obtaining financial benefits through an insurance claim.

• Example 3 (Avoiding Military Duty): A soldier, scheduled for deployment to a combat zone, begins to complain of severe, persistent hearing loss and dizziness, even though all previous medical records show perfect hearing and no history of balance issues. Subsequent specialized tests are inconclusive, but the soldier maintains their symptoms, hoping to be deemed unfit for active duty. The soldier is malingering.

  Explanation: This example illustrates malingering because the soldier is pretending to suffer from a disabling condition (hearing loss and dizziness) to avoid a significant obligation, which in this context is military deployment.