Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
27/08/2010
The Ministry of Defence has awarded a six-figure compensation settlement to an ex-soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Oxfordshire-based man claims that if the military had monitored his condition from an earlier stage then he may not have suffered a breakdown in 2004.
The ex-soldier, who cannot be named for security reasons, worked as a bomb disposal expert and dealt with the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and in the Gulf War.
Despite being asked to appear in a PTSD training video the soldier was cleared to continue serving by an Army psychiatrist after undergoing psychometric testing in 1998 and 1999.
He was only formally diagnosed as suffering from PTSD in June 2004 after being seen by a civilian consultant psychiatrist, according to his legal team.
Just two weeks later he was involved a car accident and his symptoms deteriorated so badly that he had to be medically discharged from the Army and could not return to work.
It was claimed that the MoD's failure to diagnose him formally in the late 1990s and monitor and treat the condition left him more vulnerable to future stressful events.
The case was eventually settled out of court for a six-figure sum with liability split 40% to the MoD and 60% to the insurers covering the car accident.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Andrew Buckham from law firm Irwin Mitchell specialises in Armed Forces Compensation injuries. He said: “I welcome the outcome of this case which demonstrates the serious effect that a condition such as PTSD can have on a person’s life.
“Often injuries that cannot be seen, or conditions that impact a persons wellbeing are treated with less empathy despite, in many cases, the nature of the case causing the individual and their family just as much if not more distress.”
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