Grace and Repatriation Commission

[2003] AATA 611

Administrative

Appeals

Tribunal

 

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2003] AATA 611

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No Q2001/1016

VETERANS' APPEALS DIVISION		)
Re		VICTORIA GRACE

Applicant

And REPATRIATION COMMISSION

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Mr B J McCabe, Member

Date27 June 2003

PlaceBrisbane

Decision The Tribunal affirms the decision under review. 

(Sgd) B J McCabe
  Member

CATCHWORDS

VETERANS’ AFFAIRS – benefits and entitlements – pension - lumbar spondylosis and chronic sinusitis - whether the applicant’s conditions were caused by her war service – whether reasonable hypothesis can be established connecting conditions with war service

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

REASONS FOR DECISION

27 June 2003 Mr B J McCabe, Member  

Introduction

1.      Victoria Grace is the applicant in these proceedings. She is an ordained minister of religion who prefers the honorific “Chaplain”.. Chaplain Grace seeks compensation for injuries she claims she suffered in connection with her service during World War II. She initially applied for compensation under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 in respect of a variety of conditions. Two of those conditions – lumbar spondylosis and chronic sinusitis – were rejected. The respondent says that it is not liable to compensate Chaplain Grace for those two conditions because there is insufficient evidence to establish a connection between the conditions and the applicant’s defence service.

2.      The Veterans’ Review Board affirmed the respondent’s decision and Chaplain Grace has approached the Tribunal.

The Material Before the Tribunal

3. The Tribunal was provided with the documents required under s 37 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975. Chaplain Grace provided a statement and gave evidence at the hearing. The respondent called Dr Grant to give evidence. He also provided a report. Mr Williams appeared for the respondent, while Chaplain Grace appeared on her own behalf.

The Claim in Respect of Sinusitis

4.      Chaplain Grace rendered eligible service in the Australian Army between 2 July 1943 and 21 November 1945. She did not serve overseas. She was from South Australia and at least part of her service was rendered on Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia. She assisted the nursing staff in military hospitals.

5.      Chaplain Grace says she was inoculated with the smallpox vaccine on Rottnest Island in 1943. She says she had an allergic reaction that caused her to be hospitalised with an alarmingly high temperature. She says she had a severe upper respiratory tract infection that has caused acute sinusitis ever since. She explained the Army did not accurately record the details of her illness in its records because it was concerned about morale. It did not want questions being raised about the health of the troops or the quality of its care in those precarious times. She said the pustules that accompanied the infection in her case were described as hives. She said this sort of misreporting of symptoms was common: another soldier who came down with meningitis was recorded as having measles.

6.      Chaplain Grace subsequently contracted pneumonia. She was hospitalised and spent several weeks in a nursing home. She does not remember what precipitated the pneumonia. She says her chest was congested for several months after being discharged from hospital, and she was treated with strong antibiotics.

7.      Chaplain Grace says her respiratory conditions still plague her. She has serious attacks of sinusitis at least once a year. She has brought it under control through a combination of diet (episodes of sinusitis are brought on by ice cream, for example) and herbal remedies. She says she does not like taking antibiotics, although she has been forced to do so in the past. She says she controls her chest congestion using the same methods.

8.      Dr Grant examined the medical records, including the applicant’s service records and the more recent CT scan. He concluded she did not suffer from chronic sinusitis. He said he would expect to find evidence of structural damage of some kind to the upper respiratory tract if that diagnosis was to be made. There was no such evidence. He also opined that the cause of the congestion that Chaplain Grace occasionally experienced was likely to be the abnormal shape of her chest cavity. The abnormality was apparent on the x-rays.

9.      Given the medical evidence, I am unable to be satisfied that Chaplain Grace suffers from chronic sinusitis as described in the Repatriation Medical Authority’s Statement of Principles (No 212 of 1995). Even if she now suffers from the condition, I cannot be satisfied in all the circumstances that there is any connection between Chaplain Grace’s service and the condition.

The Claim in Respect of the Back Condition

10.     The applicant says she was injured late one night in 1945 while on duty in a ward of about 60 men in a military hospital in Adelaide. A drunken sailor had been brought in with a serious ankle injury. He was still thoroughly inebriated and aggressive. She says he should have been lodged in the watch-house for the night where he could be managed in light of his violent behaviour. She was left to deal with him after the three male orderlies left the ward. He made a great deal of noise and disturbed the other patients. He was also throwing himself about, risking further damage to his ankle. One of the nursing sisters attended in due course and instructed Chaplain Grace to undress the man and put him into bed in his pyjamas. She did so with great difficulty. The sister then decided to move the man because he was so disruptive. The sister instructed Chaplain Grace to help her pick up the bed with the patient in it. The bed had wheels at one end, so the pair positioned themselves at the food of the bed. It was not meant to be moved with a patient in it, and Chaplain Grace says she told the sister it would be too heavy. But the sister told her to do it, and she obeyed the order.

11.     As Chaplain Grace and the sister began to manoeuvre the bed, the injured man suddenly became violent. Apparently he reached down the length of the bed and struck the sister in the face. She lost her hold on the bed and Chaplain Grace was left to carry the whole weight of the bed on her own. The patient was still moving about violently at this point which caused the bed to move about in her grip.

12.     Chaplain Grace says she immediately felt excruciating pain as she took the full weight of the bed. She put the bed down, assisted the sister and attended to the patient. She continued to work that night notwithstanding her pain because she was the only assistant available. She says the incident was referred to in the night report but that is no longer available. She could not play tennis in the morning because of the pain, although she said she resisted going on sick parade. It was not the done thing, she explained. Individuals who went on sick parade risked being labelled as malingerers. She also says she was worried that her discharge might be delayed if she presented as being sick.

13.     The applicant took three days of leave after the incident. She says she spent the whole time lying on her bed, although she does not recall taking any medication. She was assigned to a convalescent ward and instructed not to do any heavy lifting. She says she had trouble walking for two weeks. She could not bend over.

14.     Prior to the incident, Chaplain Grace says she was physically active. She played tennis regularly and rode horses. She has not played tennis since the incident and she still does not like to sit in an upright chair. She recalled that the pain was very bad throughout the 1950s, and she was constantly using strong pain-killers. There were no records of her treatment available. She said she would spend days in bed. More recently, she has had physiotherapy and says she has now learned to cope with and manage the pain through exercise and good lifting practices. She says she no longer takes pain medication for her back condition.

15.     Chaplain Grace’s condition was not referred to in her discharge documents. She said she was newly married and did not want anything to hold up her discharge.  She acknowledged she did not make a claim in respect of her back condition in the years after she was discharged. She said she was reluctant to make a claim but confirmed she did make a claim in respect of a foot condition in 1947. Her back condition was not mentioned at the time. She says the claim in respect of her feet was her husband’s idea, and he decided what information should be supplied.

16.     Chaplain Grace confirmed she does not ride horses any more, and she has not had any serious falls or car accidents.

17.     Dr Grant says there is some evidence of disc degeneration but claims this is more likely attributable to age. He conceded that a trauma to the back may have played a part in the degeneration but said it was most unlikely that the incident described by Chaplain Grace was responsible.. Lifting injuries did not cause this kind of damage, he said. The pain she felt was probably the product of a muscle tear or perhaps a prolapsed disc that has since resolved itself.

18.     Dr Grant confirmed there was no evidence of spinal degeneration before enlistment, so there was no question of the injury aggravating a pre-existing condition.

19.     Given Dr Grant’s evidence and all the other circumstances, I cannot be reasonably satisfied that the back condition, such as it is, is attributable to her defence service.. I do not doubt that she suffered pain following the incident she described, but I cannot say there is a link between the events and her condition.

Conclusion

20.     The decision under review is affirmed.

I certify that the 20 preceding paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for the decision herein of Mr B J McCabe, Member

Signed:         Sarah Oliver
  Associate

Date of Hearing  13 December 2002 (at Southport)
Date of Decision  27 June 2003

The Applicant appeared in person
For the Respondent                  Mr B Williams, Departmental Advocate