Mitsopoulos and Comcare

Administrative Appeals Tribunal

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2011] AATA 474

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No 2009/4002

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION		)
Re		Fotini Mitsopoulos

Applicant

And Comcare

Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal Senior Member A K Britton and Dr I Alexander, Member

Date7 July 2011

PlaceSydney

Decision The reviewable decision is set aside. In substitution of that decision we find that as of 7 July 2011, Mrs Mitsopoulos’s reactive depression does not “result in” incapacity.  

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Senior Member A K Britton

7.      Adopting that approach, Mrs Mitsopoulos’s entitlement to compensation turns on whether “reactive depression” remains an effective or operative cause of her incapacity for employment. 

Medical History

8.      Both parties place considerable weight on the history of Mrs Mitsopoulos’s mental health since she left the Bank in 1996. It is therefore useful to sketch in the available history. As will become apparent, the medical history is incomplete and opinion has been divided about the precise nature of Mrs Mitsopoulos’s condition(s).

9.      The medical evidence before the Tribunal in the original proceedings was not before us. The Tribunal’s Reasons for Decision disclose that at the time of the proceedings the consensus of medical opinion was that Mrs Mitsopoulos suffered from a “reactive depression” caused by her employment at the Bank. Apparently the only issue of note between the experts was whether the condition was a result of “reasonable disciplinary action taken against [Mrs Mitsopoulos]” thus disentitling her to compensation (Re Mitsopoulos and Comcare [1999] AATA 364 at [23] – [26]).

10.     Shortly after the Tribunal handed down its decision, Mrs Mitsopoulos was assessed by psychiatrist Dr Gerard Gibney. In a report dated 13 September 1999, Dr Gibney recorded that Mrs Mitsopoulos told him that every day she heard voices of her former colleagues at the Bank and thought that they were controlling what she thought and did. He also recorded that she reported that her problems at the Bank were on her mind “all the time”; she did not want to see anyone or do anything and could not concentrate on reading or watching television. He noted that she was under the care of psychiatrist Dr Oswan Ali and taking anti-depressant medication.

11.     Dr Gibney described Mrs Mitsopoulos’s manner and presentation on interview as “extraordinary”. He noted that throughout the assessment she was “shouting, howling and thumping the table”. He concluded that if her manner of presentation was genuine then she would “certainly” be suffering from a psychiatric illness with paranoid features. However he stated that this was a provisional diagnosis because the information given was “so jumbled and imprecise”.

12.     Shortly after that assessment, at the request of her solicitors, Mrs Mitsopoulos was interviewed by psychologist Mr Khalil Moustapha. In a report dated 16 October 1999, Mr Moustapha recorded that on assessment Mrs Mitsopoulos described a range of symptoms as “typical of reactive depression”. He took a history of Mrs Mitsopoulos presenting every day with high levels of depressed mood, markedly diminished interest in activities, psychomotor retardation,…