Saunders and Repatriation Commission

[2000] AATA 382

DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION [2000] AATA 382

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL      )

)          No N1998/1213

VETERANS'     APPEALS     DIVISION     )          
           Re      EUAN CAMERON SAUNDERS  
  Applicant
           And    REPATRIATION COMMISSION
  Respondent

DECISION

Tribunal       Commodore B.G. Gibbs, AM, RAN (Retd), Senior Member Dr J. D. Campbell, Member        

Date18 May 2000

PlaceSydney

Decision      The Tribunal affirms the decision under review.          
  (Sgd.)    B.G. GIBBS
  Senior Member
CATCHWORDS
VETERANS' APPEALS - Entitlement - disability pension claim - post traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD") - whether diagnostic criteria for PTSD derived from DSM-IV met
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, ss. 6, 9, 120, 120A, 126
Statement of Principles, Instrument No. 15 of 1994 (as amended by Instrument No. 225 of 1995)
Words and Phrases
East v Repatriation Commission (1987) 16 FCR 517
Bushell v Repatriation Commission (1992) 175 CLR 408
Byrnes v Repatriation Commission (1993) 177 CLR 564
Repatriation Commission v Bey (1997) 149 ALR 721
Re Repatriation Commission v Cooke (1998) 160 ALR 17

REASONS FOR DECISION

18 May 2000 Commodore B.G. Gibbs, AM, RAN (Retd), Senior Member Dr J. D. Campbell, Member                    

Introduction

1. Mr Euan Cameron Saunders, the applicant in these proceedings, lodged a claim on 24 May 1996 for "hearing loss plus ringing in ears"; "L thumb" and "nervous problems".

2. On 20 February 1997 the respondent:

• accepted a claim for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with tinnitus and injury left thumb;

• refused the claim for "nervous problems", the reason for refusal being that the diagnosis could not be confirmed.

Pension was assessed at 50 per cent of the General Rate with effect from 24 February 1996.

1. On 4 August 1998 the Veterans' Review Board ("VRB"):

• affirmed the decision of the respondent in respect of "nervous problems";

• set aside the decision of the respondent to grant pension at 50 per cent of the General Rate, and substituted that decision with the decision that pension be assessed at 50 per cent of the General Rate from and including 24 February 1996, and at 60 per cent of the General Rate, to operate from and including 12 December 1996.

1. On 31 August 1998 Mr Saunders applied to this Tribunal for review of the decision of the VRB made on 4 August 1998.

2. It is that application which is the subject of these proceedings.
   Issues

3. The issues before the Tribunal are as follows:

• Whether Mr Saunders suffers from the psychiatric condition "post-traumatic stress disorder"("PTSD") as defined in the relevant Statement of Principles ("SoP"), being a definition derived from the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ("DSM-IV");

• If Mr Saunders does suffer from PTSD as defined, whether the condition is war-caused within the meaning of section 9 of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 ("the Act");

• If PTSD is war-caused, what is the degree of incapacity suffered by Mr Saunders from his war-caused disabilities, for the purposes of payment of pension at the General Rate;

• If the degree of incapacity thus suffered by Mr Saunders is determined to be at least 70 per cent…