Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697644315000.pdf (Australia)
Senate Inquiry into Suicides, Military Compensation and the DVA My submission is made from the viewpoint of a partner of an ex-serving member in the RAAF, and the impact the medical discharge process and dealings with the DVA has had on our lives.

My apologies in advance as it is all over the place.

I find writing a submission like this incredibly stressful however I feel the system needs to change and more people need to speak out to affect that change.

My partner discharged in April 2016.


The process from recommendation of medical discharge to actual discharge took approximately 1 year, the whole time we were wondering when they’d give us 2-3 months to be out and we’d have to find a new place to live, enrol our son in Kindy, uproot our lives and go out on our own.

He was medically discharged due to a dodgy back, having had two spinal surgeries first in 2009 and again in 2014.
During the waiting process (despite seeing his doctor regularly, and despite living with chronic pain that the surgery didn’t resolve) I was the first person (I believe) to bring up that I thought he had depression.
Having it myself meant that I was able to see that his withdrawal from life into the online world, his lack of connection to our children as well as myself, his reduced ‘fuse’ (it went from very very long to quite short) – especially when it related to our young children, was likely due to depression.
I am unsure whether this is a standard thing that the medical team should be looking out for, but I certainly believe that anyone living with chronic pain should be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist regularly as the pain affects your entire life.

My partner, after much poking and prodding from me, eventually talked to his military doctor about depression, and she agreed it is most likely.
My partner was referred to a psychologist who diagnosed my partner with a Major Depressive Disorder and had a couple of session with him.

However due to my partner being a military member, he felt that after a couple of sessions he was all good and didn’t continue with the appointments (the ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude).

Whilst the back claim was with the DVA and the medical discharge process was coming along, we put in a claim to the DVA for the Major Depressive Disorder.
My partner felt that he understood the SOP and clearly met it and so wouldn’t need any help in completing the claim.

Unfortunately he grossly underestimated his ability (and not really yet recognising how much the depressive disorder was affecting his previously well-functioning abilities) and didn’t do certain things needed to prove his case.
In addition to this he was sent to a Defence appointed Medico-Legal Psychiatrist who, as my partner stated afterwards, “didn’t engage, barely looked at me, didn’t ask relevant questions”.

My partner came home from that appointment outraged that this very important meeting for determining his impairment with regard to depression was basically complete bullshit, and he immediately called up the DVA hotline and expressed his frustration.
Of course this didn’t do a thing except probably give the person on the other line cause to take the rest of the day off!

He was told by that person to see what the outcome was and then take it from there.

He was not at any point recommended to get his own independent report if he didn’t feel the Medico Legal appointment would have sufficient information.
When we received the notification from the DVA that his claim for Major Depressive Disorder was denied, we discovered that the Medico Legal had stated his depression wasn’t related to the chronic pain but rather because I was currently pregnant and not handling it too well.
Never mind the fact that the last time I was pregnant I ended up with Post Natal Depression and my partner basically did Suicide by veterans and ex-service personnelSubmission 181 ALL the household managing while I simply sat on the couch and fed my baby.

He was clearly up to the task then (when he didn’t have the chronic pain).

At this time my partner questioned whether he was really depressed or if it was all in his head, and he sunk lower.
I can tell you that at this time I started being concerned for his safety.

Not explicitly, but when he would go out to the movies by himself, I would wonder if he would come back or if I’d get a call from the hospital or police.

Or when he would go to work I would wonder if he would ‘accidentally’ hit a tree.

This feeling continues to this day where I feel a slight unease when he is out longer than expected.
I don’t think he would actually go through with anything, but he has been trained as an ASSIST person while in the RAAF and has told me that the people who are really going to commit suicide often don’t show signs.

I have explicitly asked him to please not leave me or commit suicide, due to my low level fear that he might feel we would be better off without him.

In regards to having advocates helping with the DVA process, I feel this process is woefully inadequate as: 1.

The advocates are volunteers 2.


The advocates have big caseloads, and therefore unless we know our case is urgent we try hard not to contact the advocate knowing they’re working on other really important cases 3.

You can’t know how good an advocate is.

Our first advocate helped us get to the VRB once the Major Depressive Disorder claim was denied.

Unfortunately he didn’t seem particularly helpful.

He didn’t read my submission to the VRB before submitting it.
He didn’t tell us key things ahead of time to sitting in front of the VRB, like that if you’re not sure about something you can turn off the mic and talk personally without the board hearing (maybe to clarify an answer).

Also, the board queried something the Medico Legal had stated which was incorrect, and we had a document from my partner’s treating specialist to prove otherwise which we didn’t have on us.

We asked whether they wanted us to pass it on to them and they said it wasn’t necessary.
Our advocate didn’t advise to send them the evidence anyway, and it turns out that they hadn’t taken us at our word but had instead in their report confirmed that they were incredulous that we didn’t agree with the Medico Legal’s statement.

The fact of the matter is that veterans are strongly advised to use an advocate while filling out their initial applications to the DVA, as well as when fronting the VRB or AAT.

But why should they have to?


Isn’t the Department of Veterans Affairs meant to be there for the Veteran?

For some reason though they seem like one big insurance company where unless you put in a claim they don’t care about you.

Why should veterans have to ensure their treating doctor/specialist write the specific terms DVA need, and why should the veteran seemingly need to have lawyer-language skills in order to put in a successful claim.
Can’t common sense apply, and if there are further questions then they can be asked of the veteran?

Another frustration I have with the Department is that a Veteran and their family has no idea how much money they will be receiving on discharge.

As the money manager of the household this stressed me out greatly.

My partner was the income producer and I was the stay at home parent, this arrangement worked for us as we have young children and were expecting to move around the country for many years.
I knew he would be receiving ‘something’ in relation to a pension or payment for at least 43 or so weeks, but as to what that was?

Clueless.

Suicide by veterans and ex-service personnelSubmission 181 We were moving interstate, had to rent a house (how much of a budget do we have to rent?

Who knows!

Let’s sign a 12 month lease and hope for the best!

), and fortunately for us my partner had a large amount of long service leave and annual leave up his sleeve.
This enabled us to live off those payments until we started receiving a pension from CSC and ‘salary’ from DVA (of DoD, I’m not quite sure who’s paying this but it comes into our account fortnightly).

But it took too long (in my opinion) for the payments to come in.

And the reason is because while my partner was still employed he and his rehab person had failed to fill in one form to complete the process.
My partner (having obviously never been through this process before, and remembering he is currently battling depression so his thinking isn’t 100%) believed he had done everything correctly.

It was only after I was frustrated week after week of receiving no income that I forced him to call DVA and he was then advised they didn’t have one specific bit of paperwork.

How is it ok that if a veteran doesn’t complete all their paperwork that 1.

Their discharge can be finalised and 2.


Nobody cares to follow up if they notice incomplete forms.

Where is the care for the veterans, who would have willingly died for our country had there been a need.

Another process I find incredibly frustrating is the rehabilitation timeline.

We are almost 6 months post discharge, and are only just about to get a gardener (he comes this week) and still don’t have a stand for the washing machine that the rehab provider recommended we need.
6 months my partner has had to maintain the gardens when he doesn’t really have the capacity to do so.

However as a proud man in his early 30’s he is still trying to prove he doesn’t have an old man’s body, he does too much and then suffers the consequences a day later (and the effects linger for a couple of days).

This also affects the family as he is more laid up and the household responsibilities shift more onto myself, the working spouse.
Overall, I can see quite clearly how the adversarial processes a member has to deal with to get what they are entitled to can cause suicide.
Not knowing what is going on, the fear that any money paid might have to be paid back (because we don’t know how the payments are calculated), having to explain yourself to a Medico Legal who holds your future in their hands in a 45 minute consultation, feeling like you’re going to be in pain for the rest of your life and have to constantly battle to get your entitlements… I am amazed that we don’t have more veterans committing suicide every day.

As a spouse the process gets me down and stresses me out.
There are times when I want to throw my hands up and say ‘stuff it, we can’t deal with them anymore, they’re causing too much stress’.

But I don’t want to do that because Defence and its related departments have a responsibility to the defence member to help them transition into the outside world.

Defence trained these members to be special members of society, it isn’t just a job it’s a way of life.
And if this means making sure they’re financially supported because they’re unable to work, then they should make it as painless as possible.

I fully support a Royal Commission into the DVA as I believe the Department has many flaws that makes the process unduly stressful to the veteran (maybe on purpose, maybe just due to incompetence) and I can see it is definitely contributing to veterans suicide.
Thank you for reading my submission, and I hope these submissions lead to some action, rather than just political posturing.

Suicide by veterans and ex-service personnelSubmission 181