Case: Re Cadd and Repatriation Commission [2008] AATA 69
Outcome: affirmed
Shortly thereafter he completed an application to the Repatriation Commission for acceptance of "anxiety/stressed" as war-caused. As the Tribunal noted in its reasons ( Re Cadd and Repatriation Commission [2008] AATA 69 at [18] ): The application is dated 18 March 2003 and includes comments that Mr Cadd ceased work on 28 February 2003 as a result of his resignation and that his claimed disability had resulted in behavioural problems which in turn had resulted in "finishing work". 9 A witness statement Mr Cadd provided to the Tribunal indicated that, between 2003 and 2006, he applied for employment without success. The statement listed a large number of primarily hotels and clubs which he approached for employment. He did not get a job nor, as he indicated in his evidence to the Tribunal, was he ever given a particular reason for this. In consequence, he accepted in cross-examination that he had not performed remunerative work since March 2003. By 2006 his applications included the advice that he was not able to work more than 8 hours per week because of his then medical condition. That advice to prospective employers reflected the opinion in a report of a psychiatrist, Dr Ewer, of 20 April 2005 that his impairments were such as to make him unfit for paid employment as he could not work eight hours per week. Dr Ewer diagnosed his overall impairment then as being 70 per cent attributable to PTSD and 30 per cent to Major Depressive Disorder. The same report indicated that the PTSD had "just emerged in the last year" and in 2005 should be considered as "temporary". 10 The medical evidence accepted by the Tribunal was that of Dr Ewer who provided some number of reports on Mr Cadd dating from 2003. As the Tribunal noted (at [21] of its reasons) those reports ... record diagnoses of changing conditions. Dr Ewer's report dated 8 April 2003 recorded diagnoses of pathological gambling and adjustment disorder with depressed mood. Dr Ewer's report dated 5 August 2003 again records diagnoses of pathological gambling, this time in remission, and alcohol dependence in remission. The same report records some features of PTSD, but states that Mr Cadd does not satisfy the diagnostic criteria necessary for PTSD. Dr Ewer's report of 8 April 2004 stated that Mr Cadd was suffering from a major depressive disorder. It also stated that Mr Cadd did not satisfy the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. It was not until his report of 20 April 2005 that Dr Ewer reported that Mr Cadd had developed a number of additional symptoms so that, as of 20 April 2005, Mr Cadd did satisfy the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. In his most recent report dated 17 July 2007 Dr Ewer addressed the issue of depression and its cause. He commented as follows: "The aetiology of his depression is probably multifactorial. His longstanding alcohol misuse probably contributed to him becoming depressed. His gambling losses were another substantial cause of his depression. His marital disharmony was another substantial cause of his depression. It is also probable that the emerging Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms contributed to his depression."