UK Veteran loses post-traumatic stress disorder claim

Ex-soldier loses post-traumatic stress disorder claim
A former soldier from Kidderminster who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Northern Ireland and Bosnia has lost his battle for damages.


Stephen Hibbert, now 40, had sued the Ministry of Defence for "substantial" compensation in a contested action at the High Court in London over an alleged failure to diagnose his condition in the early 1990s until it was too late to treat.

But on Wednesday Mr Justice Owen, the judge who heard the case, dismissed his claim and said: "One cannot but have the greatest sympathy for the claimant who loyally served his country, earning respect for his determination, enthusiasm and leadership on operational tours of duty in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

"He is now suffering from a severely disabling psychiatric condition for which the prognosis is very poor. But sadly he is the victim of the stresses to which serving soldiers on operational tours of duty can be exposed, not to any culpable want of care on the part of the defendant (MoD). His claim must be dismissed."

Mr Hibbert's case was that in May 1994 an Army consultant psychiatrist failed to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition deteriorated and became "entrenched", said Mr Mansfield, so that by the time he was diagnosed in the autumn of 1996 he was "beyond treatment".
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