Canadian Court links soldier's MS to post-traumatic stress

Troy Fleece For The National Post
The Federal Court ruled Dennis Patterson should receive a military pension for the multiple sclerosis he claims was caused by post-traumatic stress he suffered in the military.

Court links soldier's MS to post-traumatic stress
Veteran should receive pension for illness: ruling

Tom Blackwell, National Post
Published: Tuesday, September 08, 2009


A recent court ruling has raised unusual new concerns about the post-traumatic stress that afflicts a growing number of Canadian soldiers, concluding that such anxiety may have helped cause multiple sclerosis in an air force veteran.

The Federal Court said a review board should reconsider granting Dennis Patterson -- who flew missions to such hot spots as Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda -- a pension for his MS, given the possible link to on-the-job stress. Such pensions are meant for injuries or diseases triggered by military duty, much like the benefits awarded by civilian workers' compensation boards address workplace injury.

Multiple sclerosis is usually considered a chronic illness and the neurological disorder's exact causes remain somewhat of a mystery, but experts say stress can at least spark individual attacks or make symptoms seem more intense.

In Mr. Patterson's case, the "uncontradicted" medical evidence was that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) actually prompted or exacerbated the MS, Justice Russel Zinn of the Federal Court ruled recently.
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