Suicidal soldier's depression not revealed to careers, doctor says

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Suicidal soldier's depression not revealed to careers, doctor says
Les Kennedy
January 24, 2008
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A MILITARY inquiry into the death of an army captain has been told that the
senior medical officer at the navy's Balmoral Hospital did not tell a
private drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic the officer was a suicide
risk when he was transferred for treatment.
The decision by George Blackwood not to tell the St John of God Hospital
that Andrew Paljakka had threatened to kill himself and twice attempted it
after returning from Afghanistan was because the hospital did not want to be
"stuck with him", he said.
"If we disclosed everything then they may not have taken him and we would be
stuck with him," Dr Blackwood told the inquiry at Randwick Barracks during
evidence in a three-week closed hearing in November that was made public
yesterday.
The doctor's evidence also revealed that Captain Paljakka, 27, was binge
drinking while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and using
heroin and amphetamines. He took his life in a Kings Cross hotel on February
26 last year.
Suspicions of his drug use were not revealed to the clinic, which, the
inquiry heard, would still have taken him as a patient, assessed his mental
condition and would not have allowed him to abscond.
The inquiry heard that another doctor at Balmoral Hospital, Amanda Badam,
who treated Captain Paljakka when he was admitted in December 2006 for
depression, had not read case notes faxed from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
warning that he was a serious suicide risk.
Both doctors may be recalled to give evidence to the inquiry, which is
examining whether Captain Paljakka's exposure to death and suffering in
Afghanistan in 2006 affected his mental health and what duty of care was
taken by the military.
His medical treatment by the military was one of systemic failure and he was
the victim of a "fragmented" defence force health system, a psychiatric
specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder, Professor Alexander McFarlane,
told the inquiry yesterday.
"Health facilities are somewhat fragmented," he said. "[The Australian
Defence Force] doesn't have the necessary assets to provide the care he
really required and this means there are a series of potential holes into
which the passage of information falls."
The inquiry was opened to the public after Captain Paljakka's father, Arvi,
accused the army of a cover-up in its treatment of his son.
The inquiry also heard that Captain Paljakka had gone on a two-day
helicopter mission with the former army bomb expert captain Shane Della
Vedova, who has been convicted of stealing 10 army rocket launchers. Della
Vedova, now awaiting sentencing in Long Bay jail, may be called to give
evidence.
This story was found at:
http://www.smh. com.au/articles/ 2008/01/23/ 1201024993015. html