Home > Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome

Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome

by Open-Publishing - Monday 21 November 2005
12 comments

Wars and conflicts International Health USA

A former guardsman suffering from Gulf War Syndrome has won a landmark legal case against the Ministry of Defence.

Daniel Martin, 35, who has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, memory loss and impaired concentration since the 1991 conflict, will receive a disability award under the "umbrella term" of Gulf War Syndrome.

He is one of 1,500 soldiers who made a claim for a disablement pension because of the syndrome, which, for the past 14 years, the MoD has said does not exist.

A war pensions tribunal in London yesterday ruled "the term Gulf War Syndrome is the appropriate medical label to be attached" to Mr Martin’s condition. The ruling will enable the other servicemen to claim their disablement pensions.

Charles Plumridge, Co-ordinator for the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said: "Hundreds of veterans have applied to have the diagnostic label of Gulf War Syndrome recognised. While the Ministry of Defence has said in the House of Commons that they do not recognise the syndrome, the Pensions Appeal Tribunal has ruled that there is enough evidence to warrant the term."

Mr Plumridge, an army reservist called up at the age of 50 to serve in the first Gulf War, has been waiting five years to be granted a disablement pension from the MoD. "A precedent has now been set," he said. "I would expect, at last, the Veterans Agency to accept what everyone else already knows, and grant pensions to the 1,500 veterans who have claimed them due to Gulf War Syndrome."

The veterans claim the syndrome was caused by the many vaccinations they received before combat, including the Anthrax vaccine, combined with exposure to depleted uranium and the pesticides used on the servicemen’s tents while serving in the Gulf during the Allied action.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article323846.ece

Forum posts

  • Hey Daniel piiituue a big yellow luggie in your face. and theres more spit for the rest of them.

    • Jealous, are you? Or is it because he was a soldier? Either way, I find it cowardly of you to attack a man who is suffering as he obviously is. Kicking a man while he is down is probably all you are capable of.

    • WELL DONE DANIEL! ITS ABOUT TIME THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT PAID UP.PEOPLE FORGET THAT THE ONLY REASON THAT THEY ARE FREE TO DO WHAT THEY WANT IS THAT SOMEONE DIED TO DEFEND THEM AND THEIR COUNTRY
      G.T.

    • are you quoting Dick Cheny, Donny Rumsfeld, or georgie boy?

    • Whaaaa??? The only reason people are free to do what they want is because someone died in a war? Basically, you’re saying nations are free because of wars?? Jeezis! I’m sorry in advance to call you immensely dense, which is not news, you know that already. People, nations are free because they make agreements not to kill one another, signing contracts which sadly also have “best before” dates, and these are not achieved by war but by quite the opposite, talk that is, and peaceful.

      And again, we all use the word free a little too lightly. How is a nation free when it does war? How is a people free when they slave and give their lives away to serve the freaks who believe themselves to be deserving of others’ subservience? How is a people free when they can’t have the medical attention needed to heal or at least have a better life? How is a people free when it can’t study? How is a people free when it’s hungry?

      There are nations that have more freedom then others but on Earth, Hon, pure freedom has been eradicated with the advent of “civilization”.

      To listen to you, war is the good way of life. I truly hope no one (soldier) will ever crash the door of your house to exercise their freedom by shooting the people in it, proving to you and teaching you how free they are … how free you are. Man, how sad is your life philosophy, I’m in grief and utter fright, for all your and my brothers and sisters, kids and olds who die unarmed, undefended and unwelcoming of war for your retard and brutish beliefs.

    • You must be one of the most uneducated people to ever grace this earth for saying such a thing. I’m not even in the military and I know that our soldier’s are our countries only protection against outside forces. We had better take care of the people who defend our country. I hope you trip, fall and break your leg. You are an insensitive bore. Soldier’s do what they are ordered to do. It is their job.

  • Congratulations Mr. Martin,
    You have been extremely patient with the whole issue, and god knows how much of this is needed when sick and made pariah to top it all. Getting a disabling disease at such a young age is the saddest story, I am sorry for the price you had to pay to serve in an idiotic war. Receiving the meager disability pension is the least of things the government can do. Even more so when this same government is directly responsible for the health condition they put you in. How to explain why it takes such energy to get what is not only the basic of needs for a person in this so called civilized nation, but also a right?

    The time it took for this case to be won in court exposes the position of the establishment in regards to the quality of life of its citizens, this position is expressed over and over again through the years and through out the world. This position is the easiest to maintain, as not only the very few who profit from these corporations wars despise “the people”, but also very many of them inside this group called “the people”, it’s not only the Haves who maintain these sad politics, but also the Have-nots, the people, who support such a behavior, now, how can this be? It so seems that human beings, whatever their financial situation or social setting, all “carburate” on hate.

    Again, congratulations Mr. Martin, I truly hope that the quality of your life will improve.

    Roxie

  • I console myself knowing that the “piiituue a big yellow luggie in your face” individual is lying on his/her back all life long, "pitueing yellow luggies" up that fall back where they came from (where they belong); we know that those who create misery around them cannot escape that same misery (they create) for themselves; how can it be otherwise, low IQ and poverty in social skills, knowledge and culture has it that they can’t make life happen for themselves, too busy they (little dogs) are at doing what the establishment wants, looking the other way and of course, serving them (big dogs) as is what they expect of them.

    Bass

  • This is great! I have CFS. and I know how this sickness ruins your life , the guy who wrote about luggies, be careful and take good care of your health, because this stuff is making a lot of people very sick, and depressed, and you could be next So you should be , kinder to people, you may need them some day

    • Hey, WOW that first remark had me laughing my ass off. hahahahhahahahahahhahahahaLOL

    • Are you stealing your lines from The Simpsons? You remind me of Nelson. In what aspect? He’s slow, you know, dumb, dense; but hey! You’re happy, that’s what counts. And let me guess, you have no idea whatsoever what this condition is....