# RAF typist who hurt thumb is awarded eight times more than soldier who lost leg



## 3rd Herd (30 Jul 2007)

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23406198-details/RAF%20typist%20who%20hurt%20thumb%20is%20awarded%20eight%20times%20more%20than%20soldier%20who%20lost%20leg/article.do
The Usual Disclaimer and mod squad can move:

RAF typist who hurt thumb is awarded eight times more than soldier who lost leg 
London, Monday 30.07.07 
An RAF typist who injured her thumb at work is to be paid almost half a million pounds by the Ministry of Defence. 

The civilian's award is almost 30 times the amount a serviceman would receive for the same injury. 

It is eight times more than a soldier would receive for losing a leg and almost double the amount he could expect if he lost both legs. 

The £484,000 payout was condemned by former soldiers, politicians and servicemen's charities who fear it will severely damage morale. 

The woman, believed to be in her 20s, developed a repetitive strain injury while typing computer data. 

She claimed it left her unable to work and caused her to become depressed, and she started legal action against the MoD. 

Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox said: "I think it is indicative of a very weird set of priorities that those who are injured carrying out orders are less well compensated than those who are typing up the orders."

Critics claimed it was an insult to the 2,626 British servicemen who have been injured fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Defence analyst Major Charles Heyman said: "An award like this to a civilian who is never going to be in fear of her life drags down morale. 

"It shows where the MoD's priorities lie and those don't appear to be with the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

"The soldiers will be shocked and astounded as they all know people with severe injuries who got nothing like that."

Jerome Church, secretary of the British Limbless Ex-servicemen's Association, said: "It would be laughable if it wasn't so outrageous. 

"Hearing about this would certainly upset the soldiers coming back from war zones with serious injuries."

The woman was working as a data input clerk for the RAF when she developed an injury in her right hand. 

It was later diagnosed as de Quervain's tenosynovitis - a repetitive strain-type injury in which the tendons at the base of the thumb become inflamed. 

The woman claimed her injury left her unable to work and also caused her to become depressed. 

She sued the MoD and it was revealed that she was awarded a total of £484,000 in compensation and associated costs. 

Legal sources estimated that her total costs for the action would be unlikely to amount to more than £50,000, meaning she would pocket about £434,000. 

This dwarfs the sums offered to serving members of the armed forces who could expect a one-off payment of just £16,500 for the same injury. 

It is almost double the £285,000 a soldier can expect if he loses two limbs while fighting for his country. 

The official tariff of compensation for injuries lists £28,750 for someone blinded in one eye; £57,500 for the loss of a leg and just £8,250 for injuries associated with surviving a gunshot wound. 

Serving military personnel operate under what are called Queen's Regulations. 

Under these rules they give up certain rights normally available to British employees. 

MoD personnel are employed under civilian working laws which make suing for compensation easier. 

An RAF spokesman would say only: "The MoD takes the welfare of our personnel, particularly those serving on operations, very seriously. 

"Where we have a legal liability to pay compensation for a work related injury we do so."

•Sergeant Trevor Walker, who lost a leg while serving in Bosnia, would welcome any compensation. 

His limb was shattered by a shell from a Serbian tank as he was building a road with the Royal Engineers in May 1995. 

Despite 13 operations it had to be amputated above the knee the following year and he applied for £150,000 compensation. 

But the MoD refused to pay because it had decided - without telling troops - that the compensation rules would not apply to soldiers injured while serving in the former Yugoslavia. 

If Sergeant Walker, from Gillingham, Kent, had been serving in Northern Ireland, which was at peace, it would have paid out under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Overseas Scheme. 

His lawyers appealed to the High Court, claiming the Government behaved unfairly by changing the rules without telling troops, but lost the case. 

The married ex-soldier has described the effect on his life of losing his leg: "Just the simple things, like playing with the kids to the extent that what you used to do, you can't do it. 

"Walking from A to B, where previously I would have not bothered about walking four or five miles, just for a breath of fresh air, now it's a couple of hundred metres." 

˜Private Steve Baldwin, 22, was badly injured in a bomb attack in Iraq which killed three of his friends of the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment in 2005. 

Most of his body was scarred, he almost lost his right arm and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Compensation: £10,000.

Excuse me while I go outside and throw up​ :rage:

Edit to add:
RAF CLERK GETS £484,000 FOR TYPING INJURY
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/2907_raf.shtml


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## niceasdrhuxtable (30 Jul 2007)

Disgraceful.


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## tree hugger (30 Jul 2007)

Why couldn't she use her other thumb to press the space bar?  I'd like to get a repetitive strain injury poking her in the eye.


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## kincanucks (30 Jul 2007)

Don't blame the woman blame the system that paid her.


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## Munxcub (30 Jul 2007)

Sure you could blame the system, the alignment of the stars, the tides... but ultimately who is responsible? She still chose to pursue the lawsuit in order to exploit the system, so I blame her.


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## medaid (30 Jul 2007)

I blame her, she has no idea what ethics and morals are. Shame on her, and the system that thinks a clerk's thumb is worth more then a soldier's life. 

Shame on the entire society! The culture and how our civilization views servicemen and women in general! SHAME!! I AM MAD!!!  :rage:


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## TN2IC (30 Jul 2007)

No comment... going outside for my CANCER Stick.


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## Sig_Des (30 Jul 2007)

TN2IC said:
			
		

> No comment... going outside for my CANCER Stick.



same...ugh


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## F.I.R.S.T. (30 Jul 2007)

Having lived in the UK for 38 years until last summer, I was regularly amazed by similar reports, in some cases the victims miraculously being cured a few years later yet never being forced to pay back their windfall.

This article is about the culture of 'where there's blame, there's a claim' that prevails in the UK. A leading injury compensation recovery company even had the same tagline as the focus in it's advertising.


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## retiredgrunt45 (30 Jul 2007)

OH MY GOD!!! Did common sense get up and walk away? This is so unbelievable that it makes me want to vomit.

 I think the judge who made this ruling should be ordered to get a phyciatric evaluation, because he's certainly missing a few marbles.
As for the woman, she should be ashamed of herself, but in her case in order to go through with something like this, she must have absolutely no morals what so ever. 

I do hope this is investigated by the MOD and recified pronto.


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## TN2IC (30 Jul 2007)

Ha! We had a civvy contractor try to hurt himself with the forklift. What a dumb-bum. "Hey... I"ll going to stand here. Chat and stand in the rear of the folklift." Then blame it on poor DND employee. 

Duh.... here is your sign. Good thing DND gave him a whole sum amount of NOTHING!  ;D


Curse those oxygen thieves....


Regards,
TN2IC


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## Trooper Hale (30 Jul 2007)

That is awful. There must be something more to the bloke who lost his leg in in Bosnia though. They cant seriously refuse to pay a man who had his leg taken off him by enemy action. Thats awful and really, really shameful.
MoD needs to really look at its priorities. And those priorities should be the regular squaddies


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