Inquiry focuses on access to records
Frustrated veteran says he had to wait 35 weeks for his own medical documents when he left military
Access to military health records was the focus Wednesday of an inquiry investigating why a mentally ill former soldier from Nova Scotia killed his family and himself in 2017.
The provincial inquiry heard testimony from Albert (Junior) Maclellan, a retired warrant officer who was called in to help the grieving families after Lionel Desmond fatally shot his mother, wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself.
Maclellan, a relative of the Desmond family, told the inquiry he couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for the Afghanistan war veteran to get his military medical records after he was diagnosed with severe PTSD and medically discharged in June 2015.
“It’s not right,” said Maclellan. “It should be given to the individual. They’re all electronic now. All it should take is to zip a copy to a CD.”
Maclellan, who served in the Canadian Forces for 31 years, testified it took him 35 weeks to get his own medical records when he left the military, adding it would have taken longer had he not had help from a friend inside the system.
The inquiry has heard that when Desmond was discharged and moved from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, provincial health-care providers did not have access to his medical records. As well, there was evidence suggesting this was a persistent problem.
Maclellan told the inquiry it should be mandatory for medically discharged veterans to get their records transferred to a compact disc and handed to them before they leave the service.
Later in the day, Desmond’s younger sister, Chantel, told the inquiry her brother was admitted to a residential treatment centre in Montreal in May 2016, which was arranged by Veterans Affairs. He left for his home in Nova Scotia halfway through a six-month treatment program. When asked if the military or Veterans Affairs provided any support to family members, Chantel Desmond said that didn’t happen.
“If we received any supports, they would be here today,” she said, referring to her 52-yearold mother, Brenda, her brother, his 31-year-old wife, Shanna, and their 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah. “We received none.”
She said she initially noticed a huge improvement in her brother’s condition when he arrived in Nova Scotia in August 2016. But she said his mental state deteriorated over the next four months. She noticed he was becoming more distant, stopped shaving and was wearing more camouflage clothing than before.
“There was no therapeutic things happening for him.”
Chantel Desmond said the inquiry should recommend that Veterans Affairs provide more help to the families of military members who are medically discharged.