As the athletes from 25 countries gather in BC this week to compete in the septimes, a Canadian veteran who suffered injuries that changed their lives in the previous games is demanding the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Armed Forces (Caf ) for $ 2.4 million.
Scott Snow, a poster for the Canada team in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2023, was injured during his first wheelchair rugby match when the chair he was using back, hitting him on the floor of the court and hurting his head , neck and spine.
CBC News previously reported that only after injuring himself, Snow learned that while CAF members are fully insured against injuries suffered during games, team veterans were not. The snow demands that the government compensate for the treatment, pain and suffering and loss of income.
“The first time they left me behind,” Snow told CBC News this week, “I thought that when the story came out, sure that someone would help and nobody has yet helped. I feel that I have been left behind twice.”
The lawsuit will be filed in a federal court on Tuesday, days after Katy Perry, Nelly Furtado and Chris Martin act in the opening ceremonies in Vancouver’s BC Place. The gelatin roll and Ladies Barenaken are scheduled to act in closing ceremonies.
Snow’s claim has not yet been tested in court. CBC News has contacted the Department of National Defense and Vetarans affairs in Canada, but has not yet received an answer.
Snow was a member of the High Profile Invictus team whose trip to the games in Dusseldorf was the theme of A video produced to promote games.
In its wheelchair rugby match against the United States on September 10, 2023, the snow was in a chair that did not have a restriction strap.
He told CBC News that while he reached his hand to catch a ball, he fell back. The incident video shows its head and back hitting the surface of the court under the weight of its 250 pound frame.
Snow ended the game without realizing the damage that the fall had caused. He said he saw the team doctor and German medical professionals on the site after the game. He said they told him that he didn’t need an radiography.
While approaching to intercept a pass during the Rugby match in wheelchair of the Canada team against the US team. In the 2023 Invictus Games, Snow goes back and gives the head to the surface of the court.
Upon returning to Canada and resuming physiotherapy for their service related injuries, radiographs revealed a new cervical column injury, which forced him to suffer an operation to merge his upper vertebrae.
While Snow’s arms improved, the tingling on his legs did not stop and then learned that he had also broken the vertebrae in his spine, requiring another operation.
Unable to pay the modifications required to recondition your home to be accessible, the snow had to move to a retirement house for a period while undergoing physiotherapy.
When CBC News reported on his case, detailing how he was paying his pocket for spinal and ocular therapy, as well as for assisted life, the Federal Government announced that in the future would assure veterans who participate in the Invictus Games.
“We will continue working with the Canadian Armed Forces, the soldier, the Games of Invictus and other interested parties to ensure … this situation will be rectified before the Invictus 2025 games,” said the minister of veteran affairs, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, to the House of Commons in September.
During the period of the question on Thursday, the deputy of the NDP, Rachel Blaney, addressed the veterans who compete in the Invictus Games in the hook for their medical insurance. The Minister of Vetarans Affairs, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, said the situation will be rectified in time for the Games Invictus 2025.
Soldier On, a semi -autoomo CAF program that helps members and veterans of sick and injured coffee to recover through sports and recreational and creative activities, manages Canada’s undictus team.
Snow said that since he was injured, soldier, CAF and Canada veterans affairs have not responded to multiple requests to provide financial and medical assistance.
Snow said he does not blame the Invictus games and fully supports his mission to help give injured soldiers and veterans the opportunity to represent his country. He says that the soldier, CAF and national defense are to blame for his situation.
“They have admitted that they were wrong. The minister admitted that at home. They changed their policy, so why don’t they help me now?” Snow said.
Canadian veteran Scott Snow says he paid thousands in surgery invoices after an injury suffered while competing in the Invictus games last year. According to current rules, only members in service have medical coverage.
Philip Millar, the lawyer who represents Snow, told CBC News that he sent a statement of claim to the national defense and the CAF more than three weeks ago that he sought to reach an agreement outside the court.
“I asked them before this if they only agreed to cover part of their rehabilitation and asked the military to answer me and they simply said no, which is brutal,” said Millar.
“We tried and seemed not answered … They simply said they were busy with the Invictus Games.”
“This could be an easy solution,” says the defender
The medically retired captain Sean Bruyea, a former intelligence officer of the Air Force, is a main defender of the rights of injured veterans.
He says that it is ridiculous that Snow has to take the government to the courts to obtain compensation for which veterans who participate in the 2025 and futures games now qualify.
“You cannot continue using these games to romantize injuries and play the hero’s letter and avoid dealing with real life veterans to take care of them,” he said.
“What is so marked and disturbing irony that this is an event, the Invictus Games, which are destined to romantize and place heroic labels in veterans who can participate.”
Bruyea says that CAF and Veterans’ issues in Canada have programs to help veterans with assisted treatment and arrangements that must be extended to help snow.
“This could be an easy solution,” he said.
Unable to pay the treatment
According to the lawsuit in the Federal Court, Snow seeks $ 1 million in damage to pain, suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life.
Snow is also asking for an additional $ 1 million for medical, hospitable and other rehabilitation treatment.
The demand says that although the snow receives disability benefits after being medically withdrawn from the forces, it is allowed to gain up to $ 20,000 a year to recharge its benefits without penalty.
The demand says that because its income capacity has been “severely restricted,” Snow wants the national defense and the CAF to pay $ 440,000 to cover its loss of income, an amount equivalent to 22 years winning the maximum recharge.
The claim statement says that the snow has two herniated albums and two fractures in the lumbar column. He also says that in autumn he suffered “severe trauma in the head causing a tear in the optical muscles.”
The snow was paying from his pocket both for eye therapy and back therapy, but says he had to suspend the treatment because he can no longer afford it.
