An army doctor who helped secure medical clearance for a soldier with PTSD to deploy on his final, distressing mission to Iraq believed he would cop flak from the man's company commander if he refused, an inquest has heard.
Sergeant Ian Turner was found dead in his Sydney home in July 2017 in the months following the deployment, after longstanding difficulties with post-traumatic stress disorder and the abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs.
His deployment was only made possible after his company commander - referred to as Lieutenant Colonel AF - intervened to have a refusal of medical clearance reconsidered, the Sydney inquest into his death has heard.
Lt Col AF reportedly told the regiment doctor - known as Lieutenant Colonel AM - to have the situation "fixed", words he denies using.
Giving evidence on Friday, Lt Col AM said he would have suffered a degree of "reputational damage" if he had declined to initiate the review of Sgt Turner's clearance.
"If I had refused to advocate on his behalf for the deployment, I believed that I would have copped a fair degree of flak from Major (now Lt Col) AF," he said.
"However, it wouldn't have been the first time there was a commander ... who didn't think much of me because I didn't support what they wanted to do."
Under questioning from defence lawyer Jennifer Single, Lt Col AM said he would have nonetheless said no to the review process if he deemed it wasn't in Sgt Turner's best interest.
In an email at the time of the review, Lt Col AM compared the deployment to therapy for Sgt Turner.
"Deployment shouldn't be a therapy, but it is what it is," he wrote.
Lt Col AM stood by that assessment on Friday.
"I would've said, based on his history, that he was likely to be more functional and have less of the problems that he had in barracks when he was deployed."
That didn't factor in the impact on his deployment on his life long term, it was put to him.
"No it doesn't, but ... the risk of him being exposed to the kind of trauma that would exacerbate his existing mental health problems was substantially lower than the missions he had undertaken in Afghanistan," Lt Col AM replied.
However, the inquest has heard a number of incidents on the mission did expose Sgt Turner to distress or trauma that reinvigorated his PTSD symptoms.
The coronial probe, overseen by Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame, will consider whether the defence force appropriately managed Sgt Turner's welfare before his death.
The inquest comes as a royal commission into veteran suicides is set to begin, to investigate why the rates of suicide for ex-services personnel are much higher than in the broader Australian population.
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