Medical Event on Duty: The DVA Claim That Needs No SoP Factor

If you had a heart attack, a stroke, or a collapse while you were on duty, DVA can now accept liability without you proving your service caused it. The improved MRCA changed the definition of service injury on 1 July 2026 so that an injury occurring while a member is on duty is accepted on that basis alone.

No Statement of Principles. No factor to satisfy. No argument about whether the physical exertion of your role over 15 years contributed to the coronary artery disease. If the injury happened while you were on duty, the connection to service is established by the timing.

This is the most underused provision in the improved MRCA, and it will stay that way until veterans and advocates understand what it actually covers.

What changed

Before 1 July 2026, a member who had a heart attack during a PT session had to establish that service caused or contributed to it. That meant finding a factor in the ischaemic heart disease Statement of Principles that their service history satisfied, and producing evidence for it. Plenty of those claims failed.

The definition of service injury under the MRCA has been amended. Liability is now accepted for an injury that occurs while the person is on duty as a defence member, regardless of whether the injury was caused by service. DVA's own worked examples are heart attacks and strokes.

The provision applies to injuries only. It does not apply to diseases.

Where this sits in the new order of assessment

DVA now works through liability in a set sequence, looking for the simplest and fastest pathway before falling back to the harder ones.

Presumptive liability is considered first. If your condition is on the list of injuries and diseases specified by the Repatriation Commission as having a known connection with military service, it is accepted without reference to the SoPs at all.

Medical event on duty is the second test. This applies to injuries, not diseases, that occurred while you were on ADF duty.

Only if neither applies does DVA move to the other liability tests, which is where the Statements of Principles live.

Most veterans, and a fair number of advocates, still think the SoPs are the starting point. From 1 July they are the third option, not the first.

The injury versus disease question is where the fights will be

This is the part that decides whether a claim succeeds, so it is worth being blunt about it.

The MRCA distinguishes between an injury and a disease. The medical event on duty provision only reaches injuries. A condition characterised as a disease falls back to the SoP pathway, which puts you exactly where you were before the reform.

DVA has nominated heart attacks and strokes as its examples, which tells you the department accepts that an acute cardiac or cerebrovascular event occurring on duty is an injury for this purpose. That is significant, because underlying ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease are ordinarily treated as diseases.

As we read it, the practical distinction is between the acute event and the underlying pathology. The myocardial infarction that dropped you on the parade ground is the injury. The coronary artery disease that had been developing for a decade is the disease. The provision reaches the first, not the second.

Expect delegates to get this wrong in both directions during the first year. Expect some claims to be pushed into the disease bucket where they should not be, and expect that to be a live issue at the Veterans' Review Board.

What counts as on duty

The provision turns on being on duty as a defence member at the time of the event. That is broader than being on a range or in the field.

It reaches ordinary working hours on base, mandated physical training, exercises, courses, deployments, and duty travel. Where the line falls for members living in on the weekend, on leave, or travelling to and from work will be worked out through decisions over the next year or two.

If there is any argument about whether you were on duty at the time, that argument is now the whole claim. The documentation that matters is whatever fixes your duty status at the moment of the event. Unit records, the incident report, the ambulance record with the location, the medical officer's note, and statements from whoever was with you.

This is a live claim for serving members and recent dischargees

The obvious cohort is currently serving members who have a cardiac or cerebrovascular event at work. Their unit will have documented it and their duty status will be beyond argument.

Less obvious, and more valuable, is the veteran who had an event on duty years ago, never claimed it because everyone told them there was no SoP pathway, and has lived with the consequences since. A claim lodged now is assessed under the improved MRCA, so the provision is available to them even though the event predates it.

If you were medically downgraded or discharged following an event that happened while you were on duty, that is worth revisiting.

The related change nobody is talking about

The same set of amendments added coverage for injuries and deaths arising from treatment. Serving members are now covered for the unintended consequences of any treatment provided under Defence health arrangements, including treatment for pre-existing conditions and preventative treatment.

That reaches surgical complications, adverse reactions, and injuries caused by treatment for conditions that had nothing to do with service. If Defence treated you and the treatment went wrong, the consequence is compensable even though the underlying condition was not.

What to gather before you lodge

You still need a diagnosis. None of these provisions remove the requirement to establish that you have the condition. What they remove is the requirement to prove service caused it.

For a medical event on duty claim, the evidence set is narrow and specific. You need the medical evidence establishing the diagnosis and the date, and you need proof of duty status at that moment.

Where it is available, the contemporaneous record is worth more than anything reconstructed later. An incident report or a medical officer entry from the day carries far more weight than a statutory declaration written 12 years afterwards.

The other liability change worth knowing

If your claim goes to review, the SoP position can now move in your favour. Where the Repatriation Medical Authority updates a Statement of Principles between your primary decision and the reviewable decision, the version most beneficial to your circumstances is applied.

That changes the calculus on marginal SoP claims. A claim that failed on a factor that has since been widened is worth reviewing rather than abandoning.

Frequently asked questions

Do I still need a SoP factor if I had a heart attack on duty?

No. If the event is accepted as an injury that occurred while you were on duty, liability is established on that basis and the SoPs are not applied. The SoPs only come into play if neither presumptive liability nor the medical event on duty provision covers your claim.

Does this apply to an event that happened before 1 July 2026?

Yes. The provision applies to claims determined under the improved MRCA, which is every claim lodged from 1 July 2026 onwards, regardless of when the event occurred. A claim lodged before that date is assessed under the Act that applied at the time.

Does this cover diseases as well as injuries?

No. The provision reaches injuries only. This is why the characterisation of your condition matters so much, and why the acute event rather than the underlying pathology is what you claim.

Was I on duty if it happened during mandatory PT?

Mandated physical training on a working day is ordinarily duty. Voluntary training outside working hours is less clear cut. The answer turns on your unit arrangements at the time, which is why the contemporaneous record matters.

What if my event was never formally documented?

The claim gets harder but is not necessarily lost. Medical records showing the date and diagnosis, unit records placing you at work that day, and statements from people who were present can establish duty status. Get advice before lodging rather than after a rejection.

Does accepting liability this way affect my permanent impairment?

No. Liability and impairment are separate questions. Once the condition is accepted, permanent impairment is assessed under GARP M in the normal way and your points determine what is payable. You can estimate that with our permanent impairment calculator.

If you had an event on duty, it is worth a second look

Plenty of veterans were told years ago that there was no pathway for a cardiac or cerebrovascular event because the SoP factors did not fit their service. That advice was right at the time. It is not right anymore.