Have problems with VA claim for PTSD? Contact VCS

Mar. 18: Special VCS Lawsuit Update - Please Contact Our Attorneys About VA Problems Related to PTSD Care and Claims

Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, VCS
Veterans for Common Sense
Mar 18, 2008

Dear VCS members,
I am writing to update you about our class action lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We are challenging the VA's failure to provide prompt mental health care to veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and VA’s failure to promptly and accurately process disability compensation claims for PTSD.

The week of March 3, the judge held a hearing about the quality and timeliness of mental health care given to suicidal veterans. After four days of testimony, the judge ordered a full trial on all of our issues to start on April 21, 2008. This is a very quick timeline, and we hope this means that we will receive a final decision from the judge in the next few months.

In order to put on our strongest case, VCS and our attorneys need your help in the next few days. The attorneys for VA challenged our right as a group to sue VA.

We need our VCS veteran members to contact us if they have either of these two problems

• You are diagnosed with PTSD and have experienced problems getting timely VA mental health care for their PTSD or for potential suicide.

• You filed a VA claim for PTSD and have problems getting your PTSD disability compensation claim approved by VA.

If you are a veteran with either of these specific types of problems, then please send VCS a new email with your contact information in the next several days, even if you already sent one in the past. VCS will then forward your information to our attorneys.

If you are willing to talk to our attorneys about your problems with the VA, then I strongly encourage you to contact our attorneys directly in the next few days. Our attorneys need to show the judge that the problems we are complaining about are system-wide problems and not just isolated to a few veterans.

Our attorneys have been working on this case for more than a year. I have met them all, and they are friendly and understanding when it comes to speaking with veterans and families about confidential issues. Your participation now could make a huge difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of veterans fighting with the VA for many years.

Danny Brome, dbrome@dralegal.org
Kasey Corbit, kcorbit@dralegal.org
Disability Rights AdvocatesPhone: (510) 665-8644
Fax: (510) 665-8511TTY: (510) 665-8716
www.dralegal.org

For information about our class lawsuit, please go to this web site: www.veteransPTSDclassaction.org