VA retaliated against employees who did not comply with denials

CREW and VoteVets to VA Inspector General: Investigate PTSD Misdiagnoses; "This practice is widespread and systemic."
Submitted by crew on 28 May 2008 - 11:42am. PTSD Veterans Affairs
CREW and VoteVets.org requested that the Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) open an investigation into the process and manner by which the VA makes a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans. The letter to the VA, which we sent today, can be found here.

In the wake of the disclosure by CREW and VoteVets.org of an internal VA e-mail advising VA mental health staff in Texas to consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder in place of a PTSD diagnosis as a cost-cutting measure, both organizations have received new information from VA employees and veterans attesting to the fact that this practice is widespread and systemic. VA Secretary James Peake has repudiated the email as not reflecting VA policy.

The VA has adopted incentive programs that, by rewarding those employees and hospitals that distribute lower levels of compensation to veterans, encourage adjustment disorder diagnoses rather than the most appropriate but also more costly diagnosis of PTSD.

In addition, the VA's internal computer system permits medical files to be changed by health professionals who did not conduct the initial examinations, a practice that appears to have resulted in changed diagnoses from PTSD to adjustment disorder, even where there is no additional medical evidence to support the downgraded diagnoses.

CREW and VoteVets.org also heard from VA employees who suffered retaliation for their failure to support these practices.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said:

It is unconscionable that the VA would actively encourage its staff, through monetary incentives, to misdiagnose our veterans’ mental health. Add to that the mind-boggling disclosure that medical files can be altered to downgrade service members’ conditions, and we have a VA that is betraying those it is supposed to serve. The VA Inspector General must spearhead an investigation into these abhorrent practices immediately.

Jon Soltz, Iraq War vet and Chair of VoteVets.org, added this statement:

Despite what Secretary Peake said, the misdiagnoses being encouraged at the Temple, TX VA Center were not an isolated incident. The only question now is: How widespread is this, and how high up does the problem go? Those of us who served this nation in war deserve to have full confidence in the programs set up to help transition us back to civilian life. These new revelations personally give me zero confidence in the mental health screening and care system the VA oversees.

On May 14th, CREW also sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the VA asking for all records pertaining to any guidance given regarding the diagnosis of PTSD.
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/31847

While it sickens me greatly reading this from CREW and Vote Vets, I have to admit it does not shock me. How could it? Given the fact the DOD is still using Battlemind, which has been proven to be of little good if at all, along with everything else going on, it appears to have been lip service in support of the wound and then sharpening the knife to stab them in the back.

According to the BBC report, the new arrivals in Iraq and Afghanistan are shown Battlemind for "11 1/2 minutes to learn about the psychological impact" as if that is supposed to prepare them for anything. Why is this not working? Simply because it is no good. The rate of suicides has gone up since they began to use it, not only while actively deployed, but the suicide rate has gone up back home as well. What they are doing is not working. If it was, then the rates would drop, not go higher.

Now we learn from the investigations like this one from CREW and Vote Vets, the law suit filed by Veterans For Common Sense, this has all be a fraudulent claim of care. How dare they not only deceive the American people, but further damage the troops as well?

Female veterans are told they will not receive the treatment they need because "they cannot afford the money" when the senate said they would have funded even more if they had known there was a problem.

Dominic DiNatale did the report for the BBC from Afghanistan. He interviewed Sgt. Bruce Cantral, a medic on his 4th deployment between Iraq and Afghanistan, at Bagram Air Base. The Sgt. has already been diagnosed with PTSD and is on a mix of medication and therapy.

Back to Battlemind, again, while only in country a few hours, the new arrivals have to spend two days worth of briefings, which include a lousy 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind, to prepare them for the psychological impact of war. A very lame attempt to prepare them for the fact 1 in 5 will develop PTSD in theater and later half of those deployed will develop it later.

There are now combat stress teams being airlifted in to try to face this crisis. Yet there are not enough of them. A case in point comes from Fort Warrior.

At a chapel in Afghanistan's Fort Warrior, Chaplain Hill recounts a unit that had been through a terrible fight and arrived at the chapel still covered in blood.

While many will have to live with PTSD, there is also combat stress that is immediate and happens under extreme stress. How is 11 1/2 minute going to prepare them for any of this?

Physical and psychological conditions do not seem to matter as long as they can get them back into combat. This again will only harm them further. The "relentless deployments" and stop loss add to the development of PTSD. This the Army knew years ago, yet the warning fell on deaf ears.

DiNatale tried to interviews at FOB Warrior, but the commander told him that he thought it would harm the careers of anyone he interviewed. Imagine that a commander still thinks it will harm the careers of his men if they talked about being human. Yes, this still exists and give the above report from CREW, it is alive and well no matter how much reassurance the public is given that this attitude no longer lives in the minds of those in charge.

One last thing came in the last few minutes of this report. Congressman Filner was interviewed. He stated that 1/3 of the already diagnosed have committed felonies and there have been 200 homicides, mostly committed against family members.

Go here and watch the interview for yourself and see how seriously this all needs to be taken.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7422853.stm

Now you can see that the troops are not getting what they need while deployed and then are greeted with more of the same from the VA afterward. Yet they seem so surprised there is such a huge problem. The right-wing bloggers are attacking the media and Peake is telling them that the problems reported are overblown!

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington