Veterans for Common Sense fight goes on

From Paul Sullivan

I’m sure you are aware of Judge Samuel Conti’s detailed 82-page ruling that found VA is in crisis and that he was “troubled” by VA’s delays. Yet he decided that the Court lacks jurisdiction and that VA and Congress should fix VA’s problems. Although we are disappointed the Judge would not order VA to act, we are pleased he found in our favor on many facts of the case. VCS re-states our offer to provide Congressional staff with any information that could be used to reform VA so our veterans receive prompt and high-quality VA healthcare as well as fast, complete, and accurate VA claims decisions.

Attached for your review are four items regarding the U.S. District Court’s ruling in our lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. James Peake (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs):

Link to Army Times news article:

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10516

Link to KPIX-TV (CBS News in San Francisco) television broadcast: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10517
Link to VCS press release:

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10517
Attachment containing the Court’s ruling.

Our lawsuit enjoys broad support from veterans and the public. Here are just a few of the many overwhelmingly positive e-mails VCS received from our members about our landmark lawsuit with our co-plaintiff organization, Veterans United for Truth:

Your efforts will make life better for … veterans.
Thanks for all the hard work.
It was a great effort. The fact you were able to get the VA attitude out in the public, presented as evidence in a federal court, was of critical importance…. KEEP IT UP!
I think you did a terrific job of exposing the tragedy of the veterans with the law suit.
All of you working on this should be proud of yourselves.
You have accomplished a great deal and there still things to do. This is only the beginning of the fight; end of round one.
You are to be commended for your hard work.
You should be very proud of the effort you put into this. Because of you, there was a lot learned that would have remained hidden. You gave it your best as you always do.
It will pay off in the long. It will help.
Our fight is now in Congress.

As of April 2008, VA medical centers have treated 325,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, including 133,000 with a mental health condition, 75,000 of whom are diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. We remain alarmed that VA still has no national policy on what to do when a suicidal patient shows up at a VA medical facility. We remain concerned that veterans such as Jonathan Schulze and Jeffrey Lucey were improperly turned away by an under funded and under staffed VA.

Therefore, VCS plans to appeal the Court’s decision primarily on the grounds that the Judicial Branch must enforce the laws of the Legislative Branch ignored by the Executive Branch. Please contact VCS if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Paul.

Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/

My two cents

Because of this, because of the hard work they all did on this (as well as what they plan to do) things will change. It proved once and for all there are people in this country willing to step up and force the changes so that our veterans receive the care they not only earned but the care they all deserve. We have so many who were willing to lay down their lives for this country that need our help for what should never, ever, have been something they had to fight for. They did their fighting when they were deployed. They shouldn't have to keep fighting for their lives because they made it home.