Groups Ask Court to Expedite PTSD Care

July 29, Lawsuit Update: Groups Ask Court to Expedite PTSD Care
Audrey Hudson


The Washington Times

Jul 29, 2008

July 29, 2008 - Two veterans groups have asked a federal appeals court to force the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expedite disability claims and treat troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The groups - Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth Inc. - filed a notice Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overturn a lower court ruling in their lawsuit. Filed in July 2007, their lawsuit claims that the VA system that identifies and processes sufferers of PTSD has collapsed.

Judge Samuel Conti, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejected the lawsuit on June 25, saying the claims were outside of the court's jurisdiction and would require a complete overhaul of the VA by Congress.

The veterans groups contend that the VA and Congress do not have the exclusive right to decide due-process issues and that the courts have a pivotal role to help improve the lives of veterans suffering from the mental disorder.

"We think the judge's ruling is wrong, and where there is a wrong, there is some remedy," said the groups' attorney, Gordon P. Erspamer of the law firm Morrison & Foerster. "Look at all these soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with horrible psychic wounds getting turned away from VA facilities."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10774

Again, all you have to do is think about the fact the suicide and attempted suicide rate has gone up in order to know someone else has to be the authority in this and make sure what needs to be done is done instead of someone just saying it is being done.