Ex-West Palm cop fights firing over PTSD allegations
By JANE MUSGRAVE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:32 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011
Photo provided to The Post Matthew Ladd served two years in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a sergeant in the Army Reserve, where he said none of his supervisors has questioned his ability to perform.
WEST PALM BEACH — When Matthew Ladd came home in 2008 after serving two years in Afghanistan and Iraq, he was more than ready to embrace civilian life.
He attended the police academy at Palm Beach State College. He landed a job with the West Palm Beach Police Department. Life was good.
Then, in October 2010, after spending roughly nine months patrolling city streets, his superiors said they wanted him to undergo a psychological review.
The review was uneventful. Ladd, the psychiatrist wrote, "is NOT suffering from any apparent psychiatric disorders."
"It is further my opinion within a reasonable degree of psychiatric/medical certainty that there are no psychiatric contraindications that would prevent or preclude Mr. Ladd from returning to full duty and performing the essential functions of a police officer," Dr. Norman Silversmith wrote on Oct. 12, 2010.
Six days later, Ladd was fired. His superiors told him they thought he had post-traumatic stress disorder .
"I thought it was a joke," Ladd said.
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Sunday, January 1, 2012
Cop, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, fired over PTSD he doesn't have?
Psychological testing didn't show any signs of PTSD but he lost his job all the same. This story shows how backwards things can be. They cannot be fired because they have PTSD but because the psychologist said he didn't have it, they were able to fire him. Twisted and wrong!
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