POWERS: Who's malingering?
Feds need help diagnosing stress in combat veterans
By Neal Powers
The Washington Times
In 1944, when an uninjured private, Charles H. Kuhl, said he couldn't "take it anymore," Gen. George S. Patton called him a "yellow coward," slapped him and threw him out of the hospital tent. The U.S. military has always had difficulty discriminating between malingering and disability caused by mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Many in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would have us believe PTSD is unique to military personnel, but that is not true. Law enforcement officers, firefighters and even missionaries and relief workers in Haiti can suffer. So can many victims of rape, abuse or other violent crime. Anyone witnessing death or dismemberment is a potential candidate. The critical difference is whether they get the chance to talk about it and work through it. That's where the military culture becomes a barrier.
In the modern military mindset, only the lowest of the low would let his buddies down, fail to do the job or abandon the mission. As a result, it is often only after family lives are destroyed by night terrors, panic attacks, violent outbursts, emotional numbness and substance abuse that many combat veterans seek help. Today, the VA feels like an adversary to many veterans.
read more here
Feds need help diagnosing stress in combat veterans
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Bus filled with children bursts into flames on I-95 in Brevard
This is just the start of this story. You have to read the rest to know there are good people in this world.
Bus filled with children bursts into flames on I-95 in Brevard
The Associated Press
4:09 p.m. EDT, July 30, 2010
ROCKLEDGE — A bus carrying school-age children from Fort Lauderdale to a track meet in Virginia burst into flames Friday along Florida's Space Coast, but nobody was hurt.
The bus was heading north on Interstate 95 in Brevard County when it burst into flames. All 42 people aboard managed to get off the bus safely. A cause hasn't been determined.
The children still hope to make the track meet in Virginia.
read the rest here
Bus filled with children bursts into flames
Florida's new multi-millionaire was out of work and hit Powerball on a quick pick
This is post 10,000 on this blog and it's a wonderful thing to be able to share with readers of a trauma blog. It's a story of yes good things can happen to you too!
This new multi-millionaire was out of work, just like a lot of people in Florida. This is the kind of story I love to post because no matter how bad things look, there is always a chance for things to get better even more than we are able to imagine.
This new multi-millionaire was out of work, just like a lot of people in Florida. This is the kind of story I love to post because no matter how bad things look, there is always a chance for things to get better even more than we are able to imagine.
Florida’s second Powerball winner claims prize
Uncategorized — posted by gary taylor on July, 30 2010 10:46 PM Florida’s second Powerball jackpot winner has stepped forward to claim her $73.8 million prize.
Elizabeth Choras-Hanna, 35, of Hollywood, opted to receive a one-time, lump-sum payment of $38,929,055.11 for the July 10 jackpot.
Florida Lottery officials said Elizabeth is an out-of-work medical assistant. She was accompanied to Lottery headquarters by her twin sister, Alexandra, a firefighter and paramedic, and Alexandra’s husband, a retired firefighter. The three said they plan to share the money.
“We always go grocery shopping at Publix together and before we leave we buy one Florida Lotto and one Powerball Quick Pick ticket,” Elizabeth told Lottery officials.
read more here
Florida second Powerball winner claims prize
US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital
US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, July 30th, 2010 -- 11:24 am
Rioting erupted in Kabul Friday when scores of Afghan men set fire to two US embassy vehicles after one collided with a civilian car killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said.
Television pictures showed the vehicles in flames and young Afghan men throwing stones at them.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had despatched a quick reaction force to the area, outside the American embassy and near US and Afghan army bases in the centre of the city.
An ISAF official said the vehicles involved belonged to the US embassy.
"We don't know yet how many people were killed in the accident," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.
read more here
US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, July 30th, 2010 -- 11:24 am
Rioting erupted in Kabul Friday when scores of Afghan men set fire to two US embassy vehicles after one collided with a civilian car killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said.
Television pictures showed the vehicles in flames and young Afghan men throwing stones at them.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had despatched a quick reaction force to the area, outside the American embassy and near US and Afghan army bases in the centre of the city.
An ISAF official said the vehicles involved belonged to the US embassy.
"We don't know yet how many people were killed in the accident," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashery said.
read more here
US embassy vehicles torched in Afghan capital
Tornado survivors PTSD needs to be studied by military
While I refuse to call anyone a victim of a traumatic event instead of survivor, this study needs to be read over and over again by the military.
A tornado may only hit a town once but after that, the fear of another one coming can cause them to live in fear for the rest of their lives. For responders, they were not in there when the tornado hit but came after the damage was already done. Yet for them, the damage penetrates their minds as well.
Responders are trained to help survivors and other responders. Chaplains (like me) go through all kinds of different programs to be able to train ourselves to think beyond "self" so that we can take are of other people. It's just what we do. The problem comes when we've just seen too much to be able to just move onto the next crisis. While I believe our training helps us to recover a bit better than others, this does not stop us from experiencing what every other human does.
Two things stand out in this report. One traumatic event like a tornado can change lives forever, yet with the military, more often than not, they face one traumatic event after another and another. That fear of death, wounding or losing someone else they care about hangs on them. The other factor is that civilians have someone showing up after one event to help them put their lives back together but for the military, there is little done to help them recover from all they experience.
You'd think with all the exposures to combat situations, they would have developed a way to have someone there to debrief them all the time, but due to a shortage of mental health professionals and Chaplains, this isn't happening enough to get ahead of any of what we're seeing coming out of repeated deployments into Iraq and Afghansitan.
The rate for developing PTSD is “well over 50 percent for the victims,” Casey said. “For the workers, it will be somewhere between 10 and 30 percent.”
A tornado may only hit a town once but after that, the fear of another one coming can cause them to live in fear for the rest of their lives. For responders, they were not in there when the tornado hit but came after the damage was already done. Yet for them, the damage penetrates their minds as well.
Responders are trained to help survivors and other responders. Chaplains (like me) go through all kinds of different programs to be able to train ourselves to think beyond "self" so that we can take are of other people. It's just what we do. The problem comes when we've just seen too much to be able to just move onto the next crisis. While I believe our training helps us to recover a bit better than others, this does not stop us from experiencing what every other human does.
Two things stand out in this report. One traumatic event like a tornado can change lives forever, yet with the military, more often than not, they face one traumatic event after another and another. That fear of death, wounding or losing someone else they care about hangs on them. The other factor is that civilians have someone showing up after one event to help them put their lives back together but for the military, there is little done to help them recover from all they experience.
You'd think with all the exposures to combat situations, they would have developed a way to have someone there to debrief them all the time, but due to a shortage of mental health professionals and Chaplains, this isn't happening enough to get ahead of any of what we're seeing coming out of repeated deployments into Iraq and Afghansitan.
More than half of tornado victims may have PTSD
Two groups of people are likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from the June 17 tornado: directly affected Wadena area residents and the indirectly affected volunteers and workers helping them, according to Jim Kraemer of the Neighborhood Counseling Center and Dr. Dan Casey of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology.
By: Rachelle Klemme , Wadena (Minn.) Pioneer Journal
WADENA, Minn. — Two groups of people are likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from the June 17 tornado: directly affected Wadena area residents and the indirectly affected volunteers and workers helping them, according to Jim Kraemer of the Neighborhood Counseling Center and Dr. Dan Casey of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology.
“(PTSD) can be caused by anything that would be traumatic in a person’s life,” said Kraemer.
Casey and Kraemer said symptoms of PTSD include difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite (hardly eating, not eating at all or overeating), anxiety and flashbacks replaying the traumatic event in one’s mind.
The multiple July storms have not helped.
Casey also said people living with or without PTSD may overreact to severe weather — for example, taking shelter in the basement without an actual tornado warning.
Acute Distress Response occurs immediately after an event. After 30 days, it can be diagnosed as PTSD, Casey said.
read more here
Bank America closed Maj. Hasan's account
Banks won't take Fort Hood shooting suspect's paychecks
By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:00 p.m. Thursday, July 29, 2010
BELTON — As he sits in the Bell County Jail, accused of the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting that left 13 dead, Maj. Nidal Hasan continues to receive his monthly U.S. Army paycheck, which based on his rank and experience is probably more than $6,000.
That's standard procedure for soldiers who are confined before military trial, according to Army officials.
But Hasan, charged with a shooting spree that shocked the country, is not a standard defendant. And he's having a hard time finding a bank to take his money.
According to his civilian attorney John Galligan , Bank of America notified Hasan last month that it was closing his account and no area bank so far has agreed to open an account for the Army psychiatrist. Military regulations require soldiers to be paid through direct deposit, making a bank account indispensable.
read the rest here
Fort Hood shooting suspect paychecks
linked from
Kansascity.com
By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 9:00 p.m. Thursday, July 29, 2010
BELTON — As he sits in the Bell County Jail, accused of the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting that left 13 dead, Maj. Nidal Hasan continues to receive his monthly U.S. Army paycheck, which based on his rank and experience is probably more than $6,000.
That's standard procedure for soldiers who are confined before military trial, according to Army officials.
But Hasan, charged with a shooting spree that shocked the country, is not a standard defendant. And he's having a hard time finding a bank to take his money.
According to his civilian attorney John Galligan , Bank of America notified Hasan last month that it was closing his account and no area bank so far has agreed to open an account for the Army psychiatrist. Military regulations require soldiers to be paid through direct deposit, making a bank account indispensable.
read the rest here
Fort Hood shooting suspect paychecks
linked from
Kansascity.com
Gen. Peter Chiarelli: Screening for suicides won't work
General: Screening for suicides won't work
Published: July 30, 2010 at 7:40 PM
WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army cannot reduce its suicide rate by screening out recruits who might become suicide risks, Gen. Peter Chiarelli said Friday.
Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, held a news conference at the Pentagon to discuss a new report on military suicide. He commissioned the report after the suicide rate among soldiers exceeded that among civilians for the first time since the Vietnam era.
The National Institute of Mental Health said screening intensively enough to prevent two suicides a year would mean the Army would not meet its recruiting goals, he said.
Published: July 30, 2010 at 7:40 PM
WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army cannot reduce its suicide rate by screening out recruits who might become suicide risks, Gen. Peter Chiarelli said Friday.
Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, held a news conference at the Pentagon to discuss a new report on military suicide. He commissioned the report after the suicide rate among soldiers exceeded that among civilians for the first time since the Vietnam era.
The National Institute of Mental Health said screening intensively enough to prevent two suicides a year would mean the Army would not meet its recruiting goals, he said.
While the increased suicide rate has been blamed on repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chiarelli said soldiers are most likely to take their own lives in their first year in the Army or in the early months of their first overseas deployment. Those who enlist when they are older, often after losing civilian jobs, are three times as likely to kill themselves.
read more here
Only human after all
Only human after all
by
Chaplain Kathie
After the training is over they are rough, tough, combat ready Marines. Their bodies are young, conditioned, able to be pushed past where most others would collapse. Their senses sharpened by training and the sense of individuality beaten out of them by the Drill Instructor's constant taunting. They are ready to face any enemy, any obstacle and any harsh condition. This training also attempts to prepare them to forget about being human.
Marines try to explain that when they come home from combat, after watching bombs blow up friends, seeing buddies burn, picking up pieces of what used to be someone they knew, they are not supposed to cry. They have witnessed the worst man is capable of at the same time they have witnessed courage beyond all measure from their buddies and themselves. While back home they may reflect on the actions of others in full perspective, they often forget about their own. They focus on the pain they finally allow themselves to feel when the danger to their buddies is over. They tell themselves Marines don't cry because it means they are weak.
What they don't see is the Marine who did their duty no matter how much pain they were in, no matter how much they were grieving and no matter how much PTSD had already taken away from them. They had a duty to do and they carried it out but they forget that part when they are back home and then they blame themselves for not "preparing their brains" for not being "tough enough" and for being human.
We talk a lot about PTSD and what it does to them when they come home but what we don't talk about is the magnificence of their spirit when they are able to endure so much while deployed and others are counting on them to be fully engaged in the battle. This they do no matter what but once out of harms way, when they are alone, when they are back home, the greatest danger awakens. There is no one there to remind them of their courage rising above the weight of the world on their shoulders.
"Never leave a man behind" is often regarded as an action taken in combat but should be always part of what happens when they come home and one of their own is in danger from the enemy within. They need to be retrained to accept the fact they are only human after all.
I've held Marines in my arms as they run out of words to explain the pain they are carrying but the silence is broken with apologies for falling apart because I was dealing with a "Marine" who thought that returning to a human state of mind meant they did not train properly.
I've talked to soldiers in shock as they wonder what the hell happened to them. When they couldn't wait to go home and then once there, they couldn't wait to go back into hell. The hell of combat became a familiar place and home became foreign territory because the person inside of their skin changed.
National Guards tell a familiar story but for them it is more complicated because they return home to civilian life in communities facing the same demands and problems everyone else has but carrying the memories of combat while they listen to their neighbors complain about the trivial details of their own lives. They hear co-workers complain about having to stay an hour late to finish a project after they had just returned from days without much sleep at all and a year on a project that could have cost them their lives.
With all of this, somehow they got the message that being human, suffering from PTSD, is their fault. Somehow they got the message that they should be tough enough to defeat this enemy on their own. No one told them they were not deployed into combat alone, didn't fight the enemy alone over there and they should not have to fight the enemy inside of them alone either.
We read about the rates going up and shake our heads wondering when it will stop being too late to save the lives that managed to survive combat but cannot survive coming home.
Here is one of their stories
A Marine's Suicide Brings The Battle Home
by Wade Goodwyn
This can help because too many are not getting any mental health counseling at all.
Here's some more links you may want to read
• U.S. House of Representatives passes suicide-prevention measure named after N.J. soldier
• N.J. Army soldier's death highlights gap in military suicide prevention efforts
• U.S. Rep. Rush Holt introduces military suicide prevention bill named for N.J. soldier
• Military suicides: Cases of post-traumatic stress mount at alarming rate
• Military suicides: Army Sgt. Coleman Bean's downward spiral ends with gunfire
• Military suicides: Hero's life transforms to nightmare for Marine James T. Jenkins
• VIDEO: Military suicides: U.S. soldiers struggle with torment of war
by
Chaplain Kathie
After the training is over they are rough, tough, combat ready Marines. Their bodies are young, conditioned, able to be pushed past where most others would collapse. Their senses sharpened by training and the sense of individuality beaten out of them by the Drill Instructor's constant taunting. They are ready to face any enemy, any obstacle and any harsh condition. This training also attempts to prepare them to forget about being human.
Marines try to explain that when they come home from combat, after watching bombs blow up friends, seeing buddies burn, picking up pieces of what used to be someone they knew, they are not supposed to cry. They have witnessed the worst man is capable of at the same time they have witnessed courage beyond all measure from their buddies and themselves. While back home they may reflect on the actions of others in full perspective, they often forget about their own. They focus on the pain they finally allow themselves to feel when the danger to their buddies is over. They tell themselves Marines don't cry because it means they are weak.
What they don't see is the Marine who did their duty no matter how much pain they were in, no matter how much they were grieving and no matter how much PTSD had already taken away from them. They had a duty to do and they carried it out but they forget that part when they are back home and then they blame themselves for not "preparing their brains" for not being "tough enough" and for being human.
We talk a lot about PTSD and what it does to them when they come home but what we don't talk about is the magnificence of their spirit when they are able to endure so much while deployed and others are counting on them to be fully engaged in the battle. This they do no matter what but once out of harms way, when they are alone, when they are back home, the greatest danger awakens. There is no one there to remind them of their courage rising above the weight of the world on their shoulders.
"Never leave a man behind" is often regarded as an action taken in combat but should be always part of what happens when they come home and one of their own is in danger from the enemy within. They need to be retrained to accept the fact they are only human after all.
I've held Marines in my arms as they run out of words to explain the pain they are carrying but the silence is broken with apologies for falling apart because I was dealing with a "Marine" who thought that returning to a human state of mind meant they did not train properly.
I've talked to soldiers in shock as they wonder what the hell happened to them. When they couldn't wait to go home and then once there, they couldn't wait to go back into hell. The hell of combat became a familiar place and home became foreign territory because the person inside of their skin changed.
National Guards tell a familiar story but for them it is more complicated because they return home to civilian life in communities facing the same demands and problems everyone else has but carrying the memories of combat while they listen to their neighbors complain about the trivial details of their own lives. They hear co-workers complain about having to stay an hour late to finish a project after they had just returned from days without much sleep at all and a year on a project that could have cost them their lives.
With all of this, somehow they got the message that being human, suffering from PTSD, is their fault. Somehow they got the message that they should be tough enough to defeat this enemy on their own. No one told them they were not deployed into combat alone, didn't fight the enemy alone over there and they should not have to fight the enemy inside of them alone either.
We read about the rates going up and shake our heads wondering when it will stop being too late to save the lives that managed to survive combat but cannot survive coming home.
Here is one of their stories
A Marine's Suicide Brings The Battle Home
by Wade Goodwyn
Tina Fineberg/AP
Mary Gallagher, photographed at her home in October 2007, the year after her husband, Marine Gunnery Sgt. James Gallagher, took his own life.
'Lot Of Ugly Things'
Mary Gallagher said when her husband returned stateside, he kept the worst of it to himself: "Most Marines were not ones to really talk at all. Jim always said he'd placed it in his heart, and he said, 'I'll carry it forward because that's what I have to do and that's how I'll get through it.'
"I'm sure he saw a lot of ugly things. I just don't know all the ugly he did see."
After he returned home, Sgt. Gallagher was soon sent to the Marines advanced course. Mary Gallagher said her husband seemed mostly fine.
"I didn't really see it coming at all. I think that people are a little misled at the fact that PTS is very visible, but it's not as visible as people think," she said.
PTS refers to post-traumatic stress.
It is only in retrospect that Mary Gallagher can see what she missed at the time.
"To me, he just seemed sad. You know, he was not quite himself, but, you know, I just had no idea that he was really struggling as bad as he was," she said. "And obviously he was struggling a lot.
"And that's the hardest part for me. You know, it's something I carry with me every day, that I didn't notice that I didn't realize how much he was hurting."
A Sergeant's Suicide Brings The Battle Home
NPR
July 30, 2010
A U.S. Army study released Thursday says it suffered a record number of soldier suicides last year, pointing to a military that has been stretched thin by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The report says 160 soldiers took their own lives in 2009; another 1,800 tried to commit suicide. The report says multiple deployments and too little time at home are part of the underlying problem."Our last phone call of that day, he just repeatedly told me how much he loved me and, you know, if I truly knew how much he loved me, and I said, 'I do, Jim, and we can get through this together.'
"And my children and I came home, and my daughters actually found their father before I could protect them from that — and he was hanging in the garage in our home."click link above for the rest of this
This can help because too many are not getting any mental health counseling at all.
N.J. Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduces mental health counseling bill for U.S. soldiers
Published: Friday, July 30, 2010
MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A day after the U.S. Army released a report showing alarming increases in suicide rates among its soldiers, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today introduced legislation to help more military personnel get mental health counseling.
Called the Sgt. Coleman Bean National Guard and Reserves Mental Heath Act, the bill extends to National Guard and Reserves members the same access to mental health as active-duty personnel.
Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act amended added a provision requiring five in-person mental health screenings for military personnel returning from combat. But that provision did not extended to the Inactive National Guard, the Individual Ready Reserves and Individual Mobilization Augmentee, who, unlike full-time Army personnel, have a more difficult time accessing mental health services after returning from combat because they return to civilian life.
read more here
Lautenberg introduces mental health counseling bill
Here's some more links you may want to read
• U.S. House of Representatives passes suicide-prevention measure named after N.J. soldier
• N.J. Army soldier's death highlights gap in military suicide prevention efforts
• U.S. Rep. Rush Holt introduces military suicide prevention bill named for N.J. soldier
• Military suicides: Cases of post-traumatic stress mount at alarming rate
• Military suicides: Army Sgt. Coleman Bean's downward spiral ends with gunfire
• Military suicides: Hero's life transforms to nightmare for Marine James T. Jenkins
• VIDEO: Military suicides: U.S. soldiers struggle with torment of war
Friday, July 30, 2010
Another rumor about Obama proved wrong but still goes on
Honest people bother to read what the facts are. Honest people bother to see what has changed since he has been President when it comes to taking care of our troops and our veterans. Other people start rumors and other people want to believe the lies instead of the truth.
If the commanders of the service groups can't get them to believe he's been very good to veterans or the fact he is going to the DAV convention to address them, then nothing will change the minds of the people happy to be so wrong if they think it justifies hating him. After all these are the same people who thought Bush was their friend at the same time he was cutting the VA budget in half the year after he increased it with two wars on, veterans killing themselves and no one doing anything about any of it. Why can't people get it into their heads that the truth does not change with elections, nor should it?
But if you really want to know the truth on this, the insurance companies can actually refuse to pay when a veteran is diagnosed with anything attached to their service. When a VA claim is denied, the veteran tries to get help from private doctors but if the records show a diagnosis from the VA, they can turn down the claim saying it is the responsibility of the government to treat the medical need. Considering there was an enormous backlog of claims when this was even being thought of, it would mean that veterans wouldn't have to pay for services until their claim was approved. But none of the talking heads ever mention this nor do they mention the fact the VA bills insurance companies for any care not attached to their claim. There is a lot that never gets talked about because too many people are too busy trying to find crap instead of focusing on what is really wrong in this country and making sure that politics stays out of caring for veterans and the troops.
If the commanders of the service groups can't get them to believe he's been very good to veterans or the fact he is going to the DAV convention to address them, then nothing will change the minds of the people happy to be so wrong if they think it justifies hating him. After all these are the same people who thought Bush was their friend at the same time he was cutting the VA budget in half the year after he increased it with two wars on, veterans killing themselves and no one doing anything about any of it. Why can't people get it into their heads that the truth does not change with elections, nor should it?
Did Obama really say that about vets?
By Jeff Schogol
Published: July 30, 2010
President Barack Obama recently met with veterans groups at the White House.
With November’s midterm elections approaching, chain e-mails are swirling about politicians’ alleged wrongdoings or political missteps.
One claims that President Barack Obama made outrageously offensive comments about veterans. That rumor has been debunked, but because it is still in circulation, it is worth a reminder that it is false.
The rumor stems from an Obama administration proposal last year to bill veterans’ private insurance companies for treatment they received from the Department of Veterans Administration. After much sound and fury from veterans groups, the idea died quickly.
“They stubbed their toe on that one,” Veterans of Foreign Wars Executive Director Bob Wallace said last year. “But once it bubbled up, the president called us in, listened to our concerns and decided against it. What encouraged me the most was that the president himself got involved to fix it.”
read more here
Did Obama really say that about vets
But if you really want to know the truth on this, the insurance companies can actually refuse to pay when a veteran is diagnosed with anything attached to their service. When a VA claim is denied, the veteran tries to get help from private doctors but if the records show a diagnosis from the VA, they can turn down the claim saying it is the responsibility of the government to treat the medical need. Considering there was an enormous backlog of claims when this was even being thought of, it would mean that veterans wouldn't have to pay for services until their claim was approved. But none of the talking heads ever mention this nor do they mention the fact the VA bills insurance companies for any care not attached to their claim. There is a lot that never gets talked about because too many people are too busy trying to find crap instead of focusing on what is really wrong in this country and making sure that politics stays out of caring for veterans and the troops.
4 positive tests of St. Louis vets
APNewsBreak: 4 positive tests of St. Louis vets
By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Four veterans treated at the St. Louis VA Medical Center's dental clinic have tested positive for hepatitis, but further testing will be necessary to determine if inadequately sterilized dental equipment is to blame, VA officials said Friday.
The Department of Veterans Affairs provided test results to The Associated Press after repeated requests over the past two weeks. The VA has drawn criticism from some members of congressional delegations in Missouri and Illinois for taking too long to release information on how many veterans tested positive.
read more here
4 positive tests of St. Louis vets
By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Four veterans treated at the St. Louis VA Medical Center's dental clinic have tested positive for hepatitis, but further testing will be necessary to determine if inadequately sterilized dental equipment is to blame, VA officials said Friday.
The Department of Veterans Affairs provided test results to The Associated Press after repeated requests over the past two weeks. The VA has drawn criticism from some members of congressional delegations in Missouri and Illinois for taking too long to release information on how many veterans tested positive.
read more here
4 positive tests of St. Louis vets
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