VA discouraged staff from diagnosing PTSD for ‘compensation seeking veterans.’
By on May 15th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
VA discouraged staff from diagnosing PTSD for ‘compensation seeking veterans.’
VoteVets.org and CREW released an e-mail today that reveals “a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” The e-mail, dated May 1, 2008, complains about “compensation seeking veterans” and urges VA staff to rule out PTSD and “consider a diagnosis of ‘Adjustment Disorder’” instead:
Last month, RAND released a study showing that nearly 20% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — nearly 300,000 in all — “report symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression, yet only slightly more than half have sought treatment.”
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38 Responses to “VA discouraged staff from diagnosing PTSD for ‘compensation seeking veterans.’”
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Deja Vu; Just like the Vietnam war.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:32 pmThe solution to "treating" these vets is obvious:
Have Blackwater, Halliburtion, KBR, et. al., get into the psychology/counseling business. Millions in contracts will be rewarded and treatment will follow.....
Of course, the treatment would be incompetent and worthless, but you get my point.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pmMaybe it's time for me to become a 'compensation seeking veteran'. My twenty years of alcohol abuse probably didn't have anything to do with my year in Nam and resultant PTSD. Probably?
May 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pmloki ~ cantcha just see the standard 'lock em in a shipping container' therapy?
May 15th, 2008 at 12:36 pmHo,
I have said that about this Clusterf@ck from the very beginning. Only thing different is the new helmets and desert instead of jungle.
And in both cases, we lack any adult leadership at the top.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:37 pmWhy do republicans hate the troops?
May 15th, 2008 at 12:40 pmupside; I noticed it too,
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam.
the only difference is having all that sand instead of trees.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pmI know your question was rhetorical, but allow me to suggest an answer:
Why do Republicans hate the troops? Because they know the troops have the courage to actually face a threat that the Republicans of whom you speak do not.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pmRUC - yeah, in addition to the "treatmen"t records being destroyed to hide evidence there ever was any "treatment".
May 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pmThis has been going on for MONTHS. There was a story about a pentagon team going around to bases (Ft. Drum? Ft. Carson?) telling VA counselors NOT to recommend PTSD screening for troops, returning brain-fuuked from combat...
This has happened after every conflict since the Civil War, i suspect, because the Feds always suspect troops of malingering, trying to get treatment for non-existant injuries.
i have always suspected that they have this attitude because,as bottom-feeding parasites, and civilians, it's what they'd do in the same situations...
May 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pmThe repukes only love the troops when they are doing their bidding, not so much after they are broken, then they consider it welfare.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:57 pmUnderstandably, they need to have money for oh-so-qualified executive retention. Psychotic hard-charging types are a special. Gotta retain the talent.
Subject: Suggestion
Please refrain from handouts to a veterans. Like homeless people, we know what they'll do with the money.
P.S. -- COOL FACT: Did you know that 1/4 of homeless people are vets? So totally true. ~
May 15th, 2008 at 12:58 pmAgent Orange what Agent Orange...those damaged babies must have come from something else...bad genes probably.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:00 pmMcWars - if only more really cared about the idealistic ones who believed their government. More soldiers are sick that they were lied to by a government that used them for cannon fodder.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pmHow could these returning soldiers have PTSD? Too many parades for the liberators? Too many flowers and chocolates?
Oh, that's right! It's been nothing but gun fire and IED's, watching comrads and innocent civilians, including children, getting blown to bits.
Better not let them qualify for any medical care or *gasp* compensation. The money belongs to the industrial military complex, and their shareholders.
PEACE
May 15th, 2008 at 1:04 pmtexaslady:
got snark?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pmConsidering the memo, any question on why no one seeks help ?
What really gets me is that it now appears that medical diagnosis is under political control. What does that say for the future of our healthcare system.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:06 pmI would say it's unbelievable that we would ask these people to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our( or someone's) ideology yet "game" them on their promised protective benefits. Of course we cheaped out on their body armour, humvees and water supply, to name but a few, so what is really not believable about this story? Sadly, nothing.
BUSH AND HIS ADMINISTRATION ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY SUCK.
FC
May 15th, 2008 at 1:11 pmWhen was the last time Gunga-Din Bush appeared with the troops standing behind him?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:15 pmThis V.A. staffer should send his kids to Iraq and not get them P.T.S.D help and see if they can committ suicide......
May 15th, 2008 at 1:17 pmIt would be really great if each person who did care would help a wounded vet with the myriad of paperwork and delays they encounter daily. Imagine fighting to regain some health and having to deal with BS to get what was promised. Not every vet has family to help.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:18 pm19 - Ummmm don't think bush should let the troops stand behind him, somebody's weapon might accidently discharge.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:19 pmHow many days did Rumsfeldt say it would take to overrun Iraq and our people would come home. Anyone remember ?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:22 pmThis is totally appropriate. This country cannot afford to pay all of the costs associated with those injured in the Iraq War. It is just too expensive. However, there are a number of steps that we can take to mitigate these issues:
1. Restrict the amount of body armor and armored vehicles. Face it, too many of these military personnel live through wounds that would have been fatal. Restriction on use of body armor would increase the fatality rate to a more acceptable historical standard.
2. Delay treatment. There will be fewer surviving with serious wounds if we just delay treatment or evacuation of these wounded personnel from the war zone. Additionally, it will decrease the transportation costs of evacuating the injured to European basis.
3. Contract out the care to Iraqi hospitals. This will really lower survival rates and reduce costs.
4. Identify soldiers that have survived combat situations with the high potential of causing PTSD's, these personnel will be reassigned an MOS of cannon fodder.
5. Readjust all VA and military physician pay scales to create bonus and other incentives for decreasing disability ratings.
6. Remove PTSD from DSM as a recognized disorder. This may be done by a presidential executive order.
7. Create a rapid reaction force of psychiatrists and psychologists paid for by DoD and VA to go on news shows and spin this situation our way, i.e. to explain that all of these people are really malingering.
8. Have US Attorneys prosecute anyone claiming disability compensation for fraud. Non compliant prosecutors will be fired.
REMEMBER, WE HAVE A WAR TO FIGHT AND THOSE WHO WERE UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO BELIEVE IN FAIR TREATMENT AS VETERANS NEED TO SUCK IT UP. AFTER ALL, WHO WOULD EVER SUPPORT THIS WAR IF THEY REALLY KNEW WHAT IT COSTS?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm24 - Wow all of those wonderful ideas are already in place !
May 15th, 2008 at 1:34 pmThe best Repub words I have heard, "they volunteered ."
May 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pmTo JMOHR:
Thanks, I could not have said it better.
I might add, however, under No. 3, Contract the care to KBR. That will assure a low survival rate.
FC
May 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pmWhoever wrote this email needs to be locked in a room with some of the angry veterans denied coverage for about 10 minutes, then the janitor sent in to scrape him off the floor and dumped in the toilet.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:49 pmSo, where are the Bush-licking trolls on this issue??
**crickets chirping***
Way to support the troops, I tell ya.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pmThese decisions are not being made in a vacuum. Chimpy/Cheney, Head of the VA, that hideous Dr. Ira Katz (he of the speech impediment who testifed last week)--they should all rot in hell for what they have done.
Respect for human life has always been the repukes mantra--start showing it.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pmNice way to "support the troops".
May 15th, 2008 at 2:15 pmJust when you think it couldn't get any worse, just when you think they can't sink to a lower level, just when you think this war has gone down to the lowest level of morality.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:52 pmninja97-
It is so cute how you take the administration at their word - especially considering the long chains of obfusication / truthiness that have arisen in the past few years.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pmninja97-
It is so cute how you take the administration at their word - especially considering the long chains of obfusication / truthiness that have arisen in the past few years.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pmtexaslady Says:
How many days did Rumsfeldt say it would take to overrun Iraq and our people would come home. Anyone remember ?
Yes - He said (paraphrased) "6 days, maybe 6 weeks, I doubt if 6 months."
And Ninja97 - why the hell doesn't the VA have the ability to properly diagnose PTSD? Try inadequate funding levels.
"The problem starts with money. The administration uses carefully cooked numbers to pretend that it has been generous to veterans, but the historical data contained in its own budget for fiscal 2008 tell the true story. The quagmire in Iraq has vastly increased the demands on the Veterans Administration, yet since 2001 federal outlays for veterans’ medical care have actually lagged behind overall national health spending."
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/opinion/05krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Or this attitude, which is still in place.
"The administration’s approach to funding wounded veterans should already be clear. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal noted the growing cost of veterans benefits due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s response was to complain that it would “rather use [the funds] to help troops fighting today.”
“The amounts have gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation’s ability to defend itself,” says David Chu, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness."
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/05/vets-benefits-hurt-security/
May 15th, 2008 at 5:21 pmWhat is C&P??
May 15th, 2008 at 7:57 pmSHAME!! SHAME!! SHAME!! be upon the writer of that memo. Yes there was a person who wrote it. Though a SHAMELESS DOUBLE DAMNED ADMINISTRATION OF ROGUES...ordered it. And yes I understand trying to make it to retirement in a dysfunctional organization but people DIE from untreated PTSD. There are some things worth resigning for...see Eliot Richardson.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:24 pmIn medical parlance "R/O" or "rule out" does not mean a diagnosis should not be considered. It actually means the opposite of that. "Adjustment Disorder R/O PTSD" means that there is some evidence for both diagnoses, although the evidence is stronger for Adjustment Disorder, and that PTSD needs to be considered further in light of further information. Then it would either be designated as the primary diagnosis instead of Adjustment Disorder, or it would be disconfirmed and Adjustment Disorder confirmed. Nevertheless, this appears to be a very inappropriate memo, suggesting that diagnosis be manipulated for non-medical reasons.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:35 am