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Threats to Veteran Benefits for Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder
A Message from Veteran Tiger Davis
Dear Comrades-in-Arms:
The attached article appeared in the Washington
Post this morning, December 27th, and each of you must read
and digest this info.
During my tenure, setting up and operating
vet centers, which were designed to address the problems of
re-entry to civilian life for Vietnam veterans, I found many
Korean and World War II veterans suffering from the residuals of
their wars. In fact, it was a long time before I could get
my family to understand that my Uncle Paul, 24th Infantry in
Korea, was suffering from PTSD among other things. My
family thought that if he would stop drinking, he would
"get back to his senses." In the late 1950s, we
would find him crouched under the kitchen table with his hands
over his head, covering up.
No one listened. When he talked about
Uncle Claude who was killed in Germany or Uncle Johnny who
received three bronze stars, they would say Johnny ain't got no
problems. Uncle Johnny was an alcoholic all his life and
stayed away from the family almost as if he was a recluse.
Uncle Charlie did the same. He worked hard, drank hard,
and acted as if there was no tomorrow. Thus, I am well
grounded in experiences from the previous wars and the affects
upon our troops.
We must maintain vigilance and be prepared to
engage to protect treatment and benefits for our younger
combatants in our current expeditions. My granddaughter
left yesterday for Iraq. Her father who spent 13 years in
the Army got out after the Noreiga deal in Panama. For the
first time yesterday, I saw him cry. His baby was going
off to war. Our children and grandchildren should enjoy
our protection. We must hang tough together and protect
their interests. —Tiger
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A Political Debate On Stress
Disorder
As Claims Rise, VA Takes Stock
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
The
spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war
veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited
fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits
for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan.
In the past
five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for
the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times
as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in
general, according to a report this year by the inspector
general of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A total of
215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a
cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 – a jump of
more than 150 percent.
Experts say
the sharp increase does not begin to factor in the potential
impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because the increase
is largely the result of Vietnam War vets seeking treatment
decades after their combat experiences. . . .
The growing
national debate over the Iraq war has changed the nature of the
discussion over PTSD, some participants said. "It has
become a pro-war-versus-antiwar issue," said one VA
official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because
politics is not supposed to enter the debate. "If we show
that PTSD is prevalent and severe, that becomes one more little
reason we should stop waging war. If, on the other hand, PTSD
rates are low . . . that is convenient for the Bush
administration." . . . .
People with
PTSD have paralyzing memories of traumatic episodes they
experienced or witnessed, a range of emotional problems, and
significant impairments in day-to-day functioning. Underlying
the political and budget issues, many experts acknowledged, is a
broader scientific debate over how best to diagnose
trauma-related pathology, what the goal of treatment should be
-- even what constitutes trauma. . . .
Most
veterans whom Frueh treats for PTSD are seeking disability
compensation, he said. Veterans Affairs uses a sliding scale;
veterans who are granted 100 percent disability status receive
payments starting at around $2,300 a month. The VA inspector
general's report found that benefit payments varied widely in
states and said that was because VA centers in some states are
more likely to grant veterans 100 percent disability. . . .
Once veterans are declared disabled, they
retain that status indefinitely, Frueh and Satel said. The
system creates an adversarial relationship between doctors and
patients, in which veterans sometimes take legal action if
doctors decline to diagnose PTSD, Frueh said. The clinician
added that some patients who really need help never get it
because they are unwilling to undergo the lengthy process of
qualifying for disability benefits, which often requires them to
repeatedly revisit the painful episodes they experienced. . . .
[Larry] Scott said Veterans Affairs'
objectives were made clear in the department's request to the
Institute of Medicine for a $1.3 million study to review how
PTSD is diagnosed and treated. Among other things, the
department asked the institute -- a branch of the National
Academies chartered by Congress to advise the government on
science policy -- to review the American Psychiatric
Association's criteria for diagnosing PTSD. Effectively, Scott
said, Veterans Affairs was trying to get one scientific
organization to second-guess another. . . .
"What they are trying to do is figure
out a way not to diagnose vets with PTSD," said Steve
Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource
Center, a veterans advocacy group
Source: The Washington Post © 2005
posted 27 December 2005
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updated 11 December 2007 |
