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Return to Article: Pilot program may overhaul treatment of veterans

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  There is a drastic need to combine civilian sector clinical staff into the mix. The VA and DOD Staff are so profoundly cynical and disproportionate with rating those who served this country. It is truly appalling how inconsistent, indignant, and uncaring this system has become while Congressional Staff get the real healthcare coverage. Secondly, every veteran should receive a care card for service connected disabilities and have the right to choose their care provider. The VA is lacking a personality in the provider arena.

  Drew Posted August 21, 2008 8:55 AM
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  I urge a serious overhaul of the present system for treatment of veterans. The Veteran's Administration is NOT YOUR FRIEND! Any disabled vet will tell you this. I have seen inequities in the VA for over 20 years and it is shameful! The epitonmy of my very worst experience at the VA was when I was greeted by a general practioner for an orthopedic problem and he told me that he was only there because he had a committment to the federal government and then said, "now what's YOUR problem". I knew it was downhill from there, and it was.

  Suzanne Posted July 29, 2008 2:14 PM
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  There has always been a difference between the disability ratings of the Active Military and the VA. The VA has to go by Title 38 of the CFR Pensions, Bonuses and Veteran's Relief.

  Once you get a PROFILE in the Military your done unless it's a temp one. If you seek mental help your a security risk, and your medical records are wide open to your Chain of Command. At the VA help is per norm there for you, but VA's like Bay Pines in Florida no longer have support groups except for those returning from Iraq or Afgan.. So if you were part of a PTSD support group for other wars you no longer have them to help or fall back on. You will also find your waiting for other appointments longer now as well. VA is over crowded, and has not been funded to hire more medical personnel to help Veterans. While those that have been working there can not count on a raise or help.

  Michael Pinto Posted July 22, 2008 5:20 PM
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  While reducing paperwork, hassle, and bureaucracy would seem laudable, particularly for our wounded warriors, some things would have to be worked out in advance for this to become a net-gain for the soldiers.

  "Military medical personnel making these decisions are pushed by a system that looks for any excuse to discharge a solider without benefits and without treatment." Despite protestations of the military leadership, this is truer than we would like to believe. Upon exiting the military system, a soldier is reviewed for physical fitness. More often than not, the degree of beneficence varies in direct proportion to the need of the service to:

  1. eliminate the soldier from the ranks. 2. keep costs down. 3. retain the troop in service with qualifications. 4. provide the soldier with needed support and care.

  That order has been almost rigid for the past 35 years of my direct knowledge with all personnel actions adding the caveat of "for the good of the service"; rather than for the benefit of the service member.

  While retired from a full career I am not disabled, unlikely to either become so, or qualify for any monetary compensation; so I really have no dog in this fight. But the current routine is that active duty military medical system will reluctantly process the soldier with the least amount of disability justifiable; and then the soldier will appeal to the VA for greater compensation. While this process may sound more adversarial than leadership will admit, this is often the case of the way the soldier feels; and as they exit their service, perceptions are everything.

  Like the spousal residency rights debate in a recent article, some may accuse the soldiers of working the system to their benefit. While I have my own opinions on that, I must consider that those same soldiers have often been abused for the benefit of the public for decades prior. Right or wrong, the consolidation of the review process may lose a valuable and necessary advocacy for our wounded warriors. This must be addressed prior to any removal if the perception of fairness and value to a career-long service is to be maintained. And if there are variations in the two evaluation systems, the benefit of the doubt should go with the soldier.

  Tip off Posted July 22, 2008 8:39 AM
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  If you want to provide a decent methodology for the treatment of PTSD, one need to go back to basics. A holistic appproach to working with the veteran's family, his injuries and his social environment. Giving him a job is not the solution, because only contributes to his ambivalence about what he has just experienced during the war.

  The problem with the way the VA is treating veterans is that it really wants to cure them from their PTSD by telling them to "get over it" approach and by treating all veterans with PTSD with the same unclinical approach. A one method treats all thinking. The staff at the VA know very little about treating veterans with PTSD. They have no idea what these guys have gone through, so they take a shot in the dark and hope that nobody dies. Unfortunately, many have died from suicide because of poor and inadequate care by PTSD mental health staff and many more continue to suffer.

  The bottom line for the VA is treat everybody with one simple approach (CBT) because it is a cheap way of treating veterans, considering if one wants to call it treatment. THey is no treatment for the veterans or his family. The VA alleges they do but they do not.

  The basic fundamental process for the VA and seniors officials is that they do not want to provide benefits to those deserving for their psychic injuries because of money.

  As a Vietnam combat veteran with 2 Purple Hearts and a Master Degree, I can tell you that PTSD is not curable. I will challenge any one that thinks they are cured or someone who thinks they have cured someone. The most one can expect is to balance the symptoms and his social environment. Getting the right treatment can make a difference in someone's life, and let us not make a mistake by believing or thinking that the VA is treating veterans.

  Simon Alvarado Posted July 21, 2008 10:43 PM
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  I am a combat Veteran with PTSD and combat injurys. I have had two surgerys in the last year. I am fairly satified with the doctors care. The after care leaves a great deal to be desired. It seem that the first hour after surgery the nursing staff are angels of mercy. After the frist hour they turn into demons of neglect. I don't understand why it seems to be almost impossible to get a nurse to respond for assistance or pain medication. I have found that most of the patients are afraid to complain. It appears that they feel they are at the mercy of the staff and expect reprisal. I do not believe that most patients want to stay in a hospital for any prolonged period. I do believe that the patient's stay should be as comfortable as possible.

  Jesse Salcedo Posted July 21, 2008 3:27 PM
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  I have had PTSD and (also TBI I suppose) since my days with the US Marines along the DMZ in 1967. I have tried to live with it over the years. The most painful part of PTSD is that few people really understand it, nor care to other then fitting it into their little brains by using the terms the US media loved to coin us combat vets with --- like calling us crazed. I am supposing this is because the people coining (Vietnam veterans) us never served in the military or combat. It was their way of feeling superior and enlightened. Like having a "Save Tibet" bumper sticker on their Yuppie car.

  If Iraq veterans want to have a good introduction back to the states then America has to admire their work past the"That a Boy" slap on the back. America has never apologized to Vietnam Combat Veterans let it begin there!!!

  Archie Haase Posted July 21, 2008 12:35 PM
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  I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves and know for a fact that the Army is still using substitute criteria to lower or even prevent soldiers from entering the (DES)Disability Evaluation System. The 2008 NDAA law requires the services to apply the VASRD to all unfitting conditions without alterations. The Army issued a memo dtd 11 Sep 2007 stating that in cases of Sleep Apnea, a P2 will be entered into that soldiers profile. For all those who dont know this, a (2) means that a soldier can function with some minor limitations. In other words no Medical Evaluation Board thus the soldier never enters the DES at all which means that the VASRD is not used because the condition is not considered unfitting. According to Army Regulation 40-501 a diagnoses of Sleep Apnea is a cause for referrel to a Medical Evaluation Board because it is an unfitting condition. The VASRD consideres Sleep Apnea 50% disabeling when using a CPAP.

  William Prestage Posted July 21, 2008 11:31 AM
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  The military treatment of injured veterans, particularly those with mental health disorders, is criminal. Moreover, the numerous decisions that a particular mental illness is a personality disorder that existed prior to entry (EPTE) is almost always based on little factual evidence and the unreliable reporting of the concerned soldier. I have seen many cases where the medical conclusions reached in these types of cases are the equivalent of professional negligence and the doctors involved should have grievances filed against them. Military medical personnel making these decisions are pushed by a system that looks for any excuse to discharge a solider without benefits and without treatment. Moreover, even if a soldier does have a personality disorder, this does not mean they don't have a co-existing mental illness such as PTSD. I have been doing this type of work for more than thirty years and this has been going on since Vietnam and earlier. The case of Specialist McLeod is despicable and the medical and personnel people involved, as well as his command, should be disciplined. Even if he is developmentally disabled, this in no way means he did not have PTSD. As long as the mindset of the military heirarchy remains as it currently exists, this will never change. It is time for Congress to take the lead, here, and force the military to act in a humane and just manner. For what it's worth, I served for eighteen months in Vietnam as an EOD specialist so I know something about combat trauma.

  Stu Steinberg Posted July 21, 2008 12:57 AM