PTSD diagnoses at Lewis-McChord reexamined

CBS

(CBS/AP) Diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder at an Army Medical Center located at the home base of the soldier accused of fatally shooting 16 Afghan civilians has been under scrutiny by Army investigators.

The forensic psychiatry unit at Madigan Army Medical Center had come under fire for reversing diagnoses of PTSD for nearly 300 service members during the past five years. The head of Madigan Healthcare System was recently placed on administrative leave.

The Army initiated an investigation following an Army ombudsman's memo indicating that hospital officials were encouraging psychiatrists to limit diagnoses of PTSD in order to reduce costs.

Madigan is located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash., which has sent tens of thousands of soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is home base not only of the soldier accused in this weekend's shooting of civilian women and children in Afghanistan, but also Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, who was recently convicted of killing Afghan civilians for sport.

It's also the base of Iraq War veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes, the suspect in the killing of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year's Day. (Barnes' body was later found in the park.) "Beltway Sniper" John Allen Muhammad - executed in 2009 for killing 10 people around Washington, D.C. - was also stationed at Lewis-McChord.

It is unknown what, if any, role PTSD played in the case of Sunday's attack.

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U.S. soldier held in deaths of 16 Afghans

PTSD is a condition which results from experiencing or seeing a traumatic event, such as a battlefield casualty. Symptoms can include recurrent nightmares, flashbacks, irritability and feeling distant from other people.

Soldiers are often diagnosed with PTSD as they move through the Army medical system. The forensic team at Madigan was charged with making a final diagnostic review of soldiers under consideration for retirement.

In 2008 the Rand Corporation had estimated that one in five veterans of fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan suffers from major depression or PTSD.

The ombudsman's memo, as reported in The Seattle News-Tribune, quoted a Madigan Army psychiatrist telling a September 2011 meeting of medical center clinicians not to simply "rubber stamp" a soldier's PTSD diagnosis, which could allow the service member to retire with disability and lifetime health benefits ranging between $400,000 and $1.5 million.

The psychiatrist stated that "we have to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars," and warned PTSD diagnoses could lead to the Army and Department of Veterans Affairs going broke.

In February the Seattle Times reported that the head of Madigan Healthcare System, Col. Dallas Homas, was administratively removed from command less than a year after taking over.

"This is a common practice during ongoing investigations and nothing more," Maj. Gen. Phillip Volpe, head of Western Regional Medical Command, told the Associated Press.

Madigan's PTSD screeners were also suspended from duty as Army Medical Command investigates the reversed diagnoses.

The staff at Madigan has denied they were pressured by commanders to limit PTSD diagnoses.

Earlier this year 14 soldiers were re-evaluated after complaining that their PTSD diagnoses had been reversed by Madigan. (Six of the 14 had their PTSD diagnoses reinstated.) Last week, it was announced that an additional 285 patients had been identified as having had their PTSD diagnoses reversed at Madigan since 2007.

The soldiers will be invited to undergo new evaluations, either at Madigan or at other military facilities.

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[m0u5y]

It is impossible to prevent PTSD in soldiers. Regardless of how they deal with it, all of those who have witnessed violence, seen friends killed, or have killed, suffer from it -- which is most of them. Most of these people cannot be re-introduced to normal life properly and will eventually snap, sometimes before being discharged, sometimes they die before they do.

[Psyanp13]

It is possible to mitigate PTSD with preparation or by limiting deployments with adequate time at home together with intensive treatments of varying types. Most persons who suffer from PTSD do reintegrate into normal life and not all snap. (My work at the VA and in the military was on PTSD) The best example of this are the many WWII vets who came home from the war "different from before the war" according to their wives. There was no diagnosis of PTSD back then but they had classic symptoms- nightmares,acting out violent experiences, needing to sleep in another room. Yet they went to jobs every day and didn't know what they had until they came into the VA and both spouses told the whole story. There was no epidemic of violence among vets after WWII in spite of all the exposure to atrocities including the opening of the concentration camps. Anyone who perpetuates the belief that all soldiers with PTSD will eventually snap is doing no one any service and may be doing considerable harm

[ammo17]

GOD ALMIGHTY WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE RUNNING OUR MILITARY.WHY MUST PEOPLE DIE OR KILL BEFORE SOME THING IS DONE.WE CANNOT KEEP RE-CYCLING THESE SOLDIERS TO ENTER THIS WAR ZONE AS IF THEY WERE ALUMINUM CANS.THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS WITH FEELINGS,CAN`T THESE GENENRALS,DOCTORS AND OUR POLITICIANS REALIZE THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE AS WELL AS THIS SOLDIER.GET THE HELL OUT OF AFGHANISTAN,IT SEEMS WE DIDN`T LEARN ANYTHING FROM VIETNAM OR THE REASON THE RUSSIANS GOT THE HELL OUT THEIR,WHEN YOU CANNOT TELL THE GOOD GUYS FROM THE BAD GUYS YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE.MAYBE OUR GENERALS DO NOT WANT TO GET OUT LIKE THE RUSSIANS DID,MAYBE THEY ARE TRYING TO PROVE THINGS WITH PEOPLES LIVES.AS A VIETNAM VETERAN I JUST DON`T UNDERSTAND ANYMORE.

[slatep]

Obama, the DOD and the Pentagon have a warped sense of priorities.

Our military personnel, police officers and firefighters should be among the highest paid public servants in the country.

These brave, selfless people lay their lives on the line everyday to keep us safe.

It's too bad one of the only people concerned about "taxpayer dollars" isn't head of the person in charge of the nation's finances.

Congress is in recess more than they are in session.

Bush2, Congress for the last 12 years and Obama have managed to plunge the US so far in debt; it's going to take several generations (if ever) to get the US free from the huge amount of debt the US currently has.

Yesterday; on this site it was determined that the suicide rate amonng military personnel have risen 80%.!

How can the VA possibly get away with denying that there is a huge number of the military suffering with PTSD.?

As for the Taliban vowing revenge for the killing of innocent Afghan citizens; these are the very same people who throw acid on young girls walking to school and strapping bombs on 8 year olds and persuading these children to approach American military bases or ground troops to blow themselves up.

How much longer is it going to take Obama, the DOD and the military to realize they are dealing with people who are one step beyond Neanderthal savages and that their only goal in life is to kill "infidels".?

Also yesterday, Pakistan said they are considering lifting the ban on crossing the border by supply trucks.

The inability to transport vital supplies to the troops only places American soldiers in even more desperate situations.

Yet, The US government continues to send BILLIONS of American taxpayer dollars to them in "foreign aid".

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE.??

Those 500 plus people who make disastrous decisions for the 600 million = Americans apparently only have the brains of a day old rabbit except when it comes to getting themselves elected or re-elected.

Make sure we get rid of these slugs in November 2012.

[OnTheCrown]

What a mess.