Comments on: VA Staffer To Testify Over PTSD E-Mail

Veterans Affairs Coordinator Suggested Staff "Refrain" From Diagnosing PTSD To Save Money

[ricknuber]

"She is actually correct although I am sure that will not matter with this hot potato."
Posted by Petesis at 12:58 PM : Jun 03, 2008

Are you an authority on the subject or a VA official? How do you know she is right? How do you know some will "work through it"?

This is just more neocon improvidence and hypocrisy. "we support our troops, but only when it''s politically expedient. Otherwise, they need to quietly disappear."

How disgusting.

[timothyone-2009]

The VA has worked to cheat Vets out of Compensation by using false diagnosis since World War II, at least. An Army general who ran a mental health program for the Army in the 1940''s wrote a book titled something close to ''the neurotic soldier'' in which he describes the way the Army thought through ways of avoiding awarding benefits to "shell-shocked" soldiers. One way was to crowd them in training barracks and leave them to suffer until the individual soldier misbehaved somehow. At that point the Army would begin to treat the man as a disciplinary problem until they could eventually discharge him without full benefits. We''ve seen this tactic used many times during the current war. I actually had this same tactic used to discharge me after I became ill. I was "disciplined" for doing a sit-down protest as a way to demand the psychological treatment I badly needed.
The only thing that confuses me about this story is why this woman felt it necessary to openly state what she should have known was already a well-known and widely used method. Any other in her position would have been smart enough to know that this goes without saying at the VA.

[petesis]

She is actually correct although I am sure that will not matter with this hot potato. You are supposed to initially diagnose adjustment disorder. Some will work through it, others will go on to the full PTSD diagnosis. But diagnosing initially with adjustment disorder is the more clinically correct diagnosis in many cases.

[liberalme]

And the Democrats in Congress believe that we will vote for more of these lies and cheats by them.

Posted by demslie at 09:09 AM : Jun 03, 2008

Admittedly Dems did vote for the vast number of lies told by Bush--hopefully, once Obama is settled in office and correct all the injustice done by those lies---perhaps then, we can work on putting our country hack in shape---but thanks demslie for noticing many Dems did vote for the Bush lies---at least you''re admitting they were actually lies.

[edenman622]

The White House for the past 8 years has seen DVA as a cash cow ripe for looting. This is evident based on their earlier attempt to reduce rating for veterans rated for IU (Individual Unemployability). The miriad of benefits tied to the IU rating was an area that the WH felt they could redirect funds from. Principi said no and stepped down. He was replaced by the hatchett man Nicholson (former RNC Chairman) who put the clandestine plan into place. Only the light of day stopped this attempt and the plan now shown for what it is started to fall apart. The repercussions of Iraq have only added to bringing the problem to light. It has existed for years. I do not for a moment say there are not good people in DVA, because there are. However those who live in the crystal towers of the agency suppress the good and promote the bad. This agency needs to be restructured from the top down

[jscottelwood-2009]

If you want to get anywhere with your claim, get a hold of a Senator, Governor or some other public official who has something to lose. They will do the right thing, even if for the wrong reason.

[photogeezer]

Big error in my last post:
Military people should seek treatment for PTSD while in service. Don''t worry about a career. If they hold PTSD against you, they don''t deserve you.

Once you are out of the military, THEN get help from a Vet Center and local state or county vet rep.

[deacon20081]

As Dubya would say "Atta Girl Perezie"

[sdcjd1]

Why is she still allowed to work within the VA healthcare system???

[photogeezer]

If the Dems don''t take the Repubs to the cleaners on vets'' issues, they don''t deserve to win. The Neocons want to dismantle the VA, the very government agency with the trained people and facilities to deal with the inevitable consequences of sending young people into war. They sneer at compensation and the GI Bill as "entitlement" programs. Unfortunately, through political appointments, they have infiltrated the agency and are spewing their hate agenda. The returning veteran is, in their minds, the new welfare mother.

Military people, if you have PTSD, get yourself to a VA Vet Center. Also, file your claim with the VA, thorough a local vet rep. The laws are on the books to compensate you for this. Still on active duty? Be sure you get the Combat Action Badge or Combat Action Ribbon (Marine). Stay in touch with your buddies. You folks can help each other corroborate incidents that brought on PTSD. Check out the articles on PTSD at veteransforcommon sense.org. Google PTSD,Doug Nelson.

[raysing-2009]

First thank you Pia for doing this piece. Please see if you can do a piece on why there are so many unlicensed psychologists working at this particular VA PTSD Clinic in Temple. Perez was an unlicensed psychologist who was the administrator for this program until she was promoted and sent to Austin.
I have friends who work at this VA and am told that it is a corrupt system where the higher-ups hire friends/family to promote their views and to protect themselves. The subordinates hold on to their jobs in whatever manner they can.
Washington can have as many hearings as it wants to, the truth is nothing will change under the current leadership. Has no one asked why Perez is still working for the VA and why? Someone is protecting her and so it stands to reason that she was directed by higher ups to diagnose less PTSD cases.
A culture of you cover for me and I''ll cover for you. You deny for me and I will promote you to GS15 or promote you and send you to Austin (everyone aspires to go there) exists at this VA. So how can things change when some (higher ups) subscribe to a corrupt code of conduct and it is embraced as the established code of conduct by everyonelse who are more concerned about paying bills and taking care of their families than providing the best care to veterans.

[armydog2]

demslie
mccain would not sign the bi-partisan GI bill Senator Webb introduced giving our Soldiers the opportunity te get a fully funded college education at a State University because it would REDUCE RETENTION IN THE MILITARY. not a lie at all but the gospel TRUTH.as probably the most prominent veteran in the country today mccain should be ASHAMED of himself for turning his back on the very Soldiers he claims to support.mccain has the same philosopy as bush use em and then forget em.

[demslie]

Is this not Amazing that CBS (Communist Broadcast System) knows it can take the Negative News off O''Bama by publishing a story about a Staffer in a Temple Texas Hospital and making it news enough to be National Headlines. And of course the Worst Congress in the History of American, The Democrats Controlled Anti-Military Congress has nothing better to do than Investigate this one out of a million employees to make it about the entire Veterans Administration. Democrat Lies never end. And the Democrats in Congress believe that we will vote for more of these lies and cheats by them.

[demslie]

According to McSame, giving benefits to vets will cut the reenlistment rate.

Posted by omnibus66

omnibus66 like all Democrats is a Liar. McCain said that if the Anti-War Anti-Military Democrat Controlled Congress does not fully fund the War then, The Military would be force to cut Enlistments or Cut Veterans Benefits.

[panhandlpete]

Veterans are used up excess baggage...... Just as McSame says offering VETERANS BENEFITS for college expense after just three years of service will discourage continued service by enlistees. McSame, with his halo glowing brightly, must feel that all those young men and women enlist in the services just so they can "fight" for their country. Patriotic duty pushes some, while others see a paycheck for their financial future, and probably few of them wish to engage in combat. But, NOT ENLISTING AT ALL would be the most effective response to such an ungrateful country. Then, when the draft has to be reinstated to get a military force, the leadership can treat them all like they wish once they are "veterans".

[im_dopes]

"Perez, who is not a licensed psychologist, was recently reassigned and now works at the VA hospital in Austin, Texas, as a "Mental Health Integration Specialist."

This is the most alarming sentence in this whole article. How is this lady and staff under her involved in giving out any diagnosis? This is a complete fraud.

[omnibus66]

According to McSame, giving benefits to vets will cut the reenlistment rate. How can we possibly maintain a viable military force if we treat them like human beings? To this administration, they are cannon fodder, nothing more.

Bu wait, listen to McSame brag about the surge, and how ONLY 19 soldiers were killed last month. ONLY 19! ONLY 19 young men and women DEAD, in their graves. ONLY 19 families destroyed. ONLY 19 unnecessary funerals.

McSame criticizes Obama for wanting to leave Iraq, that leaving would cause thousands of Iraqi deaths. But he fails to mention that he and the Criminal-In-Chief have already killed a million Iraqi civilians.

When, and only when there are NO fatalities in that he11 hole can anyone say that anything is working. Every soldier lost is an unnecessary tragedy.

Under McSame, we will be there forever, and the deaths will never end.

Prove you''re insane, vote for McCain.

[gkc99]

"Perez wrote: "Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I''d like to suggest you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out."
She went on to recommend that clinicians instead "consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder."


In a separate order, the Darth Bushit administration ordered its staffers to stop referring to the Iraq situation as a "war", and started insisting that it be called an "attitude adjustment", to avoid having to pay all those soldiers their GI benefits when they are discharged after 3-4 tours of duty in the "adjustment" zone.

[usmcvn2]

I urge all of America''s young men......do not enlist!
The people of the USA will in fact chit on you after you leave the military. They have chit on us Vietnam Vets for decades.

[Gary Kempf]

Continuing story of how little the VA/Government cares about the veterans who have served this country.