VA Staffer To Testify Over PTSD E-Mail

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

(CBS)  CBS News producer Pia Malbran wrote this story for CBSNews.com.

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A Veterans Affairs clinic coordinator is to face questions from lawmakers keen to determine whether a controversial e-mail she sent was simply misguided advice from an individual, or part of a widespread effort by the VA to avoid paying veterans benefits for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

CBS News has learned that Norma J. Perez, the former coordinator of the PTSD program at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Temple, Texas, will go before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Wednesday morning in Washington.

On March 20, she sent an e-mail to the psychologists and social workers who were under her supervision at the VA's PTSD clinic in Temple. In it, 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."

"It is outrageous that the VA is calling on its employees to deliberately misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut costs," said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the Washington-based watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which obtained and distributed the internal e-mail last month, along with the veterans lobbying group VoteVets.org. (Click here to see the email.)

As soon as the e-mail became public, VA Secretary James Peake blasted it, calling it "inappropriate."

In a statement, Peake said the e-mail was isolated and that the VA is "committed to absolute accuracy in a diagnosis and unwavering in providing any and all earned benefits."

The e-mail sparked furor among both Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders, who've pushed for an investigation.

Lawmakers want to make sure PTSD is being properly diagnosed at every VA facility - and ensure Perez was not taking direction from higher management. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama also weighed in, calling for the VA's inspector general to look into the issue.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii and the Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, described the e-mail as, "disturbing and disappointing." He said he hoped Wednesday's hearing would provide more answers on, "how VA is dealing with PTSD," so that all veterans truly get the health care and benefits they need.

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."

She will testify alongside the VA's Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Michael Kussman, and Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's head of mental health. Earlier this year, several senators and congressmen called for Dr. Katz's resignation after internal e-mails showed he withheld critical information about veteran suicides from the public. Dr. Katz apologized for the e-mails. He continues to oversee mental health for the VA.

[tulcak]

sigh... is there any part of our government that bush and the GOP hasn''t broken?
support our troops... right... maybe if the oil we were supposed to get from Iraq to pay for the war were available, we could afford to take care of our veterans. oops! wrong country, heh heh, oh well...
you know, i just thought of something... I think I know what the bush plan was. Iraq was just a staging area for invasions of Iran, Afganistan, name a country in the neighborhood, and the oil was going to finance it all... what a dumb f**k*ng plan!!

[woodjd42]

For the life of me I can not understand why this country treats its vets the way they do. I can tell you first hand PTSD is REAL and has a giganic effect on these soldiers.
This country sends our soldiers into combat and then throws them away like used toilet papper. It is a crime.

[SamThornton]

When I worked for the VA briefly in the early 1980''s, it was official policy inside the agency to routinely deny claims and reduce benefits for veterans who were not represented by one of the Congressionally sanctioned Veterans Service Organizations. Unrepresented vets were deemed "easy pickings" by managers under pressure to reduce VA costs. Moral of the story: every veteran should sign up with a Veterans Service Organization such as the ARC, VFW, DAV, etc. BEFORE going to the VA.

[SamThornton]

For a list of Veterans Service Organizations go to republicans.veterans.house.gov/links/ The current Democratic website lacks this information.

VSO veterans'' reps are pros who know the law and the system inside out and will fight tooth and nail to get a veteran the treatment and benefits they deserve. Representation is free.

[Gary Kempf]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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".

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[sdcjd1]

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

[deacon20081]

As Dubya would say "Atta Girl Perezie"

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[abigail70]

"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"?"

Are you so hostile that you cannot understand that some DO work through it? Do a little research before you jump up everyone''s rear end, Sparky. It''s a terrible situation, and any sane person of course wants our soldiers and their families to be taken care of. There''s no call for you to lash out at anyone else expressing an opinion (and a calm, collected, non-agressive opinion, at that.) Sheesh.

[michael0004]

%u201DIt is a stain on this nation''s honor that the Department of Veterans Affairs has become a deadlier and more difficult adversary to the American veteran than any they have ever faced on a battlefield." -- VNVets.blogspot.com The DVA is now doing to the current U.S.combat veterans what they did and still are doing to Vietnam veterans and vets of other conflicts. After granting medical and other benefits from 1991 - 2002 to all Vietnam veterans suffering from diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure after passage of the Agent Orange Act of 1991, in 2002 the DVA announced 11 years after the fact that they interpreted the AO Act''s "service in Vietnam" requirement to mean having had "boots on the ground". Then in 2002, they proceeded to retroactively reverse their decisions of the 11 previous years and denied medical and other benefits to U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans who had these very same AO related conditions and whose ships came to within "spitting distance" of the Vietnam coastline while conducting naval gunfire support and other operations or while anchored in Vietnam harbors. And the DVA''s decision was not based on any scientific evidence. In fact, they conveniently ignored scientific evidence that the Australian govt conducted that showed that their sailors had an equal or greater incidence of certain AO related diseases that their ground troops. For more info on the betrayal of U.S veterans by the DVA, please go to www.bluewaternavy.org and/or vnvetsblogspot.com.

[ricknuber]

"There''''s no call for you to lash out at anyone else expressing an opinion (and a calm, collected, non-agressive opinion, at that.) Sheesh."
Posted by Abigail70 at 02:11 PM : Jun 03, 2008

Nothing in that post was presented as opinion. It was presented as fact: "She is right." I was countering with an opinion.

The fact is, America has grown tired of the "special olympics" standards this government is held to, while everyone else is expected to have some form of personal responsibility. You can make all the excuses for them you wish. I choose to point out the hypocrisy and cowardice of the Bush government and their apologists like yourself.

[newsjunky5]

Please, no talk about the downside of war. It''s unpatriotic. Those who support the war don''t want to be racked with guilt/disturbed over casualties. That''s why photos are banned from Dover AFB, and the system where people are listed as wounded psychologically is being tampered with, and why journalists are "embedded." That is why we must idolize the troops, even the ones who would be criminals if they were in another occupation.
Does this kind of talk bother you? Rather market the war differently?

[antoniof123]

It always amazes me how the neo cons did nothing not one thing to fill their responisbility towards the American people. Now they think that by blaming others we are going to listen to them. They want to lead, yea right we had enough of their leadership to last a life time.

Hey neo cons you ever wonder why you lost power for 40 years it was because of Senator MaCarthy. That was for only a Senator, what do you think the price will be for a whole congress and Administration?

God they are dumber than dirt to belive that the swing voters will forgive them. Our parents didn''t forgive them what makes you think we will.

[randynason]

I heard about the redefinition of PTSD by the VA well over a year ago and think that it is about time to investigate the allegations. I know the "powers that be" would prefer to dump the millions upon millions into the Iraq embassy, but this just isn''t right to treat the veterans this way. I''ll bet the trail leads right to the Pentagon, and beyond that.

[penskeone]

I wonder how many tours she served in Iraq. I served one tour and I am diagnosed with PTSD. Its is not a Joke!

[makemyday2da]

"Adjustment disorder"? What a crock of poop. Don''t forget to add in "pre-existing personality disorder" - another ''tool'' the govt. likes to use to get out of paying veteran benefits. The bureaucracy these men and women go through now due to PTSD and other disorders is disgusting. My own son sought help for his mental problems while in Iraq along with a few others I heard from later. Every one of them were rebuffed and told to get back to work - there weren''t enough Marines to spare for any time off. My son was eventually airlifted out of Iraq about 6 weeks later because they feared for their (and his) safety. For the next 14 months after that, he was held either in the psychiatric ward or the brig. Now, two years later (since his ''release'') he still hasn''t had his ''exit exam'' from Iraq used to determine if he has any mental impairments. They''ve FINALLY acknowledged he has PTSD but haven''t done much about it. Other doctors believe he may have TBI (traumatic brain injury) but he is STILL waiting to be tested for this - but they''ve acknowledged he has the symptoms. I should add he was in for FOUR years with meritorious promotions before Iraq. FOUR YEARS LATER AND WE''RE STILL TRYING TO GET HELP FOR HIM.

[deepperppl]

It may seem clinically correct to diagnose someone with adjustment disorder before PTSD, but it is only doing more harm than good to those who have it. Anyone who has PTSD (like I do) knows what they''re suffering. To have the army deny you have a problem is a slap in the face. Think about it. If you were ill with the flu and you had every classic symptom, would you like to seek medical help only to be told that you must be exaggerating your symptoms? Why seek help for PTSD if the doctors who are supposed to help them turn them aside and tell them that they are mistaken? The night terrors you''ve been having, the severe anxiety that keeps you locked in your home and unable to function in the workplace - the nightmares, the lack of sleep, the fatigue that eventually follows - every symptom you THINK you have -is all in your head. Adjustment disorder diagnoses are NOT a good idea. It''s irresponsible and criminal to turn a sufferer of PTSD aside and send them home with "adjustment disorder". What qualifies an individual for PTSD? Do they have to have a gun to their head to get help? No soldier I''ve ever known would run to a psychologist for anything unless he/she is desperate. I finally went to get help and was turned aside for TWO YEARS. No one WANTS to be mentally ill. When you have a legitimate complaint, then you need to be heard. Turning someone aside only increases the chances someone will stop seeking help. After a while, you start to question your own judgment.

[makemyday2da]

deeperppl - EXACTLY and I can''t believe you had to wait two years, either. This is what my son is fighting for - and still hasn''t been treated. When he finally returned home after 14 months of confinement, within days his horrific nightmares woke me from a sound sleep to thinking someone must be in their killing my son! I''ll never forget the bloodchilling screams. Of course, I immediately ran to his room only to find him in the middle of the bed curled up with a pillow in front of him - fearing for his life. Another night, my younger son and I had to lie one on each side of him because he was too scared to fall asleep. We stayed with him all night while he told us some of the most horrific stories that took place while he was there. NO ONE should have to experience their child or loved one going through this! My son returned to CA for help and to be near others who are experiencing the same problems. Being around other vets has, literally, saved his life. However, it seems every other week another vet he knows has taken his own life. I wonder how many people know that suicide casualties from (and since) Viet Nam have surpassed the total number who were killed in action? Now that''s a stastic the govt. certainly doesn''t want you to know!

[michael0004]

However, it seems every other week another vet he knows has taken his own life. I wonder how many people know that suicide casualties from (and since) Viet Nam have surpassed the total number who were killed in action? Now that''''s a stastic the govt. certainly doesn''''t want you to know!


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Posted by makemyday2da at 04:38 PM : Jun 03, 2008

Yes. And the Department of Veterans Affairs denial of their conditions helps contribute to any suicidal tendencies. The pathetic and often disengenous way the way the VA has handled PTSD and other veteran''s health care matters borders on being criminal. At a minimum the leaders of the Department of Veterans Affairs should be forced to resign. Unfortunately, these leaders and the ones who would replace them are politically appointed and their agenda is often at odds with the support they are supposed to by law provide to veterans.

[theadvocate3]

For everyone who has been given a diagnosis of PTSD or worse-no diagnosis at all-check out this Dr. in New Orleans...I met him in Louisiana at a Memorial Day Service in May-This guy is going to revolutionize modern medicine. He has been working with civilians and soldiers with all kinds of illness/injury and discovered that Hyperbaric Chamber therapy has worked miracles with patients. You have to question your soldier because so many are coming back and have no visible scars or marks from IED''s and other explosions they were exposed to, some over and over-causing brain injury but since there are no open wounds-soldiers are told to "shake it off and carry on...no harm done" etc. www.harchhyperbarics.com
This Dr. is not a quack and I cannot tell you how many parents were so relieved to meet him that afternoon and hear what he had to say...the coolest thing of all is there is no prescription medicine needed-just oxygen...Good luck to everyone reading this and may this horrible thing called war soon end. God bless our military men and women.

[michael0004]

%u201DIt is a stain on this nation''''s honor that the Department of Veterans Affairs has become a deadlier and more difficult adversary to the American veteran than any they have ever faced on a battlefield." -- VNVets.blogspot.com
The DVA is now doing to the current U.S.combat veterans what they did and still are doing to Vietnam veterans and vets of other conflicts. After granting medical and other benefits from 1991 - 2002 to all Vietnam veterans suffering from diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure after passage of the Agent Orange Act of 1991, in 2002 the DVA announced 11 years after the fact that they interpreted the AO Act''''s "service in Vietnam" requirement to mean having had "boots on the ground". Then in 2002, they proceeded to retroactively reverse their decisions of the 11 previous years and denied medical and other benefits to U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans who had these very same AO related conditions and whose ships came to within "spitting distance" of the Vietnam coastline while conducting naval gunfire support and other operations or while anchored in Vietnam harbors. And the DVA''''s decision was not based on any scientific evidence. In fact, they conveniently ignored scientific evidence that the Australian govt conducted that showed that their sailors had an equal or greater incidence of certain AO related diseases that their ground troops. For more info on the betrayal of U.S veterans by the DVA, please go to www.bluewaternavy.org and/or vnvetsblogspot.com.

[impeach_w]

It''s the same story: The VA won''t do anything for about 40 years. When they do, it will have a different name with different diagnostic critera. This is nothing new. There has been PTSD since the start of War. With each war the name is changed: shell shock, battle fatigue, combat fatigue, PTSD.

They will wait for you vets to die off before any problem is admitted or addressed.

This makes me Glad I never served. However, the Marine bases in Jacksonville, NC I was born and grew up knew it''s water supply was contamimated with Dry Cleaning Chemicals. They said and did Nothing until the 80''s when they could not deny they were always aware of the chemicals and these were known carcinogens. The only action was trying to contact those who lived there in the 60s'' and may have been harmed by miscarrages, cancer etc..

Dad sprayed Agent Orange and has Skin, bladder and Prostate cancer among others.

It has taken the VA and Governnmet 40 years to admit there was any problem. I see no improvement.

[frankbowers]

I would laugh about this if it had not been happening to me for more than 20 years about frost bite and frozen feet. That is my problem and now nerve damage and they want to label that as just age and circulation of the blood. I am now 70 and this started when i was 22 in houston, tx. Now in Austin and none other than the big hospital at TEMPLE who are handling it i guess this lady told them to say my feet were just old after all I am 70. Shamne o n them and the farce the none military people put the veterans through. Shame on them for having to depend on such as the deserter gw bush and dic cheney the derferment kid (6) in 8 years. Yeah, these people like this norma perez have the best of leadership when you relize/think of those two as her/his/their leaders.
the best of good byes Frank Bowers.

[killface7]

WHERE IS RUMMY?

[ejschleicher]

It"s sad really SAD that even after all the ---- that all of us nam vets went through with agent orange and other illnesses that the VA would be up to par with whats going on in the current war. Knowing dam well that PTSD is a reallity that will not be sweept under the rug like so many other things that the VA likes to do.It''s all nice and dandy that they build and fix-up there buildings, then the say they don''t have the money to treat the vet''s that use there big and nice new buildings. Well guess what? How about treating the Veteran like a person and not worry about how much it''s going to cost to do it. God only knows they don''t care when it comes to HOW MUCH they spend on them selfs.

[jennjetta]

I had an uncle that committed suicide and did two tours of Vietnam. I think if he would have received help he may be here today. I find it very concerning the politics that are attached to the VA. I would hope this investigation would bring about some long awaited improvements to the mental health system and a recognition that is deeply needed for our veterans.

[impeach_w]

There are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people (MARINES AND FAMILIES) exposed to the chemicals tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, known as PCE and TCE, between 1957 and 1985 in the water they drank, bathed in, and cooked with at Camp Lejeune, estimates Frank Bove, senior epidemiologist at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Two water treatment centers that served the Marine base were found to be contaminated with "probably some of the highest drinking water exposures ever seen in this country," said Dr. Richard Clapp, a professor at Boston University,

The contaminated wells were shut down in February 1985, but the Marine Corps did not inform all of the exposed residents until they were forced to in the passing of the Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Amendment beginning in 2007. Starting in 1999, the ATSDR contacted the parents of 12,598 eligible children, or 80 percent of the estimated total, who lived at the Marine base between 1968 and 1985, for a study determining the rate of specific birth defects and childhood cancers.

So far, the ATSDR found at least 100 babies exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune that suffered from birth defects and cancer, including 29 cases of leukemia or lymphoma and 42 cases of a cleft lip or palate.

Marines living in Jacksonville, NC between 1957 and 1985 need to read this: http://www.local6.com/spotlight/16457727/detail.html

[impeach_w]

It''s the same story: The VA won''t do anything for about 40 years. When they do, it will have a different name with different diagnostic critera. This is nothing new. There has been PTSD since the start of War. With each war the name is changed: shell shock, battle fatigue, combat fatigue, PTSD.

They will wait for you vets to die off before any problem is admitted or addressed.

This makes me Glad I never served. However, the Marine bases in Jacksonville, NC I was born and grew up knew it''s water supply was contamimated with Dry Cleaning Chemicals. They said and did Nothing until the decades later when they could not deny they were aware of the chemicals and these were known carcinogens. The only action was trying to contact those who lived there in the from ''68 on and may have been harmed by miscarrages, cancer etc.. NOTE the EXPOSURE STARTED IN ''57 SEEE BELOW!

Dad sprayed Agent Orange from a CH-46 and has Skin, bladder and Prostate cancer among others and a never treated PTSD.

It has taken the VA and Governnmet 40 years to admit there was any problem. I see no improvement. SEE BELOW!