Obama Calls for Investigation of VA Cost-Cutting PTSD Diagnoses

[babylonsister]

YES! :applause: Related thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3290155&mesg_id=3290155

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_calls_for_investigation.php

Obama Calls for Investigation of VA Cost-Cutting PTSD Diagnoses
By Paul Kiel - May 16, 2008, 2:06PM


Yesterday, CREW and VoteVets.org released an email from a FOIA request that showed an employee in the Veterans Administration "suggesting" that staff ought to "refrain from giving a diagnosis of straight out" to "compensation seeking veterans" and that VA staff members "really don't . . . have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."

The Washington Post identified the official in a story this morning as Norma Perez, a psychologist who helps lead the PTSD program at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Olin E. Teague Veterans' Center in Temple, Texas. The VA responded that it was simple Perez's bad idea:

Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake said in a statement that Perez's e-mail was "inappropriate" and does not reflect VA policy. It has been "repudiated at the highest level of our health care organization," he said.

"VA's leadership will strongly remind all medical staff that trust, accuracy and transparency is paramount to maintaining our relationships with our veteran patients," Peake said.

Peake said Perez has been "counseled" and is "extremely apologetic." Aikele said Perez remains in her job.

But Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) picking up the torch, is not reassured. And in a letter to Peake today, he calls for an investigation of the email, whether Perez's suggestion was followed, and a look at the numbers of PTSD diagnoses to see whether it really was so isolated of an occurrence. The letter is below.

Dear Secretary Peake:

I am writing to express my serious concerns about reports that a psychologist at a Texas Veterans Affairs (VA) facility told staff members to refrain from diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to today's Washington Post, Norma Perez, a psychologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Olin E. Teague Veterans' Center in Temple, Texas, sent an email to other staffers saying: "Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out." She then suggested the alternative diagnosis of "Adjustment Disorder," adding that VA staff members "really don't . . . have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."

Simply put, Ms. Perez's email is outrageous. As you well know, PTSD is the most prevalent mental disorder afflicting our returning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans. In order to receive their deserved benefits, these brave men and women must endure a long and arduous process. To hear that a VA official is promoting misdiagnoses of soldiers to save money is unacceptable and is tantamount to fraud.

You have said that Ms. Perez's email is "inappropriate," but more must be done. I call on the Department to open an investigation into the following:

1) Whether Ms. Perez was advised to send this e-mail or give this instruction at the urging of her superiors at the Teague Center.

2) Whether staff members at the Teague Center followed Ms. Perez's advice, and if so, how many veterans were affected by incorrect diagnoses.

3) Whether officials at other veterans centers have given some similar admonitions to staff members charged with diagnosing PTSD.

4) Whether this is an incident or a trend. I understand that the VA keeps detailed information on the number of diagnoses of PTSD and adjustment disorder. Your investigation must look at changes in the number of both diagnoses over time, both system-wide and on a facility-by-facility basis.

5) What is being done to ensure that any veterans affected by this instruction do not fall through the cracks. All veterans given an incorrect diagnosis should be given redress both in their diagnoses and their subsequent disability benefits.

6) Whether there are any trends among veterans who have committed suicide recently to determine whether any were wrongly diagnosed with adjustment disorder. Your investigation should include a survey of root cause analyses of recent veteran suicides.

7) Whether there are other instances across the VA bureaucracy of veterans with legitimate cases of PTSD being swept under the rug for budgetary reasons or for expediency. Why, for instance is the number of approved benefits claims for PTSD at the Veterans Benefits Administration decreasing at a time when diagnoses for PTSD at the Veterans Health Administration are increasing?

Too many veterans see the VA as a bureaucracy with the singular goal of denying services and benefits to veterans. This recent incident merely serves to promote that impression. I request that you advise me by no later than Friday, May 23, 2008, as to whether you will open such investigation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

United States Senator

[skooooo]

1. Sounds like a patriotic thing to do to me....nt

[SoFlaJet]

2. my brother was a VVA and a Silver Star award recipient

as well as a bronze and a couple of Purple Hearts who passed away in November-alone in an apartment. He suffered from PTSD ever since returning from Vietnam. He was never the same guy that left the day after his graduation in 1965. He would be outraged at this bullshit.

[babylonsister]

4. I'm sorry to hear about your brother, SFJ.

My former b-i-l was a tunnel rat in VN and never got over it; struggles daily with PTSD. After 7 years of trying to make it work, he and my sister divorced. He'd go on vacation and sit in the hotel room, would only be happy at home or in the desert alone. I know it's real and for the VA to be burying its collective head is disgusting.

[SoFlaJet]

6. thanks sis

I miss him every day still...he passed awy in November in NJ, I'm in Florida. He was my hero when I was a kid-I was never prouder of any person in my life than the day he carried me home on his shoulders in his uniform after finishing basic training. I want to write a song about him but know it would make me cry to sing it...http://www.jimdibattista.com/music-92.html here's one I wrote for him that always made HIM cry

[livetohike]

3. Go Obama and thank you

My brother-in-law's 24 year old nephew (two tours in Iraq) committed suicide last summer....his funeral was the saddest funeral I have ever attended in my 55 years. Several speakers, including his only sibling spoke about how no one could help him....

[Happyhippychick]

5. Just when I think I couldn't possibly respect this man any more than I already do

he does something like this.

Gobama.

[babylonsister]

7. I hear you! I was really happy to read this; these vets need someone

who has their interests at heart. I'm glad he made the effort to address this huge travesty.