A few days I ago I wrote a post touting the efforts of the Department of Defense for trying to bolster their efforts aimed at raising PTSD awareness among servicemen. A few days after reading that story I came across another story aired by the NPR show All Things Considered that basically took all the air out of that feel good balloon. According to the report, which was aired March 3, 2008, a group representing the vets called the Disability Rights Advocates is suing The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) over the poor quality and outright lack of decent care for troops returning home with mental conditions such as PTSD. This is particularly disturbing because according to a recent pentagon report as much as one third of all troops coming home have PTSD, anxiety disorder or something similar.
The suit is being brought to a federal court house in San Francisco, California and hopes to force the VA to provide better care for troops with PTSD and related conditions. The report claims that VA employees are receiving financial gains/bonuses for denying claims made by vetreans claiming that they have PTSD. The suit also claims that the VA’s system for handling PTSD and mental health care in general is ill equipped and unable to provide proper care.
The real kicker is that even if the veterans win the case, President Bush and the Congress would still have to approve the funds needed for the corrections. When asked to comment the White House said that President Bush has extended medical care benefits for troops from two to five years and the VA has also setup suicide hot lines for troops in real trouble. These efforts notwithstanding, the vets still face delayed care, denied claims, overall I’d say these troops are really getting screwed and no one is really talking about this.
Although I still think it’s great that troops are being encouraged to seek help if they need it, what’s going to happen when they do try to get help? The NPR report highlighted one case were a young soldier was ‘evaluated’ given sleeping pills and told to go home. Somehow I am not surprised, but at the same time I am disgusted and saddened by this news. I know some people would say that the troops signed up for war, or at least the possibility of war, but does that make it ok for these guys and gals to get no support from the very government that put them there to begin with? You know the story, whether your for or against the war the vast majority of Americans always said they supported the individual soldier. Where is the support now?
It’s unfortunate but it seems that yet again issues related to mental health and mental health care just seem to be something people don’t want to talk about. How many CNN specials have you seen on anxiety disorder? It effects at least 10 million Americans and maybe even as many as 19 million. So why does the country not want to discuss mental health? Is it still so taboo that policy makers don’t want to touch this kryptonite rock of a problem? I keep asking questions because I wonder if people are even thinking about this. The mental health care system in general is in shambles. America doesn’t have an updated and proper mental health care system anymore, mental health care patients nowadays are put in new facilities called prisons. And many of these prisoners come off the streets, where ironically many of our veterans live. It is a horrible cycle perpetuated by the military industrial complex. Let me get off my soapbox because now I am headed off topic. But really it is sad and I only hope that these guys get what they deserve – all politics aside.
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