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UPDATE: SENATORS DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO
DELIBERATE MISDIAGNOSIS OF PTSD -- Akaka, Burr
and
Obama all want an investigation into VA
employee's email
suggesting mental health workers not diagnose
PTSD.
Click on email to view in larger size...
For the previous story about this email (with
backlinks), click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAY08/nf051608-11.htm
Everyone is jumping on the investigation
bandwagon. They want to know about the email sent by a VA employee
urging mental health workers not to diagnose PTSD.
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, issued two press releases on this
situation...both links below...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/scva08/scva051608-1.htm
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/scva08/scva051608-2.htm
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Ranking Member on the
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, is also on board. Press
release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/scva08/scva051608-3.htm
Everyone is using a different approach to get to
the bottom of this situation.
But, the most interesting set of demands comes
from Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans'
Affairs.
Obama wants to know what we all want to know...is
this an "incident," or is it a "trend."
Obama press release here...
http://obama.senate.gov/press/080516-obama_demands_v/
Press release below:
-------------------------
Obama Demands VA Investigate Allegations of PTSD
Misdiagnoses to Reduce Costs
Friday, May 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Michael Ortiz, 202 228 5566
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent the following
letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake, calling on him to
investigate 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) in order to reduce costs. According
to today's Washington Post, the psychologist, Ms. Norma Perez, apparently
emailed Teague Center staff members suggesting the alternative diagnosis
to limit the number of tests required to diagnose PTSD. Since the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan began, thousands of service members have returned
home suffering from combat-related psychological injuries like PTSD, which
require much-needed treatment.
In the letter, Obama calls on Peake to launch an investigation into the
incident to evaluate whether Perez was advised to send this e-mail or give
this instruction at the urging of her superiors; whether staff members at
the Teague Center followed Perez's advice, and if so, how many veterans
were affected by incorrect diagnoses; whether officials at other veterans
centers have given some similar admonitions to staff members charged with
diagnosing PTSD; whether affected veterans have been given immediate
re-diagnoses and; whether this is an incident or a trend through the VA
system.
Obama also wrote today to Veterans Affairs' Committee Chairman Daniel
Akaka requesting a hearing to examine this matter.
The text of 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
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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