Doctor's house calls

Actually save money.

12,000? Twelve THOUSAND??

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs lied about the number of veterans who have tried to kill themselves, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday, citing internal e-mails that put the number at 12,000 a year while the department was publicly saying it was fewer than 800.

“The suicide rate is a red alarm bell to all of us,” the Washington state Democrat said. She added that the VA’s mental health programs are overwhelmed by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans even as the department seeks to downplay the situation.

“We are not your enemy, we are your support team, and unless we get accurate information we can’t be there to do our jobs,” Murray said.

VA deputy secretary Gordon Mansfield acknowledged the numbers discrepancy and apologized during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, telling Murray and other senators he didn’t think there was any deliberate attempt to mislead Congress or the public.

But Murray remained skeptical, saying the VA has shown a pattern of misleading Congress when it comes to the increasing number of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan seeking help and putting a strain on Defense Department and VA facilities and programs.

This is supporting the troops in what way, exactly?

The Department of Veterans Affairs is in a paperwork shambles

But what else is new?

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs must change the way it evaluates former soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder if it hopes to eliminate the wide disparities across the country in how much it compensates those who have the disability, a new report has concluded.

Released Tuesday by the highly regarded Institute of Medicine, the report says that the recent surge in cases of PTSD, coupled with ineffective VA rules, suggests that veterans could be getting disability payments that are too high or too low.

[snip]

Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most prevalent conditions - mental or physical - to emerge from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Often tied to intense warfare, the mental condition can manifest itself in hair-trigger nerves, flashbacks and nightmares, which often lead to intense feelings of fear, helplessness and horror. Some former soldiers isolate themselves or try to numb their memories with drugs or alcohol. Some, unable to cope, have killed themselves.

Although some soldiers always have had anxiety or shell shock in the wake of warfare, the acceptance of the diagnosis PTSD became common after the Vietnam War. The report released today shows that the number of veterans who receive disability compensation for PTSD has skyrocketed in recent years, although part of that growth might reflect a new tendency to diagnosis PTSD instead of similar anxiety diagnoses. Veterans diagnosed with PTSD linked to their military service are eligible for monthly compensation checks.

The VA has come under fire in recent years for the way it handles disability compensation cases, including its inability to bring down a huge backlog of cases and reduce its high number of errors. Wide variations among the 57 regional offices that handle cases compound the delays and mistakes.

Among the more vexing problems are the wide swings in the amount of disability payments depending on a veteran's regional office. Veterans in some states get more money per month than those in other states. Currently, a veteran who's considered 100 percent disabled is eligible for a monthly payment of $2,471.

It is so nice to see Bush's Plan A has given enough money to prepare the medical and psychological military services for an inundation of wounded soldiers....

Tell me again who supports the troops?

Crooks and Liars quotes The Nation:

Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from (Spc. Jon) Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression. By September 2006 he and the Army agreed he was no longer combat-ready.

But instead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado, did something strange: They claimed Town's wounds were actually caused by a "personality disorder." Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality disorder discharge, he would never receive disability or medical benefits.

Town is not alone. A six-month investigation has uncovered multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits. The conditions of their discharge have infuriated many in the military community, including the injured soldiers and their families, veterans' rights groups, even military officials required to process these dismissals.

They say the military is purposely misdiagnosing soldiers like Town and that it's doing so for one reason: to cheat them out of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits, thereby saving billions in expenses.

It all comes down to money. The Republicans should feel so proud of themselves.

The way a country treats its needy, poor, and helpless

Shows the world its priorities, morality, and soul.

Americablog has delved into the horrors awaiting the Gulf veterans. Saying no to a legless vet wanting to be at a Bush ceremony honoring another vet, refusing aid to a soldier with mental difficulties, denying services at Walter Reed, abusing veterans, removing from a committee chair a GOP official too 'vet-friendly'.

Supporting the troops?

No, Soldier Bond, we expect you to die!

Update: Gee. Shine a little spotlight on the horrors Walter Reed is making our soldiers endure...and they fix the place up!

Walter Reed Army Medical Center began repairs today on Building 18, a former hotel used to house outpatients recuperating from combat injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has been plagued with mold, leaky plumbing and a broken elevator.

The facility's commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, said Army staff members inspected each of the 54 rooms at the building and discovered that outstanding repair orders for half the rooms had been completed, but he said mold removal had begun on several rooms. He also said holes in ceilings, stained carpets and leaking faucets were being fixed.

Glenn Greenwald talks about Dana Priest's reporting:

Within the past few days, Priest (along with Post reporter Anne Hull) has published two separate, amply documented articles detailing the wretched conditions which the Bush administration has imposed on U.S. troops who are wounded in battle. Priest's articles powerfully demonstrate that those who exploit troops as a prop to shield themselves from criticism and justify a whole array of extremist policies could not, in fact, care any less for the welfare of the troops whom they exploit.

And takes apart Jonah Goldberg's pooh-poohing of her work:

Finally, whatever benign intent might have been inferred from Jonah's original post was undermined, I think, by his subsequent posting with approval of that anonymous e-mail which had no purpose other than to suggest that this whole story was overblown and contrived. Either way, it simply is striking that upon reading those very lengthy, well-documented, and somewhat wrenching articles, Jonah's instinct was to question the reporters' credibility and quickly post an unverified e-mail designed to dilute the entire story. But that reaction is preferable, I suppose, to Jonah's fellow troop-exploiting warmongers, who seem to want to ignore the story completely.

Bush Administration program to deal with veterans: Nonstop process of stalling.

One of the soldiers quoted in the Washington Post article:

"We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling."

John Aravosis of Americablog reacts to the Washington Post article:

This is beyond sickening. We have to sit back and listen to GOP members of Congress, George Bush's White House, and that pig General Petraeus dare to tell us how WE'RE the ones turning our backs on the troops, when all three of them knew this was going on under their watch and none of them lifted a finger to fix it.

Our soldiers were lied to about this war, they were lied to about their enlistment, they were never given a plan for victory or the numbers of troops they needed, they still don't have the armor they need for their vehicles. And now, the young men and women wounded and maimed for our country are living in government-run pig-stys not fit for farm animals. The American Taliban and the detainees in Guantanamo get better conditions than this, all courtesy of the Republicans.

The Republicans want to talk about treason? They want to talk about slowly bleeding our troops to death? Fine. Forget the agenda Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid had planned. It's high time we helped our troops. And if the Republicans won't do it, then we will. Let's ensure that the American people and our troops know which party got them into this mess, and which party is getting them out of it. Let the hearings and investigation and legislation begin until we fix these problems once and for all.

At least the Bush administration treats homecoming Vets well...

Especially those with PTSD. Right?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is facing a wave of returning veterans such as Bowman who are struggling with memories of a war where it's hard to distinguish innocent civilians from enemy fighters and where the threat of suicide attacks and roadside bombs haunts the most routine mission. Since 2001, about 1.4 million Americans have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations in the war on terror.

The VA counts post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as the most prevalent mental-health malady to emerge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

VA Secretary James Nicholson and other top administration officials have said the agency is well-equipped to handle any onslaught of mental-health issues and that it plans to continue beefing up mental-health care and access under last week's administration budget proposal.

But an investigation has found that even by its measures, the VA isn't prepared to give returning veterans the care that could best help them.

Cutting assistance for PTSD in 2005.

How the assistance is now.

Update 2/13: Low and Left has more of the budget cuts now and ones expected in the future.