Army says 285 patients at Wash. medical center had PTSD diagnoses reversed by psychiatry team

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Army says 285 patients at Wash. medical center had PTSD diagnoses reversed by psychiatry team
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 7, 9:00 PM

SEATTLE — The Army has identified 285 more patients at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state who had their diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder reversed by a forensic psychiatry team in the past five years.

The Seattle Times reports Wednesday (http://is.gd/04Dai5) that they’ll be given the option of having their cases reviewed once again to determine if they suffer from PTSD.

Soldiers who are diagnosed with PTSD can qualify for a medical retirement that offers a pension and other benefits. The Army is investigating whether Madigan doctors who reviewed PTSD diagnoses were influenced by concerns about the cost of providing such benefits.

The investigation was started in January, following complaints from soldiers whose PTSD diagnoses had been reversed. Seventeen soldiers contested their cases, and six had their diagnoses reinstated by doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/army-says-285-patients-at-wash-medical-center-had-ptsd-diagnoses-reversed-by-psychiatry-team/2012/03/07/gIQAZMy0xR_story.html

[madrchsod]

1. my brother in law was assigned a private shrink for his ptsd claim from the vietnam war

he`s lost his hearing,agent orange related cancer,and he picked up the pieces of his fellow soldiers during the war...i think he deserves what ever he needs.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[OnyxCollie]

3. K&R. nt

[CoffeeCat]

4. This is such an horrible attack on our soldiers...

If you have PTSD--you deserve help. WE sent these men and women
into battle and they return home psychologically scarred. PTSD is
debilitating.

To be screwed with in this way is to be re-victimized all over again. These
soldiers are traumatized from war, and they are vulnerable. They are often
hanging on by a thread and suffering from depression, flashbacks and overwhelming
emotions. To be messed with like this--when they are all ready hurting--is
really sick.

These soldiers are human beings who need our help. They sacrificed their
mental health to fight these sick wars.

And how do we re-pay them? By denying them legitimate care and traumatizing
them even further--just to save a few bucks.

SAD.

[nolabear]

5. The article doesn't say whether they're war veterans.

I know that sounds like a strange point to bring up and you'd think it would go unsaid but I'd like it clarified. And I'd like to know how they were reclassified. Were they hit with the "pre-existing condition" issue, i.e. their condition attributed to a personality disorder or an Axis I disorder (depression, bipolar disorder, etc) that was already there? Too many unanswered questions.

PTSD from the kind of combat being fought now is its own crazy animal. The wars are urban, so the perceived threats are triggered by things in everyday life--a person on an overpass, someone driving srangely, a car broken down by the side of the road, someone popping out of a building unexpectedly. A baby carriage might hold a bomb. A bundled up person could be concealing explosives. It's harder to recover from when the triggers are everywhere. Add to it the possibility of closed head injuries from IEDs and you have a terrible, terrible price.

I'm in Seattle and hadn't heard of this. I hope it gets some much needed attention.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Article from two days ago: Madigan psychiatrist: PTSD diagnoses were fixed at Walter Reed

Madigan psychiatrist: PTSD diagnoses were fixed at Walter Reed
Post by Adam Ashton / The News Tribune on March 5, 2012 at 10:46 am with 12 Comments »

In her resignation letter, Madigan Army Medical Center forensic psychiatrist Juliana Ellis-Billingsley wrote that the Army’s top behavioral health officer misled Madigan leaders about the results of an investigation into post-traumatic stress diagnoses at the hospital south of Tacoma.

Ellis-Billingsley wrote that Col. Rebecca Porter in early February told Madigan leaders that forensic psychiatrists at Walter Reed Military Medical Center had upheld the first 12 Madigan diagnoses they reviewed among a group of 14 soldiers who contested the behavioral health diagnoses they received from Madigan.

Three weeks later, Porter visited Madigan to deliver the results of the Walter Reed reviews to the soldiers themselves. They learned that Walter Reed overturned six Madigan diagnoses, deciding that those soldiers suffered from PTSD. In eight other cases, Walter Reed agreed with Madigan in diagnosing soldiers with conditions other than PTSD.

Madigan commander Col. Dallas Homas reportedly received the first news from Col. Porter at an Army medical health conference in Washington, D.C. Homas declined to comment today on Ellis-Billingsley’s letter.

More:
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2012/03/05/madigan-psychiatrist-ptsd-diagnoses-were-fixed-at-walter-reed/#storylink=cpy

[Judi Lynn]

7. Earlier story: Panetta orders another PTSD review for Madigan Army Medical Center

POSTED: Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012
Panetta orders another PTSD review for Madigan Army Medical Center
Adam Ashton - The (Tacoma) News Tribune

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday announced a new layer in the Army's investigations into a Madigan Army Medical Center behavioral health program that changed post traumatic stress disorder diagnoses for certain soldiers who were seeking medical retirements at the Army base south of Tacoma.

Panetta told a Senate committee that he asked a Defense Department undersecretary to look at whether the military is diagnosing post traumatic stress consistently.

It was not clear Tuesday whether that inquiry overlaps with at least two other ongoing investigations into Madigan’s forensic psychiatry unit. Pentagon and Army Medical Command spokesmen were not able to describe the latest investigation.

Panetta’s remarks came at a defense budget hearing at which Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed him about his knowledge of the forensic psychiatry team at Madigan, on the grounds of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. That unit, created in 2008, reviewed PTSD diagnoses and sometimes adjusted them to other diagnoses.

More:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/02/29/2414594/panetta-orders-another-ptsd-review.html#storylink=cpy

[center]~~~~~[/center]
Army removes commander of Wash. medical center amid allegations PTSD diagnoses were reversed
Article by: Associated Press
Updated: February 21, 2012 - 11:17 AM

SEATTLE - The Army has removed the head of the Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state during an investigation into whether soldiers had diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder reversed to reduce medical costs.
"This is a common practice during ongoing investigations and nothing more," Maj. Gen. Phillip Volpe, who heads the Western Region Medical Command, said Monday about the removal of Col. Dallas Homas.

Homas is a West Point graduate whose career has included deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, where he served as command surgeon. His military honors include two Bronze Stars, The Seattle Times reported (http://is.gd/U0S3oI).

"I remain optimistic that the truth will come out with these investigations," Homas said. "I don't feel that I or my team have done anything wrong."

More:
http://www.startribune.com/nation/139824453.html