New Diagnosis-BUSHCO Finds Way To Absolve Itself From Responsibility Of Soldiers Returning With PTSD

[kpete]

from the August 20, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0820/p09s02-coop.html
Treating the trauma of war – fairly
In relabeling cases of PTSD as 'personality disorder,' the US military avoids paying for treatment.
By Judith Schwartz
Bennington, Vt.

The high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among soldiers returning from Iraq is one of the many "inconvenient truths" of this war. Inconvenient largely because it is costly: The most effective and humane means of treating PTSD are time-intensive and long-term.

The military, however, has changed the terms and given many thousands of enlisted men and women a new diagnosis: "personality disorder." While the government would be obliged to care for veterans suffering from combat-related trauma, a personality disorder – defined as an ingrained, maladaptive way of orienting oneself to the world – predates a soldier's tour of duty (read: preexisting condition). This absolves Uncle Sam of any responsibility for the person's mental suffering.

The new diagnostic label sends the message: This suffering is your fault, not a result of the war. On one level, it's hard not to see this as another example of the government falling short on its care for Iraq war veterans. Yet there's another, more insidious, bit of sophistry at work. The implication is that a healthy person would be resistant to the psychological pressures of war. Someone who succumbs to the flashbacks, panic, and anger that haunt many former soldiers must have something inherently wrong with him. It's the psychological side of warrior macho: If you're tough, you can take it. Of course, we know this is not true. Wars forever change the lives of those who fight them and can leave deep scars.

more at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0820/p09s02-coop.htm

............

Chapter 5-13
on July 13th, 2007

How the military and VA control healthcare costs: they emulate their private sector for-profit healthcare insurance industry counterparts. Declare claimants to have a pre-exisiting condition, and deny them eligibility in claiming health benefits.

That’s what’s happened to 22,000 troops who returned from combat duty with symptoms of mental illness and traumatic brain injury. The military gave them Chapter 5-13 general discharges which made them ineligible for care by the VA. They had to return signing bonuses, and in effect, they are now deeply in debt to the military as a result of their injuries and disabilities.

That’s right. They leave under a general discharge - NOT an honorable discahrge, they assume deep debt to the military, they lose veterans healthcare and eligibility, and they are left to fend for themselves to get public assistance and any leftover mental health services.

http://universalhealth.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/chapter-5-13/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Oh my God...

:grr:<-THAT doesn't even cover my anger, NOT by a LONGSHOT!

K&R - the depth of their compassionlessness is stunning!:mad:

[EFerrari]

12. I'm actually going back to school to fight these bastards.

They cannot be allowed to get away with this bullshit. :grr:

[Cooley Hurd]

13. Good for you, Beth!!!

:loveya:

What they're doing to OUR soldiers goes beyond the "cannon-fodder" principle. They're chewing them up, ABUSING them by keeping them in theater MUCH longer than in any other time in our history, and then spitting them out into a society that they're no longer emotionally equipped to be in. Horrid... absolutely horrid.:grr:

[EFerrari]

15. I can't sit with that.

We all see it coming. We know those people will come home and need care and we also know the VA will try to shake them off.

No way. :grr:

[Ezlivin]

26. Me too!

I'm going back to school to get a Masters in Social Work. I'm a disabled veteran and I want to help counsel those men and women returning from war. I'm specifically aiming for a position at the Dallas VAMC.

If everything goes okay I should start in January and graduate in December 2009. I can't wait to start!

[EFerrari]

27. Me, either!

:toast:

[zabet]

2. Complete and utter bullshit.

How did these people with 'pesonality disoders' pass medical
screening for enlistment? If there is no history of a soldier
having this 'disorder', how do they prove it is a pre-existing
condition? :wtf:

Sounds like some more of that compassionate conservative supporting
the troops. :sarcasm:

edit spelling - this pissed me off so bad, my fingers could not spell!

[w8liftinglady]

3. I actually wrote a letter to the editor about this

these soulless bastards have no shame.
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2007/06/24/dailylight/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter1.txt

[PA Democrat]

17. That is a powerfully well-written letter w8liftinglady.

In the past few years, my husband has seen in his criminal law practice, a number of Iraq vets who have ended up in the criminal justice system. We can't help but believe that untreated PTSD has been a significant factor in a number of these cases. It's shameful that these soldiers are not getting proper help and end up with drug, alcohol and other problems. My husband is currently representing a co-defendant in a murder case in which the shooter is an Iraq vet who was discharged due to severe PTSD. We can't help but wonder how many lives could be saved if our country were not turning a blind eye to the problems of many of our returning vets.

It is a disgrace.

[Raksha]

22. That is a very powerful letter. My heart goes out to you and your son. n/t

[bdamomma]

4. yea, they support the troops alright

:sarcasm:

I hate this regime and what it is doing to our troops and to our country. why are they still there?, I am talking about *co. They are criminals pure criminals.

[blogslut]

5. There was something about this a month or so ago on DU

It's damned disgusting move by the Pentagon and reading the whole article (mentioning the ways that the
"brass" have tried to weasel out of caring for emotionally scarred soldiers over the decades) reminds me of a George Carlin rant about that very thing;

"I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protest themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation.

For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.

In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue.

Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.

Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha. I'll betcha."

[Raksha]

33. I'm as down on euphemisms as the next person,

but I think the use of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) instead of shell-shock has a valid defense. It's a more inclusive definition that recognizes the fact that PTSD has other causes besides combat, and that the same symptoms show up in people who have never been anywhere near a battlefield: rape and incest victims, battered women, prisoners, hostages, and people who have been the victims of school bullies, especially over a long period of time.

it's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.

Obviously you don't have to be a "fighting person" to have your nervous system stressed to the breaking point, but there's on question that wars produce the biggest number of PTSD sufferers in the shortest period of thme. Even if all the troops came home tomorrow, we're STILL going to be dealing with the fallout from Bush's war for years to come.

[malaise]

6. WTF

Until the working poor in the military, mines and other places walk out of those fundamentalist kooky institutions, they will continue to be used and abused by both their religious leaders, corporations and the criminal politicians.

[JHB]

7. See also the April 9 issue of The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors

article | posted March 29, 2007 (April 9, 2007 issue)
How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits
Joshua Kors
***
Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from 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.
***
(More at link above)

[msedano]

8. i wrote a story about it...

i had culture shock after a year in korea where the most dangerous stuff we did was drive lifers to distraction so when they finally left the military they'd have a pre-existing condition of hating "hippies". these kids today have a far worse situation. they go, they serve, they come home, and no one cares, esp. the national leadership on either side. let's tell our elected representatives that this war is a litmus issue, either you end the war now, or i abandon you in all future elections.

http://labloga.blogspot.com/2007/07/story-within-limits-of-my-post.html


mvs

http://readraza.com/hawk/index.htm

[Supersedeas]

9. guess that means problem solved for the Pentagon Fat Cats

[Prophet 451]

10. MUTHAFUCKING SONUVABITCH!

Someone send these marhime georgeo bastards (sorry, I can't think of words foul enough in English) into a fucking warzone and tell them that PTSD is a fucking "personality disorder"!

*absolutely fucking livid*

[EFerrari]

18. A personality disorder should have precluded these soldiers from serving.

But, apparently, the Pentagon is willing to tap these people's service and then screw them out of the aftercare they need if they manage to survive this misbegotten action.

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, YOU FELONS.

[EFerrari]

11. We don't let it happen.

For Monkey Man and for our people, we don't stand down to this bullshit. :grr:

[alfredo]

14. Just sent this to my veterans group.

[EFerrari]

16. Thank you.

There are SO many things wrong with this mendacity.

Take it to them, alfredo.

[alfredo]

20. Why do they continually fuck our soldiers?

[EFerrari]

21. Because it's about their cronies, not about us at all. n/t

[alfredo]

24. the pentagon of all people should be on the side of the soldier.

[EFerrari]

28. And it's not. It's a clearing house for business. n/t

[alfredo]

29. I know it has been that way forever. When the Dems take the

presidency, let's put someone in the Pentagon who will look out for our soldiers.

[alfredo]

30. We need to push our candidates to pledge to name a soldier friendly

person as Sec of Defense.

[EFerrari]

31. I'm in, if it can still be done. n/t

[alfredo]

32. It's worth a try.

[KT2000]

19. That is why they put

an insurance guy in the VA!
Psychopaths like this are in charge of our entire health care system.
Liars all.

[Raksha]

23. This is beyond outrageous!

I tried to read the CS Monitor story but couldn't get past the first paragraph. I'm just too angry right now. If there were any justice in this world (justice? what's THAT?), this would be grounds for the biggest class-action lawsuit this country has ever seen.

[treestar]

25. It actually conflicts with the conservative meme last week

I recall an article posted on DU last week defending chickenhawks for not signing up - it was because most of us are, allegedly, not good enough for the military - it is an elite of extra-strong people.

Whoever said that should be confronted with this one - so supposedly they are signing up people with "personality disorders?"

There is no end to the hypocrisy of conservative warmongers.

[barbtries]

34. motherfuckers

talk about adding insult to injury. they are beyond hateful, so low it boggles my mind on a daily basis