Printer Friendly Page
---------------
DEMOCRATIC PRESS RELEASE
July 25, 2007
“Personality Disorder”: A Deliberate Misdiagnosis To Avoid Veterans’
Health Care Costs!
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee finds that veterans given a
Personality Disorder diagnosis by the military are unduly prejudiced
when they seek VA health care and benefits
Washington, D.C. – Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) held a hearing to examine
how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) addresses the military
diagnosis of Personality Disorder. In the last six years, the military
has discharged over 22,500 service members due to Personality Disorders.
The Committee found that once a service member is diagnosed with a
Personality Disorder, he or she has a much more difficult time receiving
benefits and treatment at the VA.
Service members discharged due to a Personality Disorder, rather than
PTSD or some other mental health condition, are generally not provided
military disability benefits because the military classifies Personality
Disorders as existing prior to entry into military service. The service
member must show that his prior existing condition was aggravated or
worsened by military service which is difficult to do. Service members
can seek veterans’ disability benefits, but again they must show that
their condition was aggravated by military service.
“Providing veterans with the correct medical diagnosis is important for
a variety of reasons, ranging from receiving proper treatment to
eligibility for military and veterans benefits,” said Chairman Filner.
“My concern is that this country is regressing and again ignoring the
legitimate claims of PTSD in favor of the time and money saving
diagnosis of Personality Disorder. I am not satisfied with the standards
by which the VA accepts or denies disability claims from our veterans
diagnosed with Personality Disorders.”
Joshua Kors, a journalist that been reporting on Personality Disorder
for the last ten months, stated that a Personality Disorder discharge is
a “contradiction in terms. Recruits who have a severe, pre-existing
condition like a Personality Disorder do not pass the rigorous screening
process and are not accepted into the Army.” Kors interviewed soldiers
that passed the first screening and were accepted into the Army. “They
were deemed physically and psychologically fit in a second screening as
well, before being deployed to Iraq, and served honorably there in
combat,” said Kors. “In each case, it was only when they came back
physically or psychologically wounded and sought benefits that their
pre-existing condition was discovered.”
The committee also reviewed the recent report by the Institute of
Medicine on VA Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) claims and
discussed the VA’s plan for implementation of recommendations in the
report. Current estimates show that approximately one-third of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans may show signs of PTSD.
“The nation’s veterans’ health care system is strained to the breaking
point,” said Chairman Filner. “The Institute of Medicine reports that
the VA needs to replace its narrowly defined and unevenly applied
criteria for PTSD screening with broader standards based on the latest
knowledge about psychiatry. I intend to work with the VA to address
these recommendations and provide the appropriate care for our
veterans.”
Participants in the full committee hearing included: Colonel Bruce Crow,
chief of the Department of Behavioral Medicine at Brooke Army Medical
Center and clinical psychology consultant to the Army surgeon general;
Jason Forrester, director of policy for Veterans for America; veteran
Jonathan Town; journalist Joshua Kors; Paul Sullivan, executive director
for Veterans for Common Sense; psychologist Tracie Shea, Ph.D. from the
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical
Center Providence, RI; Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., member of the
Committee on Veterans’ Compensation for PTSD at the Institute of
Medicine; Sally Satel, M.D., resident scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute; and Ira R. Katz, MD, Ph.D from the Mental Health Veterans
Health Administration at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
---------------
Larry Scott
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
