Printer Friendly Page
SENATORS ASK GAO TO INVESTIGATE MILITARY'S
MENTAL
HEALTH CARE -- Seek answers on misdiagnoses,
improper
discharges, stigma, personality disorder
discharges
and other mental health concerns.
Story here...
http://bond.senate.gov
press_section/record.cfm?id=272667
Story below:
---------------
Senators Urge GAO to Study the Military’s
Mental Health Care
Obama, Boxer, Bond, Akaka, Harkin, Lieberman, Murray, McCaskill, Sanders
ask for review in light of troubling reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Joe
Lieberman (I-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today sent a letter to the General Accounting
Office (GAO) requesting a review of the Department of Defense’s
treatment of service-related mental health conditions affecting troops
that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The letter comes in the wake
of reports of poor treatment and conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical
Centers, where many patients and family members described not receiving
adequate mental health care, and more recent reports that suggest the
Department of Defense (DOD) has not effectively screened and diagnosed
mental health conditions.
Senators Boxer, Bond, and Obama had previously asked that the Department
of Defense to examine command practices and culture related to mental
health care with no response. As the DOD drags its feet, the senators
have requested the GAO to investigate agency practices related to mental
health screenings, diagnoses, referrals and treatment of service
members.
"Recent reports suggest that the Department of Defense is ill-equipped
to effectively screen and diagnose the increasing number of service
members who are suffering from mental health conditions such as
post-traumatic stress disorder,” said Senator Obama. “I'm especially
troubled by reports of some DOD commanders downplaying the serious
mental health conditions confronting service members returning home from
Iraq, and then redeploying those troops without proper treatment. It's
time for a full accounting of how many of our troops are affected by
post-traumatic stress disorder, other service-connected mental health
conditions, and traumatic brain injuries, and for an evaluation of our
readiness to help the generation of soldiers returning home from war
rebuild their lives."
Senator Boxer said, "Two years ago, military doctors informed me that
soldiers with serious mental health problems were being denied care and
redeployed to Iraq. Sadly, even after we passed legislation and the
Defense Department issued new mental health guidelines, they are not
being followed. It is time for the GAO to investigate allegations of
mistreatment and improper discharges. The health and well being of our
service members must be a priority for the Pentagon and for all
Americans."
“Combat stress and its impact on our soldiers and their families is a
serious problem that continues to grow. Reports that our military is
unprepared or unwilling to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or
other mental health problems are unacceptable. Being unprepared for
these problems is no excuse for inaction. It is our duty to take care of
the brave men and women who have answered the call to duty," said
Senator Kit Bond.
“I am deeply concerned about the consequences of the conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan on the mental health of those who serve,” said Senator
Akaka. “PTSD and other mental health problems, the often invisible
wounds of war, can be terribly debilitating. As a senior member of the
Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, I am working to ensure that our wounded warriors receive a
timely diagnosis of mental health problems and prompt and effective
response. This effort must begin while servicemembers are still on
active duty and there have been far too many reports that this is not
happening. The results of this requested GAO review will be of great
importance as we seek to ensure that DOD and VA meet the needs of our
newest war veterans.”
“With news that our soldiers will be serving longer tours of duty with
shorter periods of rest at home, there is no better time to ensure the
men and women who serve our country are getting the mental health
services they need,” said Senator Harkin. “We must do away with the
stigma associated with mental illness and remove any obstacles to
treatment.”
“We have a moral obligation to care for our wounded troops and ensure
they receive the best care,” said Senator Lieberman. “Post-traumatic
stress disorder is afflicting many of our service members and it is
imperative that we accurately and efficiently diagnose and treat it. The
stakes are high for those that are sacrificing their lives for our
country and we must work together to correct any deficiencies that we
find in our military’s mental health system.”
"We can't afford to wait until a year after our service members have
returned home to discover the affects of the unseen wounds of this war,"
said Senator Murray. "PTSD is taking a horrible toll on our service
members and their families and we must be sure today that they are being
properly screened, tracked, and treated. We can no longer be unprepared
for this mounting problem."
“Our men and women returning from war should receive mental health care
equal to the physical medical care they are given, and anything less is
unacceptable,” Senator McCaskill said. “It took this country 15 years
after Vietnam to look at the mental health needs of veterans. We can’t
do that to another generation of soldiers.”
“The men and women who put their lives on the line for this country
deserve the best care we can provide,” Senator Bernie Sanders said.
“What has been revealed about Defense Department health care is a
disgrace that needs to be addressed. We need to find out whether there
is a concerted effort by the Defense Department to shortchange our
soldiers and veterans who are in need of mental health care and other
benefits they have earned.”
The text of the letter is below:
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
Government Accountability Office (GAO)
441 G Street, NW, Room 7125
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Walker:
We are writing to request that the General Accounting Office (GAO)
undertake a review of Department of Defense (DOD) screenings, diagnoses,
referrals and treatment of service members who may have Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions related to
their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several of us previously wrote
the DOD requesting an examination of command practices and reports of
biases and misdiagnoses in the treatment of mental health-related
injuries such as PTSD and other deployment-related health problems,
including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), but have not yet received a
response.
The stigmas associated with PTSD and other mental health needs are no
less potent within the military than in the civilian world. Indeed,
reports from soldiers suffering from PTSD suggest that the stigma is
worse, with some military commanders appearing to minimize the
significance of PTSD and other mental health needs; or suggesting that a
service member is malingering to avoid redeployment. There are
allegations of commanders at Fort Carson, Colorado denying soldiers
access to mental health care and instead ordering them redeployed for
additional tours in Iraq. We have also heard of cases in which service
members with PTSD are diagnosed as having “personality disorders” that
the Army considers “pre-existing,” thus depriving otherwise eligible
combat veterans of disability benefits and much-needed mental
healthcare. Because the stakes for our service members’ and their health
are so high, we must move quickly to investigate and correct any
deficiencies.
We have come to learn about a number of upsetting allegations at Fort
Carson. Therefore, for the purposes of an expedited review, we request
to be briefed initially by GAO on these immediate cases. We ask that you
subsequently focus your inquiry not only on Fort Carson but on
system-wide mental health deficiencies within the DOD.
With the significant burdens already being placed on our service members
and their families with multiple extended deployments, we must ensure
that they are not further burdened with any humiliation, stigmatization
or other minimization of genuine mental health needs. Our service
members are risking their lives for our nation’s security; it is our
moral obligation to care for them. We therefore ask the GAO to assess:
1) Known cases of improper discharges or misdiagnoses and patterns of
systematic stigmatization employed by military commanders regarding the
mental health needs of service members throughout the chain-of-command
at Fort Carson and across DOD departments;
2) The growing number of discharges for personality disorders, and
whether or not such discharges are being improperly used when service
members should in fact be given a mental health diagnosis that DOD does
not consider preexisting;
3) The overall number of misdiagnosed cases of PTSD, other mental health
conditions, and TBIs (at Fort Carson and force-wide);
4) DOD progress in implementing previous mandates to develop force-wide
criteria and procedures for screening, diagnosing and referring mental
health cases for follow-up treatment;
5) The efficacy of the DOD’s current mental health safety net and
treatment capabilities: for example, what current mechanisms are
available to service members in the event of misdiagnosis?;
6) The steps and resources required to implement one-on-one,
face-to-face mental health screenings for all returning service members;
7) The number of service members, men and women, reporting mental health
concerns related to sexual assault during deployment; and whether
current DOD personnel training and diagnostic guidance is sufficiently
responsive to the needs of both men and women.
We seek to ensure that the DOD has the resources necessary to diagnose
and treat service-connected injuries that impact the mental health of
U.S. service personnel. It is vital that the U.S. military ensures it is
treating the mental health needs of our forces with the same priority
and resource investments it is devoting to physical injuries. If you
would like to discuss this request, please contact [redacted].
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
---------------
Larry Scott --
