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NVLSP SUES ARMY TO PROVIDE PROPER
BENEFITS TO
PTSD VETERANS -- National Veterans Legal Services
Program wants Army to provide full benefits to
all
veterans discharged with PTSD in the past six
years.
For more about NVLSP, use the VA Watchdog search
engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=nvlsp&op=and
NVLSP website is here and has more information
about this lawsuit...
http://www.nvlsp.org/
Story here...
http://edition.cnn.c
om/2008/US/12/17/vets.ptsd/
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
Stressed soldiers sue for disability benefits
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Army intentionally
denied benefits to soldiers suffering from a widespread stress disorder
after they returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, a veterans
advocacy group charges in a suit filed Wednesday.
A soldier is welcomed home from Iraq by his son at Fort Stewart, Georgia,
earlier this month.
 The
lawsuit, filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, accuses
the Army of illegally cutting off benefits to thousands of veterans and
their families by refusing to assign a proper disability rating to those
veterans after they had been discharged with a diagnosis of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD).
As a result, the veterans have been denied benefits, including, among
other things, lifetime monthly disability payments and free medical care
for themselves and their families.
"I experience firsthand the horrors of war" said Juan Perez, an Iraq
veteran and one of five plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "My expectation was
that the military would be there for me, and my country would be there for
me. Instead, the way I was treated felt more like a slap to the face."
All disabled veterans are assigned a disability rating from zero to 100
percent. According to the Legal Services Program, a rating of at least 30
percent is required to qualify for benefits such as monthly disability
payments and free health care.
Don't Miss
 Soldiers
receiving less than a 30 percent rating are entitled only to a one-time
lump sum severance payment after being discharged.
On October 14, the Defense Department ordered the Army to assign at least
a 50 percent rating to all soldiers discharged with PTSD in the future.
The lawsuit seeks to provide full benefits to all veterans discharged with
PTSD in the past six years.
A Rand Corp. study released in April indicated that nearly 20 percent of
all military service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have
reported symptoms of PTSD or major depression.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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