More must be done for PTSD vets, panel says
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 24, 2008 17:23:00 EST
The head of a commission that spent 2½ years studying veterans’ disability benefits says the government needs to do more for those suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
Testifying Thursday before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee about a proposal for a comprehensive treatment, rehabilitation and benefits plan for veterans with PTSD and other mental disorders, the chairman of the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Committee said current benefits could be described as “just paying people with PTSD to go away.”
Retired Army Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, whose 13-member commission issued its final report late last year, said the government needs a holistic approach that links disability benefits, treatment and vocational training, with an evaluation every two or three years of a veteran’s disability to see if treatment is working.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/military_ptsd_080124w/
If they want to know if treatment is working, then that's fine, that is, if their intent is to come up with better treatment, but if it's to try to just get them out of the system, scream!
The newer veterans have a hard enough time with the wound as it is. Between the backlog of claims and appointments lower than needed, what more stress do you think they can endure? For the older veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, you need to know that because of the newer veterans coming into the system and all the problems, the Vietnam veterans are being pushed back to make room. For a veteran who has spent years in treatment on a monthly basis, now being forced to accept once every three months, this is the wrong thing to do to them. It only exacerbates the problem.
What they really need to do is focus on getting the Veterans centers and clinics up and running to get them all into treatment. There have already been cases over the last 30 years where veterans with mild PTSD have recovered enough to go back to work, but that happens when they are treated early. If they are not getting treatment at all, then they are getting worse. PTSD gets worse without treatment so you'd think they would stop screwing around and invest their time into finding out how to get them into treatment instead of trying to figure out how to get them out of it.
They are killing themselves everyday!
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