Vets file suit over slow VA claims processing
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 10, 2008 13:20:43 EST
Two veterans’ groups have filed a suit in an effort to get a federal court to order interim benefits for veterans if a claim for disability compensation takes longer than 90 days to be processed.
Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare want an interim payment equal to what is paid for a 30 percent disability rating — between $356 and $497 a month, depending on the number of dependents — if an initial claim takes more than 90 days or an appeal of a denied claim takes longer than 180 days.
The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is an attempt to use the federal court system to tackle the Department of Veterans Affairs claims processing bureaucracy, said Robert Cattanach, one of the attorneys handling the case.
VA officials had no immediate comment. Spokesman Phil Budahn said VA officials learned about the suit only after it was filed, and are working on a response.
“Veterans need prompt action and they need it now,” Cattanach said. “The Department of Veterans Affairs is failing miserably.”
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Showing posts with label VA law suit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VA law suit. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Groups Ask Court to Expedite PTSD Care
July 29, Lawsuit Update: Groups Ask Court to Expedite PTSD Care
Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times
Jul 29, 2008
July 29, 2008 - Two veterans groups have asked a federal appeals court to force the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expedite disability claims and treat troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The groups - Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth Inc. - filed a notice Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overturn a lower court ruling in their lawsuit. Filed in July 2007, their lawsuit claims that the VA system that identifies and processes sufferers of PTSD has collapsed.
Judge Samuel Conti, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejected the lawsuit on June 25, saying the claims were outside of the court's jurisdiction and would require a complete overhaul of the VA by Congress.
The veterans groups contend that the VA and Congress do not have the exclusive right to decide due-process issues and that the courts have a pivotal role to help improve the lives of veterans suffering from the mental disorder.
"We think the judge's ruling is wrong, and where there is a wrong, there is some remedy," said the groups' attorney, Gordon P. Erspamer of the law firm Morrison & Foerster. "Look at all these soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with horrible psychic wounds getting turned away from VA facilities."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10774
Again, all you have to do is think about the fact the suicide and attempted suicide rate has gone up in order to know someone else has to be the authority in this and make sure what needs to be done is done instead of someone just saying it is being done.
Audrey Hudson
The Washington Times
Jul 29, 2008
July 29, 2008 - Two veterans groups have asked a federal appeals court to force the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expedite disability claims and treat troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The groups - Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth Inc. - filed a notice Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to overturn a lower court ruling in their lawsuit. Filed in July 2007, their lawsuit claims that the VA system that identifies and processes sufferers of PTSD has collapsed.
Judge Samuel Conti, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejected the lawsuit on June 25, saying the claims were outside of the court's jurisdiction and would require a complete overhaul of the VA by Congress.
The veterans groups contend that the VA and Congress do not have the exclusive right to decide due-process issues and that the courts have a pivotal role to help improve the lives of veterans suffering from the mental disorder.
"We think the judge's ruling is wrong, and where there is a wrong, there is some remedy," said the groups' attorney, Gordon P. Erspamer of the law firm Morrison & Foerster. "Look at all these soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with horrible psychic wounds getting turned away from VA facilities."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10774
Again, all you have to do is think about the fact the suicide and attempted suicide rate has gone up in order to know someone else has to be the authority in this and make sure what needs to be done is done instead of someone just saying it is being done.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Echoes of Vietnam: VA Stalls
Echoes of Vietnam: VA Stalls, Dissembles While Vets Suffer and Die
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted July 4, 2008.
The latest episode of the Department of Veterans Affairs' callous denial of veterans' suffering is a continuation of a long tradition.
On June 10, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs back into court. Conti is presiding over a lawsuit brought by veterans against the VA, charging the agency with systematically denying veterans the services and support they so desperately need. Conti demanded that the VA explain why it had failed to produce certain critical (and incriminating) documents.
Among those documents was an e-mail written by the now-infamous Norma Perez. It read: "Given that we have more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, R/O [ruling out] PTSD."
Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said it was inconceivable that a low-level staffer like Perez could have written such an e-mail on her own authority. Barack Obama called it "unacceptable" and "tantamount to fraud." John McCain called it "not too important."
Lost somehow in the high-decibel rhetoric of the moment is a historical dimension of this story that I think deserves some attention. This is not the first time the VA has acted as adversary rather than advocate. Thirty years ago, almost to the day, Max Cleland, then head of the VA, circulated an equally directive memo to his staff that read:
In view of the remaining uncertainties on the long-term effects of the defoliants, all VA personnel should avoid premature commitment to any diagnosis of defoliant poisoning. Similarly, entries in medical records should not contain statements about the relationship between a veteran's illnesses and defoliant exposure unless unequivocal confirmation of such a connection has been established.
(The defoliants Cleland refers to were Agent Orange and other dioxin-based chemicals the United States sprayed over Vietnam.)
In the meantime, Cleland instructed VA staff to deny all Agent Orange claims. He also refused to undertake any kind of epidemiological study because, he claimed, the necessary outreach to veterans would only cause them "needless anxiety."
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If Cleland had no clue about Agent Orange, then it was equal to his lack of clue about PTSD. He was treated for depression since Vietnam when it turned out it was PTSD.
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted July 4, 2008.
The latest episode of the Department of Veterans Affairs' callous denial of veterans' suffering is a continuation of a long tradition.
On June 10, U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs back into court. Conti is presiding over a lawsuit brought by veterans against the VA, charging the agency with systematically denying veterans the services and support they so desperately need. Conti demanded that the VA explain why it had failed to produce certain critical (and incriminating) documents.
Among those documents was an e-mail written by the now-infamous Norma Perez. It read: "Given that we have more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder, R/O [ruling out] PTSD."
Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said it was inconceivable that a low-level staffer like Perez could have written such an e-mail on her own authority. Barack Obama called it "unacceptable" and "tantamount to fraud." John McCain called it "not too important."
Lost somehow in the high-decibel rhetoric of the moment is a historical dimension of this story that I think deserves some attention. This is not the first time the VA has acted as adversary rather than advocate. Thirty years ago, almost to the day, Max Cleland, then head of the VA, circulated an equally directive memo to his staff that read:
In view of the remaining uncertainties on the long-term effects of the defoliants, all VA personnel should avoid premature commitment to any diagnosis of defoliant poisoning. Similarly, entries in medical records should not contain statements about the relationship between a veteran's illnesses and defoliant exposure unless unequivocal confirmation of such a connection has been established.
(The defoliants Cleland refers to were Agent Orange and other dioxin-based chemicals the United States sprayed over Vietnam.)
In the meantime, Cleland instructed VA staff to deny all Agent Orange claims. He also refused to undertake any kind of epidemiological study because, he claimed, the necessary outreach to veterans would only cause them "needless anxiety."
click post title for more
If Cleland had no clue about Agent Orange, then it was equal to his lack of clue about PTSD. He was treated for depression since Vietnam when it turned out it was PTSD.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Veterans United for Truth Responds to Court Ruling
Editorial Column: Veterans United for Truth Responds to Court Ruling
Bob Handy
Veterans United for Truth
Jul 01, 2008
July 1, 2008 - Recently Federal District Judge Samuel Conti decided in the class action lawsuit in which we (Veterans United For Truth and Veterans for Common Sense) were plaintiffs, that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was failing in many cases in providing mental health services to returning veterans. Unfortunately he also decided that he did not have jurisdiction at his level to compel changes in the VA’s procedures.
While we are disappointed with Judge Conti's decision that he lacked jurisdiction, and do not agree that we did not prove the “systemic” nature of these problems, this outcome is far from being all bad. We knew that it was a crap shoot going in, but we were sure that he had the necessary jurisdiction. We also knew that no matter how he decided, the case would most likely end up before the Supreme Court. Of course we had hoped to be defending Judge Conti's decision against an appeal by the DVA; now we will be appealing his decision in the Ninth Circuit.
When we started out, we knew that we were in it for the long haul. We won round one, just by getting the case heard in federal court, since the DVA and the Department of Justice both attempted multiple times to have us disqualified as plaintiffs, and denied that the federal court had any right even to examine DVA procedures and policies..
We lost part of round two. It may be a setback, but it succeeded in large part since Judge Conti’s ruling expressed agreement with much of our complaint. Additionally The DVA has been exposed not only to the Congress, but also to the national and international media, who have stepped up their reporting on the shoddy treatment that the VA has been providing to returning veterans, and to the repeated delay and denial of service by the DVA..
America’s veterans will be forever in the debt of Morrison & Foerster and Disability Rights Advocates, the two law firms that took on the DVA pro bono.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10553
Bob Handy
Veterans United for Truth
Jul 01, 2008
July 1, 2008 - Recently Federal District Judge Samuel Conti decided in the class action lawsuit in which we (Veterans United For Truth and Veterans for Common Sense) were plaintiffs, that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was failing in many cases in providing mental health services to returning veterans. Unfortunately he also decided that he did not have jurisdiction at his level to compel changes in the VA’s procedures.
While we are disappointed with Judge Conti's decision that he lacked jurisdiction, and do not agree that we did not prove the “systemic” nature of these problems, this outcome is far from being all bad. We knew that it was a crap shoot going in, but we were sure that he had the necessary jurisdiction. We also knew that no matter how he decided, the case would most likely end up before the Supreme Court. Of course we had hoped to be defending Judge Conti's decision against an appeal by the DVA; now we will be appealing his decision in the Ninth Circuit.
When we started out, we knew that we were in it for the long haul. We won round one, just by getting the case heard in federal court, since the DVA and the Department of Justice both attempted multiple times to have us disqualified as plaintiffs, and denied that the federal court had any right even to examine DVA procedures and policies..
We lost part of round two. It may be a setback, but it succeeded in large part since Judge Conti’s ruling expressed agreement with much of our complaint. Additionally The DVA has been exposed not only to the Congress, but also to the national and international media, who have stepped up their reporting on the shoddy treatment that the VA has been providing to returning veterans, and to the repeated delay and denial of service by the DVA..
America’s veterans will be forever in the debt of Morrison & Foerster and Disability Rights Advocates, the two law firms that took on the DVA pro bono.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10553
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Veterans for Common Sense fight goes on
From Paul Sullivan
My two cents
Because of this, because of the hard work they all did on this (as well as what they plan to do) things will change. It proved once and for all there are people in this country willing to step up and force the changes so that our veterans receive the care they not only earned but the care they all deserve. We have so many who were willing to lay down their lives for this country that need our help for what should never, ever, have been something they had to fight for. They did their fighting when they were deployed. They shouldn't have to keep fighting for their lives because they made it home.
I’m sure you are aware of Judge Samuel Conti’s detailed 82-page ruling that found VA is in crisis and that he was “troubled” by VA’s delays. Yet he decided that the Court lacks jurisdiction and that VA and Congress should fix VA’s problems. Although we are disappointed the Judge would not order VA to act, we are pleased he found in our favor on many facts of the case. VCS re-states our offer to provide Congressional staff with any information that could be used to reform VA so our veterans receive prompt and high-quality VA healthcare as well as fast, complete, and accurate VA claims decisions.
Attached for your review are four items regarding the U.S. District Court’s ruling in our lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. James Peake (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs):
Link to Army Times news article:http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10516
Link to KPIX-TV (CBS News in San Francisco) television broadcast: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10517
Link to VCS press release:http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10517
Attachment containing the Court’s ruling.
Our lawsuit enjoys broad support from veterans and the public. Here are just a few of the many overwhelmingly positive e-mails VCS received from our members about our landmark lawsuit with our co-plaintiff organization, Veterans United for Truth:
Your efforts will make life better for … veterans.
Thanks for all the hard work.
It was a great effort. The fact you were able to get the VA attitude out in the public, presented as evidence in a federal court, was of critical importance…. KEEP IT UP!
I think you did a terrific job of exposing the tragedy of the veterans with the law suit.
All of you working on this should be proud of yourselves.
You have accomplished a great deal and there still things to do. This is only the beginning of the fight; end of round one.
You are to be commended for your hard work.
You should be very proud of the effort you put into this. Because of you, there was a lot learned that would have remained hidden. You gave it your best as you always do.
It will pay off in the long. It will help.
Our fight is now in Congress.
As of April 2008, VA medical centers have treated 325,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, including 133,000 with a mental health condition, 75,000 of whom are diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. We remain alarmed that VA still has no national policy on what to do when a suicidal patient shows up at a VA medical facility. We remain concerned that veterans such as Jonathan Schulze and Jeffrey Lucey were improperly turned away by an under funded and under staffed VA.
Therefore, VCS plans to appeal the Court’s decision primarily on the grounds that the Judicial Branch must enforce the laws of the Legislative Branch ignored by the Executive Branch. Please contact VCS if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Paul.
Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/
My two cents
Because of this, because of the hard work they all did on this (as well as what they plan to do) things will change. It proved once and for all there are people in this country willing to step up and force the changes so that our veterans receive the care they not only earned but the care they all deserve. We have so many who were willing to lay down their lives for this country that need our help for what should never, ever, have been something they had to fight for. They did their fighting when they were deployed. They shouldn't have to keep fighting for their lives because they made it home.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
VCS thanks Judge for hearing them anyway
June 25, VCS Press Release: Court Rules that Veterans Should Seek Relief from VA and Congress, Veterans to Appeal
VCS thanks Judge Samuel Conti for our day in court. By confirming many of the allegations in our lawsuit, VCS considers the Court’s ruling a very loud and bright warning shot over the bow for Congress and VA to overhaul VA now. VA needs massive reform soon, before the situations becomes worse as hundreds of thousands of wounded, ill, and injured Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans flood into the VA system. VCS stands willing to work with Congress and VA to resolve the many serious problems the Court confirmed. VCS intends to work closely with our attorneys, Morrison & Foerster and Disability Rights Advocates, as we move forward with an appeal.
click above for more
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Paul Sullivan clears up rumors on VA law suit
Being very involved with what is going on in this country with our veterans for as long as I have, I've managed to come into contact with a lot of dedicated people who won me over with their love for our veterans. One of them is Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense. I am proud to consider him a friend and he is always quick to respond to emails from me. It never seems to matter how busy this man is. He still takes time out for me. You have to keep in mind that when it comes to the people with power in this country, I am virtually no one. I fly so far under the radar I'm shocked when I'm quoted or something I wrote has drawn any attention at all. I can't really make a difference but I know people who not only can, but are doing it. Paul is at the top of my list of mountain movers.
The NAMI convention distressed me at certain points. Most of those times have been included in postings on this blog since the convention. This bothered me so much, I asked Paul to answer some questions to clear up some rumors I heard during the 4 days of the convention. I'm not picking on the people of NAMI and I'm really very proud to be a member considering how many of them across the nation are doing the jobs of saints. Fantastic things are happening because of these truly dedicated people. But that said, as with anything else, every organization has some people with a mind set on something. There is no way possible for everyone to know everything in their realm. I want to believe these rumors were not made knowing they were not true statements. I also wanted to clear up what I heard and what I know to make sure I have the facts on these issues. It's all too important to me. Plus, knowing how much information goes into this tiny brain of mine, it's far too easy to get things jumbled up. I am thankful I had Paul to turn to for the answers.
I want to thank Paul for his time and for all he has done for the veterans in this country. Think about the numbers of veterans his actions will make a difference for. He doesn't want more families to have to bury another son or daughter because the VA just didn't have room for them when they needed their wounds to be treated. We've all read too many stories like Jonathan's and Jeffrey's, or Tim Bowman, or Joshua Omvig, along with the hundreds of others we found in the media. Far too much suffering that did not need to happen.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
The NAMI convention distressed me at certain points. Most of those times have been included in postings on this blog since the convention. This bothered me so much, I asked Paul to answer some questions to clear up some rumors I heard during the 4 days of the convention. I'm not picking on the people of NAMI and I'm really very proud to be a member considering how many of them across the nation are doing the jobs of saints. Fantastic things are happening because of these truly dedicated people. But that said, as with anything else, every organization has some people with a mind set on something. There is no way possible for everyone to know everything in their realm. I want to believe these rumors were not made knowing they were not true statements. I also wanted to clear up what I heard and what I know to make sure I have the facts on these issues. It's all too important to me. Plus, knowing how much information goes into this tiny brain of mine, it's far too easy to get things jumbled up. I am thankful I had Paul to turn to for the answers.
What caused Veterans for Common Sense to file the law suit against the VA?
Jonathan Schulze and Jeffrey Lucey, two Gulf War combat veterans with PTSD, were refused VA medical care even though they physically came to VA medical facilities with their families and told VA staff they were suicidal. Congress may legislate and perform oversight, yet the Court can force immediate action: one of our top priorities was to force VA from turning away suicidal veterans.VCS initially filed Freedom of Information Act requests earlier in 2007 about suicides, and VA responded that they had no information. VCS also filed suit because the number of disability claims waiting for review has doubled in the past few years, and the length of time has increased from five months to more than six months.
However, VA executives paid themselves nearly $4 million in bonuses for their dismal performance. Furthermore, VA’s IG reported three times that 25 percent of veterans waited more than one month to see a doctor. VA testified under oath twice that the figure was less than 5 percent. Clearly, VA has a capacity crisis – too many veterans and not enough doctors or claims processors. Furthermore, the 23-page claim form and several healthcare enrollment forms are overly complex, especially for our veterans with PTSD or TBI. For more detailed information, please go to http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/.
What caused Veterans for Common Sense to join forces with Veterans United for Truth?VUFT is another non-profit veteran advocacy group, and they are based in California.
How were the emails from Dr. Katz discovered?After more than 8 months of delays, the Federal Court ORDERED VA to turn over the e-mails to our attorneys in our lawsuit as part of the discovery process.
What did Dr. Katz say to explain these emails?He admitted they were true and that he wrote them. You can read his testimony at the SVAC web site where he offers evasive explanations.
What were the facts discovered as a result of these emails being found?
1. VA says they are monitoring completed and attempted suicides to see if there is a difference in suicide rates between veterans, war veterans, and non-veterans.
2. VA essentially confirmed the CBS study that found veterans are more likely to complete a suicide, and for younger veterans aged 18 – 24, they were three to four times more likely to complete a suicide..
3. VA completes “suicide incident reports” and “root cause analysis” reports for each completed suicide, yet then declares them confidential “quality assurance” and places them off limits to Congress, veterans’ families, and attorneys. It is very important for Congress and the Courts and the public to see these reports (with privacy protections of course) so that we can better understand why the veterans killed themselves, and how VA can be improved to prevent and reduce suicides.
How many suicides does the VA know about since the beginning of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq?There is no national “veteran completed suicide” reporting system now, yet VA is under considerable pressure to begin working to identify all of them. VCS provided a methodology to Congress to identify as many as possible by starting with the list of 1.7 million deployed and then checking all federal, state, and local death certificates.
Currently, VA looks at death certificates where the document reports the person as a veteran. This is incomplete because many families do not know if a person was a veteran or the funeral home / coroner don’t ask. DoD only reports active duty suicides and excludes Reserve and National Guard suicides because they are not on Active Duty.. Our VCS methodology would identify all completed suicides among all 1.7 million, not just the incomplete pieces of the puzzle the DoD and VA currently look at.
How many attempted suicides does the VA know about during the same period?See above. VA knows about attempted suicides only among those veterans receiving VA care, and that is about 1,000 per month, or 12,000 per year, based on Katz’ e-mail.
How did the emails end up with Senator Akaka and his committee?The Katz e-mails were produced at trial in April 2008, and then journalists reported them to the public. I not exactly sure, yet I believe Sen. Akaka’s staff saw them in the widely reported press accounts of our trial.
Do you know about the Freedom of Information request to the VA by CREW and VoteVets?
Yes. It is too bad that VA still plays games with FOIA. VA should be forced to turn over the information. Embarrassing information is never a reason to deny a FOIA, as VA frequently does.
How did the email from Norma Perez end up in the hands of congress?
The Perez e-mail discouraging diagnoses for PTSD among veterans was sent by Perez to several VA staff, who in turn sent it to other VA staff, who in tern sent it to a veteran advocate in Texas. That person turned it over to VoteVets and CREW. VCS did not play a role in uncovering the e-mail, yet VCS did play a role in publicizing the e-mail.
What did the entire email suggest?I would suggest reading the e-mail, as it speaks for itself.
How did that email end up with the congress and then incorporated into the law suit filed by Veterans For Common Sense?The Perez e-mail and news articles were forwarded from me to our attorneys with a request that they investigate it. They did investigate it by sending a letter to the Dept. of Justice, who then authenticated it and confirmed that VA Secretary James Peake’s office knew about the Perez e-mail on April 7, 2008 – a full two weeks before our trial began, yet VA failed to provide it to our attorneys under discovery. Our attorneys then asked the judge to add the Perez e-mail to the body of evidence we introduced at trial. At a hearing earlier this month, the judge agreed with our attorneys, and the judge also admitted the entire Senate hearing transcript about the Perez e-mail into evidence – a victory for veterans. Sen. Akaka would know for sure, yet I believe he and his staff learned of the Perez e-mail from the press.
What is your view of these findings regarding the treatment of our veterans by the VA after these emails were discovered?
Nearly all VA employees are well-intended and want to assist veterans. I know this because I worked at VA and still know many VA employees. However, the system is overly complex, the system is overloaded, and the system is mired in a deep financial, leadership, and capacity crisis.
Compounding the problem is the disappointing fact that the current political appointees in Washington are incompetent at best, and malicious toward veterans at worst. This combination causes very serious adverse problems for VA, veterans, and families. The solution remains the obvious. VA needs an massive overhaul immediately.
VA needs new leaders, full mandatory funding, and significantly streamlined procedures so veterans can get fast and high-quality medical care and benefits. The situation is bad now, with 325,000 new and unplanned casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars flooding into VA hospitals and clinics, plus 288,000 unanticipated disability claims from recent war veterans. If the crisis is not addressed immediately with aggressive action, the current administration will be held responsible for crashing VA on the rocks.
Although VA had systemic problems in the 1990s and early 2000s, the situation spiraled out of control when Jim Nicholson became Secretary in early 2005. Nicholson, who had no experience with VA, healthcare, or disability claims, served as Karl Rove’s and Grover Norquist’s personal partisan wrecking ball to tear apart VA, bust up the unions, and privatize it. In the end, our only recourse was to file suit because veterans were literally completing suicide, yet VA leaders appeared oblivious to this life-or-death crisis.
In my view, we can learn the lessons from the Vietnam and Gulf wars, where many veterans with psychological trauma were neglected, and improve the situation. Or, we can take the current approach by VA: pinch pennies, bury your head in the sand, and leave the disaster to the next administration. The decision to fix VA was straightforward, yet the battle to fix VA is very hard.
Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/
I want to thank Paul for his time and for all he has done for the veterans in this country. Think about the numbers of veterans his actions will make a difference for. He doesn't want more families to have to bury another son or daughter because the VA just didn't have room for them when they needed their wounds to be treated. We've all read too many stories like Jonathan's and Jeffrey's, or Tim Bowman, or Joshua Omvig, along with the hundreds of others we found in the media. Far too much suffering that did not need to happen.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
U.S. SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR VETERAN'S CASE
U.S. SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR VETERAN'S CASE --
The Court will consider the extent to which the VA is liable
if it fails to adequately inform a veteran of the information
needed to process a benefits claim.
The notice of the veteran's case is in the second part of the story below.
The full petition can be downloaded or opened for reading here... http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2007/2pet/7pet/2007-1209.pet.aa.pdf
For more on this case, plug this into Google "Peake v. Sanders" using the quotes.
go here for more
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUN08/nf061708-1.htm
The Court will consider the extent to which the VA is liable
if it fails to adequately inform a veteran of the information
needed to process a benefits claim.
The notice of the veteran's case is in the second part of the story below.
The full petition can be downloaded or opened for reading here... http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2007/2pet/7pet/2007-1209.pet.aa.pdf
For more on this case, plug this into Google "Peake v. Sanders" using the quotes.
go here for more
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUN08/nf061708-1.htm
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
When it comes to PTSD help heal it or get out of the way!
One more case of "but"
Over 30 years ago, when people who got into this before I did, there was very little known about PTSD and it had just received that title because Vietnam Veterans fought for it. Five years later, I got into this because of my husband. By then a lot more was known. One of the things was that there were 500,000 with PTSD and this came from a study funded by the DAV. This study was published in 1978 before most of the people being quoted as "experts" today were even born. This is not a new illness. This is not a changing illness because humans are pretty much still made up of all the same parts of their original design.
At the NAMI convention in Orlando this weekend, we heard a lot about a lot of people suffering. A great deal of the people attending were consumers, otherwise known as patients and their families. They sat in the conference rooms right next to people who have working on helping them ranging from simple advocates like me all the way up to psychiatrists and psychologist. Why would people like us get together for 4 days of talking? Simply to provide understanding, knowledge and support to keep trying to fight for all of them. I heard a lot of heartbreak from some of the families dealing with PTSD in their own families.
Every time there was a denial of what is going on, people got up and walked out of the room. Frankly I was wondering why some of them were there are all at the head of the room instead of sitting in back and listening. No one is such an expert they have nothing to learn about this. This is why having conferences is so important for anyone living with or working in mental health needs to participate in events like this whenever and wherever possible.
Throughout the years I've come up on many articles trying to diminish the magnitude of the suffering. Whenever this happened the only question in my mind was focused on why anyone would try to do this instead of listening, learning and being quiet until they knew the answers.
While I post about medications taken totally out of the report I read, I never discuss medication when helping veterans other than to tell them they may need it, to stop self-medicating and to talk to their doctor if they feel like their medication is not working. I have very little to offer on this subject because I am not a doctor and I just don't have enough knowledge to know I am helping instead of harming with the limited knowledge I do have on this subject. In other words, a little knowledge can do a lot of harm so I keep my mouth shut on this and won't step over the line using guess work.
Why can't "experts" do the same when it comes to PTSD? If they are experts with other issues, then they should stay where they are, focus on what they know and stop pretending to be experts on what they know very little about. Why can't they except history for what it is and stop trying to stand in the way of new data drawn from history? The numbers from the Rand Study did not shock me or surprise me at all because all I had to do was pay attention in the first place to the data from Vietnam veterans to know the Rand Study is a lot closer to reality than the VA and DOD numbers are. One more thing jumping out from all of this is the fact the VA and the DAV are jumping around like their hair is on fire trying to cope with all of this. If the numbers are only about 30,000, they would be fully capable of dealing with them otherwise. They are not so inept that 30,000 would totally overwhelm them.
Just open your eyes and know what real is and what an illusion is. If you don't know what the hell you are talking about then go sit in the back of the room and open your ears as well as your mind. Otherwise, you are standing in the way of healing and that is not helping!
The following are in response to some of the things I heard during the conference which caused me to walk out of the room.
FACT: Dr. Katz did conceal the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides. The emails did not just suddenly show up on Senator Akaka's desk. The Katz emails were discovered because of the law suit brought about by Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth. The emails were what he sent because he was trying to cover up the data CBS found with their own research work. The emails were about harmful conditions attempting to be covered up after we already saw too many suicides.
FACT: Norma Perez email about not doing a diagnosis of PTSD, was what it was. No it was not a poor choice of words because of what she followed up this with and mentioned cost cutting and how they "didn't have time" to do a thorough diagnosis. This email did not suddenly show up but was discovered because of a Freedom Of Information Act filed by CREW and VoteVets.
While we are reading horrible stories about suicides and suffering of our troops and veterans, we would not be reading them if they were not happening. This is obvious! How could any of the service organizations be taking on the VA and the DOD if there were not problems that enabled them to be taken on? The DOD and the VA heads will defend everything they are doing no matter what harm is being done as long as they can get away with it. It's all as simple as that. If they were just simply mistaken on what they did, then why were they not willing to correct the harm done and leave it at that instead of defending what they did and their right to keep doing it?
Folks, this is really simple. If there is damage being done and no one is addressing it, the damage will continue and nothing will be fixed. We will keep reading more and more stories about suffering instead of less and less. This blog alone has over 2,000 posts on it and I doubt there are two hundred good stories on it. That's really sad when you consider that PTSD has been known for over 30 years and reported in humans since King David's time.
You can read more about NAMI here.
Military Update: Treating mental combat wounds
BY TOM PHILPOTT Daily Press
June 16, 2008
Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, alleged on Wednesday that Bush administration officials were continuing to downplay the mental trauma and brain injuries suffered by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Filner, D-Calif., said an April RAND Corp. study — "Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery" — justified a 10-fold jump in the U.S. casualty count, compared with the figure of 33,000 American dead and wounded used by the Pentagon.
RAND researchers extrapolated from a survey they conducted of 1,965 vets to conclude that nearly 300,000 service members and vets of Iraq and Afghanistan were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — PTSD — or major depression. Filner told the pair of researchers, who summarized their findings for his committee, that their work probably understated the problem.
"I personally think these are low estimates, just from my own studies," Filner said. "But if you take even the 300,000, (it's) 10 times the official casualty statistics from the Pentagon. Shouldn't this 300,000 be included?"
Lisa H. Jaycox, a senior behavioral scientist and clinical psychologist who co-directed the RAND study, embraced Filner's argument.
"Well, they are (suffering) an injury condition resulting from combat deployment, and so it's a different kind of casualty," Jaycox said, "but, yes, they are very important numbers."
The three-hour hearing also included testimony from retired Navy Rear Adm. Patrick W. Dunne, assistant secretary for policy and planning for the Veterans Benefits Administration.
At the same hearing, Michael L. Dominguez — principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness — said RAND gathered solid data from its survey but drew the wrong conclusions. The study, Dominguez said, "did not, and cannot, definitively say that there are 300,000 cases of clinically diagnosed cases" of PTSD or depression among vets who served in the two theaters.
Filner angrily interrupted him, telling Dominguez that RAND didn't say it showed 300,000 clinically diagnosed cases of PTSD or depression.
"It was an extrapolation to the possibility" of 300,000 cases, Filner said.
With more than 1.6 million U.S. service members having served in Iraq or Afghanistan, Dominguez said, a finding that 300,000 vets "have experienced some kind of mental health stress is very consistent with our data. And those people do need to be discovered (and) to get help."
go here for more
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/military/dp-local_milupdatenew_0616jun16,0,6743686.story
Over 30 years ago, when people who got into this before I did, there was very little known about PTSD and it had just received that title because Vietnam Veterans fought for it. Five years later, I got into this because of my husband. By then a lot more was known. One of the things was that there were 500,000 with PTSD and this came from a study funded by the DAV. This study was published in 1978 before most of the people being quoted as "experts" today were even born. This is not a new illness. This is not a changing illness because humans are pretty much still made up of all the same parts of their original design.
At the NAMI convention in Orlando this weekend, we heard a lot about a lot of people suffering. A great deal of the people attending were consumers, otherwise known as patients and their families. They sat in the conference rooms right next to people who have working on helping them ranging from simple advocates like me all the way up to psychiatrists and psychologist. Why would people like us get together for 4 days of talking? Simply to provide understanding, knowledge and support to keep trying to fight for all of them. I heard a lot of heartbreak from some of the families dealing with PTSD in their own families.
Every time there was a denial of what is going on, people got up and walked out of the room. Frankly I was wondering why some of them were there are all at the head of the room instead of sitting in back and listening. No one is such an expert they have nothing to learn about this. This is why having conferences is so important for anyone living with or working in mental health needs to participate in events like this whenever and wherever possible.
Throughout the years I've come up on many articles trying to diminish the magnitude of the suffering. Whenever this happened the only question in my mind was focused on why anyone would try to do this instead of listening, learning and being quiet until they knew the answers.
While I post about medications taken totally out of the report I read, I never discuss medication when helping veterans other than to tell them they may need it, to stop self-medicating and to talk to their doctor if they feel like their medication is not working. I have very little to offer on this subject because I am not a doctor and I just don't have enough knowledge to know I am helping instead of harming with the limited knowledge I do have on this subject. In other words, a little knowledge can do a lot of harm so I keep my mouth shut on this and won't step over the line using guess work.
Why can't "experts" do the same when it comes to PTSD? If they are experts with other issues, then they should stay where they are, focus on what they know and stop pretending to be experts on what they know very little about. Why can't they except history for what it is and stop trying to stand in the way of new data drawn from history? The numbers from the Rand Study did not shock me or surprise me at all because all I had to do was pay attention in the first place to the data from Vietnam veterans to know the Rand Study is a lot closer to reality than the VA and DOD numbers are. One more thing jumping out from all of this is the fact the VA and the DAV are jumping around like their hair is on fire trying to cope with all of this. If the numbers are only about 30,000, they would be fully capable of dealing with them otherwise. They are not so inept that 30,000 would totally overwhelm them.
Just open your eyes and know what real is and what an illusion is. If you don't know what the hell you are talking about then go sit in the back of the room and open your ears as well as your mind. Otherwise, you are standing in the way of healing and that is not helping!
The following are in response to some of the things I heard during the conference which caused me to walk out of the room.
FACT: Dr. Katz did conceal the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides. The emails did not just suddenly show up on Senator Akaka's desk. The Katz emails were discovered because of the law suit brought about by Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth. The emails were what he sent because he was trying to cover up the data CBS found with their own research work. The emails were about harmful conditions attempting to be covered up after we already saw too many suicides.
FACT: Norma Perez email about not doing a diagnosis of PTSD, was what it was. No it was not a poor choice of words because of what she followed up this with and mentioned cost cutting and how they "didn't have time" to do a thorough diagnosis. This email did not suddenly show up but was discovered because of a Freedom Of Information Act filed by CREW and VoteVets.
While we are reading horrible stories about suicides and suffering of our troops and veterans, we would not be reading them if they were not happening. This is obvious! How could any of the service organizations be taking on the VA and the DOD if there were not problems that enabled them to be taken on? The DOD and the VA heads will defend everything they are doing no matter what harm is being done as long as they can get away with it. It's all as simple as that. If they were just simply mistaken on what they did, then why were they not willing to correct the harm done and leave it at that instead of defending what they did and their right to keep doing it?
Folks, this is really simple. If there is damage being done and no one is addressing it, the damage will continue and nothing will be fixed. We will keep reading more and more stories about suffering instead of less and less. This blog alone has over 2,000 posts on it and I doubt there are two hundred good stories on it. That's really sad when you consider that PTSD has been known for over 30 years and reported in humans since King David's time.
You can read more about NAMI here.
NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness
The mission of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is "to eradicate mental illness and improve the quality of life
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Perez emails shows VA care depends on where you go
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:25:01 GMTE
SF: JUDGE ACCEPTS CONTROVERSIAL E-MAIL AS EVIDENCE IN VETERANS CASE
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A federal judge who is overseeing a case challenging mental health care for veterans accepted a controversial e-mail by government psychologist into evidence at a hearing in San Francisco today.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said, "This hearing is unique" because he reopened the case after the conclusion of a two-week trial in April and May on a lawsuit filed by two veterans' groups.
Conti accepted into evidence both the e-mail written by psychologist Norma Perez and the transcript of a June 4 U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the message.
Perez is the coordinator of a post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, team at a regional veterans' medical center in Texas.
Her March 22 e-mail appears instruct staff members to avoid diagnosing PTSD in returning vets because of the cost and instead to diagnose a less expensive adjustment disorder.
The e-mail says, "Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, ruling out PTSD."
U.S. Justice Department attorney Daniel Bensing told Conti today that officials of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have repudiated the e-mail. He said the "unfortunate wording" has been clarified.
Heather Moser, a lawyer for Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, argued that the message supports the two groups' claim that the veterans' agency isn't able to enforce its policies on the local level.
"The people who suffer at the end of the day are the veterans," she told the judge.
The veterans' groups are seeking court orders barring the agency from denying needed mental health care to veterans and requiring the agency to act in a timely way on medical claims.
Conti said he plans to rule on the case soon.
http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=VETERANS-CASE-EVIDENCE
What happened to rules that apply all over? They served one nation but it looks as if when it comes to them needing us, it all depends on where you live. What a shame this is!
SF: JUDGE ACCEPTS CONTROVERSIAL E-MAIL AS EVIDENCE IN VETERANS CASE
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A federal judge who is overseeing a case challenging mental health care for veterans accepted a controversial e-mail by government psychologist into evidence at a hearing in San Francisco today.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said, "This hearing is unique" because he reopened the case after the conclusion of a two-week trial in April and May on a lawsuit filed by two veterans' groups.
Conti accepted into evidence both the e-mail written by psychologist Norma Perez and the transcript of a June 4 U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the message.
Perez is the coordinator of a post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, team at a regional veterans' medical center in Texas.
Her March 22 e-mail appears instruct staff members to avoid diagnosing PTSD in returning vets because of the cost and instead to diagnose a less expensive adjustment disorder.
The e-mail says, "Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, ruling out PTSD."
U.S. Justice Department attorney Daniel Bensing told Conti today that officials of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have repudiated the e-mail. He said the "unfortunate wording" has been clarified.
Heather Moser, a lawyer for Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, argued that the message supports the two groups' claim that the veterans' agency isn't able to enforce its policies on the local level.
"The people who suffer at the end of the day are the veterans," she told the judge.
The veterans' groups are seeking court orders barring the agency from denying needed mental health care to veterans and requiring the agency to act in a timely way on medical claims.
Conti said he plans to rule on the case soon.
http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=VETERANS-CASE-EVIDENCE
What happened to rules that apply all over? They served one nation but it looks as if when it comes to them needing us, it all depends on where you live. What a shame this is!
Veteran's Administration cover up of PTSD
Veteran's Administration cover up of PTSD
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:58 PM
By Vic Lee
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KGO) -- There is new evidence suggesting the Veteran's Administration is covering-up sub-standard mental health care given to vets. There's evidence a federal judge in San Francisco accepted on Tuesday, even though the case has already been tried.
There was email was written in March by Norma Perez, Ph.D., a V.A. psychologist who coordinates post-traumatic stress disorder cases.
She wrote, "Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder."
The email was discovered by accident through a Freedom of Information request by a veterans group.
"It is a very damning email. Cut off the money, disguise them with adjustment disorders so they don't get V.A. benefits," said Gordon Erspamer, a Veterans Groups' Lawyer.
Attorneys for Veteran's groups suing the V.A. say the email supports their case that the dept has failed to diagnose and treat PTSD and other mental health problems.
Their lawsuit asks the court to force the V.A. to treat veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide.
The V.A. says the email's author admits it was poorly worded and has no bearing on the lawsuit.
"I think she made it clear she had mistakes. The secretary has disciplined her and also said she doesn't reflect any V.A. policies," said Kerri Childress, a Veterans Administration spokesperson.
This is the second email that the veterans say the V.A. has tried to conceal from the public.
go here for more
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6197910
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:58 PM
By Vic Lee
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KGO) -- There is new evidence suggesting the Veteran's Administration is covering-up sub-standard mental health care given to vets. There's evidence a federal judge in San Francisco accepted on Tuesday, even though the case has already been tried.
There was email was written in March by Norma Perez, Ph.D., a V.A. psychologist who coordinates post-traumatic stress disorder cases.
She wrote, "Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of adjustment disorder."
The email was discovered by accident through a Freedom of Information request by a veterans group.
"It is a very damning email. Cut off the money, disguise them with adjustment disorders so they don't get V.A. benefits," said Gordon Erspamer, a Veterans Groups' Lawyer.
Attorneys for Veteran's groups suing the V.A. say the email supports their case that the dept has failed to diagnose and treat PTSD and other mental health problems.
Their lawsuit asks the court to force the V.A. to treat veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide.
The V.A. says the email's author admits it was poorly worded and has no bearing on the lawsuit.
"I think she made it clear she had mistakes. The secretary has disciplined her and also said she doesn't reflect any V.A. policies," said Kerri Childress, a Veterans Administration spokesperson.
This is the second email that the veterans say the V.A. has tried to conceal from the public.
go here for more
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6197910
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Veterans Groups Win Round In Federal Court in Lawsuit Against VA
Veterans Groups Win Round In Federal Court in Lawsuit Against VA
By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Favoured : None
Published in : Law
A federal court judge sided with two veterans advocacy groups suing the Veterans Administration Tuesday, agreeing to add to evidence an explosive email written by a VA official that suggested counselors consider diagnosing war veterans who show signs of post traumatic stress disorder with a less serious condition.
Two veterans advocacy groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, sued the VA last year for allegedly failing to provide treatment to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from PTSD.
The groups want a judge to issue a preliminary injunction to force the VA to immediately treat veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide. Attorneys representing both organizations asked the judge to reopen their case and consider admitting Perez’s email into evidence after another veterans group publicly disclosed it last month.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti ordered Justice Department attorneys defending the VA to appear in court Tuesday for a hearing to explain the contents of the email and whether it should be admitted into evidence. Conti said, “The email raises potentially serious questions that may warrant further attention."
Justice Department attorney James Schwartz sent a letter to Conti last Wednesday saying the email has no bearing on the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. Schwartz said the email was an isolated incident and in no way reflected VA policy. He added that Perez had been “counseled.”
On Tuesday, Scwartz told Conti that the VA’s inspector general had launched an investigation into the matter. He added that Perez was disciplined and in no way did she intend to imply that the VA sought to cut costs by diagnosing veterans suffering with PTSD with the less serious diagnosis of “adjustment disorder.”
"It was an honest mistake by a junior staff member," Bensing told the judge. "There really is nothing more to this matter. We submit that it should have no effect on this case."
Conti was not swayed. He admitted the document into evidence, which is expected to have an impact on his ruling.
“The Court’s ruling is an important victory for veterans," Veterans for Common Sense said in a statement Tuesday. "The ruling adds critical new evidence the judge will review as part of our lawsuit against VA on behalf of all veterans. VA’s anti-PTSD e-mail is a shocking example of how serious the problems are within VA. When combined, the e-mail and the evidence presented at trial clearly demonstrate a systemic failure by VA to provide prompt and high-quality mental healthcare to our Nation's veterans suffering from PTSD.”
The March 20 email was written by Norma Perez, a VA psychologist and the coordinator of a post-traumatic stress disorder clinical team in Temple, Texas.
"Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out," Perez’s email says. "We really don't or have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."
click post title for more
By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Favoured : None
Published in : Law
A federal court judge sided with two veterans advocacy groups suing the Veterans Administration Tuesday, agreeing to add to evidence an explosive email written by a VA official that suggested counselors consider diagnosing war veterans who show signs of post traumatic stress disorder with a less serious condition.
Two veterans advocacy groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, sued the VA last year for allegedly failing to provide treatment to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from PTSD.
The groups want a judge to issue a preliminary injunction to force the VA to immediately treat veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide. Attorneys representing both organizations asked the judge to reopen their case and consider admitting Perez’s email into evidence after another veterans group publicly disclosed it last month.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti ordered Justice Department attorneys defending the VA to appear in court Tuesday for a hearing to explain the contents of the email and whether it should be admitted into evidence. Conti said, “The email raises potentially serious questions that may warrant further attention."
Justice Department attorney James Schwartz sent a letter to Conti last Wednesday saying the email has no bearing on the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. Schwartz said the email was an isolated incident and in no way reflected VA policy. He added that Perez had been “counseled.”
On Tuesday, Scwartz told Conti that the VA’s inspector general had launched an investigation into the matter. He added that Perez was disciplined and in no way did she intend to imply that the VA sought to cut costs by diagnosing veterans suffering with PTSD with the less serious diagnosis of “adjustment disorder.”
"It was an honest mistake by a junior staff member," Bensing told the judge. "There really is nothing more to this matter. We submit that it should have no effect on this case."
Conti was not swayed. He admitted the document into evidence, which is expected to have an impact on his ruling.
“The Court’s ruling is an important victory for veterans," Veterans for Common Sense said in a statement Tuesday. "The ruling adds critical new evidence the judge will review as part of our lawsuit against VA on behalf of all veterans. VA’s anti-PTSD e-mail is a shocking example of how serious the problems are within VA. When combined, the e-mail and the evidence presented at trial clearly demonstrate a systemic failure by VA to provide prompt and high-quality mental healthcare to our Nation's veterans suffering from PTSD.”
The March 20 email was written by Norma Perez, a VA psychologist and the coordinator of a post-traumatic stress disorder clinical team in Temple, Texas.
"Given that we are having more and more compensation-seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out," Perez’s email says. "We really don't or have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."
click post title for more
Judge orders VA back to court over email
The Department of Veterans Affairs was ordered back into U.S. District Court today to explain why they failed to provide the Court with critical documents that reveal a systemic pattern and practice of discouraging diagnoses and disability benefits for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The judge added the VA’s anti-PTSD e-mail to the evidence he will consider for the trial that ended on April 30, 2008.
In response to the Court’s decision, Veterans for Common Sense issued this statement: “The Court’s ruling is an important victory for veterans. The ruling adds critical new evidence the judge will review as part of our lawsuit against VA on behalf of all veterans. VA’s anti-PTSD e-mail is a shocking example of how serious the problems are within VA. When combined, the e-mail and the evidence presented at trial clearly demonstrate a systemic failure by VA to provide prompt and high-quality mental healthcare to our Nation's veterans suffering from PTSD.”
Please read Associated Press news article: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10339
The AP reports that the Court is expected to make a ruling soon on the case.
In response to the Court’s decision, Veterans for Common Sense issued this statement: “The Court’s ruling is an important victory for veterans. The ruling adds critical new evidence the judge will review as part of our lawsuit against VA on behalf of all veterans. VA’s anti-PTSD e-mail is a shocking example of how serious the problems are within VA. When combined, the e-mail and the evidence presented at trial clearly demonstrate a systemic failure by VA to provide prompt and high-quality mental healthcare to our Nation's veterans suffering from PTSD.”
Please read Associated Press news article: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10339
The AP reports that the Court is expected to make a ruling soon on the case.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
VA Law Suit Update, Judge orders hearing over Perez email
June 8, Lawsuit Update:
VCS & VUFT Case Mentioned in NY Times
Daniel Frosch
New York Times
Jun 07, 2008
June 7, 2008 - A federal judge presiding over a lawsuit alleging mistreatment of veterans has ordered a hearing regarding new evidence in the case.
The judge, Samuel Conti of Federal District Court in San Francisco, ordered the hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, after the emergence of an internal e-mail message that appears to urge Veterans Affairs clinicians to avoid making a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder to save money.
The message was written by a V.A. psychologist in Texas, but it did not surface until after the trial concluded in April, prompting the plaintiffs to request that the case be reopened. “It’s part of a systemic pattern where there’s a divergence between the pristine world of the V.A.’s central office and what goes on around the country,” said Gordon Erspamer, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
On Wednesday, a lawyer with the Justice Department wrote to Judge Conti contending that the e-mail message in question did not represent V.A.-wide practice or policy. Also on Wednesday, Norma Perez, the psychologist who wrote the message, told members of Congress that it was poorly worded and was meant only to suggest diagnostic options for doctors. The lawsuit was filed last year by veterans’ groups.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10328
Anyone who thinks this is a bad idea had better reconsider. This is what they have been hiding as the suicide rate and attempted suicide rate goes up in the VA and the DOD.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Bush Goes to Court to Deny Mental Care for Veterans
Apr. 28, VCS Lawsuit in the News: Bush Goes to Court to Deny Mental Care for Veterans
Peter Collorafi
American Chronicle
Apr 28, 2008
April 25, 2008 - A wise President, who was also a veteran of multiple wars, once said: "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they preceive the veterans of earlier wars were Treated and Appreciated by their nation."
The issue of veterans affairs has seen an upsurge of interest in the past few weeks, as Dr. Ira Katz, an official in the Veteran's Affairs Department, is coming under fire from Congress, after giving misleading information to a CBS reporter, who was researching for a story about sucide rates among veterans.
During an interview given in November for the original CBS story, Dr. Katz told reporter Armen Keteyian that "There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem." When pressed for an answer to explain the VA's inability to come up with any suicide statistics among veterans, Katz replied "That research is ongoing."
However, "After a public records request, the VA provided CBS News with data that showed there were a total of 790 attempted suicides by VA patients in the entire year of 2007." This number does not match up at all with a private email sent by Dr. Katz to a colleague in which he states that the VA has identified "about 1000 suicide attempts a month in patients we see at are medical facilities," a far cry from his public estimate of 790 a year.
Compared with the number of suicide attempts, the number of actual suicides is monstrous in comparision. CBS news identified a total of 6,256 suicides in 2005 among veterans of the "war on terror" [VCS Note: this should read 6,256 suicides among all veterans], double the national average, although that number does not include the 5 states who refused to provide their suicide statistics for the CBS report.
As he did with the statistics for attempted suicides, Dr. Katz again played a two-faced persona. Katz declared that the "number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate."
Nevertheless, Dr. Katz told colleagues in another private email that "There are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans," and "4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us [the VA]." Katz goes on to add that his figures are ironically "supported by the CBS numbers," which he disparaged previously in public.
In his later email titled "Shh!" Dr. Katz asks colleagues if the suicide statistics should be buried by dropping them into "a general release about our suicide prevention efforts," "before somebody stumbles onto them."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm/page/article/id/9953
Peter Collorafi
American Chronicle
Apr 28, 2008
April 25, 2008 - A wise President, who was also a veteran of multiple wars, once said: "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they preceive the veterans of earlier wars were Treated and Appreciated by their nation."
The issue of veterans affairs has seen an upsurge of interest in the past few weeks, as Dr. Ira Katz, an official in the Veteran's Affairs Department, is coming under fire from Congress, after giving misleading information to a CBS reporter, who was researching for a story about sucide rates among veterans.
During an interview given in November for the original CBS story, Dr. Katz told reporter Armen Keteyian that "There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem." When pressed for an answer to explain the VA's inability to come up with any suicide statistics among veterans, Katz replied "That research is ongoing."
However, "After a public records request, the VA provided CBS News with data that showed there were a total of 790 attempted suicides by VA patients in the entire year of 2007." This number does not match up at all with a private email sent by Dr. Katz to a colleague in which he states that the VA has identified "about 1000 suicide attempts a month in patients we see at are medical facilities," a far cry from his public estimate of 790 a year.
Compared with the number of suicide attempts, the number of actual suicides is monstrous in comparision. CBS news identified a total of 6,256 suicides in 2005 among veterans of the "war on terror" [VCS Note: this should read 6,256 suicides among all veterans], double the national average, although that number does not include the 5 states who refused to provide their suicide statistics for the CBS report.
As he did with the statistics for attempted suicides, Dr. Katz again played a two-faced persona. Katz declared that the "number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate."
Nevertheless, Dr. Katz told colleagues in another private email that "There are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans," and "4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us [the VA]." Katz goes on to add that his figures are ironically "supported by the CBS numbers," which he disparaged previously in public.
In his later email titled "Shh!" Dr. Katz asks colleagues if the suicide statistics should be buried by dropping them into "a general release about our suicide prevention efforts," "before somebody stumbles onto them."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm/page/article/id/9953
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Why didn't Keith Olbermann interview Paul Sullivan?
Supporting the troops Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2008 8:23 PM by Countdown
Paul Rieckhoff, the Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America who joined us on Countdown tonight, has compiled a comprehensive website devoted to the new GI Bill.
I just posted this on Countdown's site.
I can't believe I was disappointed in a Countdown show. When Keith interviewed Paul Rieckhoff, he interviewed the wrong Paul. Paul Sullivan of Veterans For Common Sense, is the one behind the law suit against the VA. He's been working on this longer than Rieckhoff has. While I do admire Rieckhoff and applaud him, there is an important voice in all of this that is not getting the same attention. I would love to see Paul Sullivan address his work for the veterans. Sullivan worked for the VA and he knows how it works as well as how it is supposed to work. Had it not been for his efforts, we would not know how despicable the heads of the VA have been in hiding data instead of doing the right thing.
I love Olbermann and have since he began his show. I think it's fresh, honest, intelligent and humorous. I absolutely love Oddball. That said, I am disappointed that Rieckhoff seems to be the only one getting the attention working on veteran's issues. There are many important voices in all of this and Paul Sullivan is one of them. I don't think he's receiving a tenth of the publicity he should be getting while he spends countless hours working on behalf of all veterans. Sullivan is tenacious, passionate and a powerhouse! In all the years I've been doing this, there have been very few who come close to his dedication. While watching the show, I got angry that he was not the one interviewed at the time the law suit against the VA has provided the people of this country a clearer view of what has been going on behind the veterans backs by the same department that is supposed to be taking care of them. While people like me have been aware of how bad it is for veterans, average Americans, while they clearly care, are not about to invest this many hours researching any of this. They rely on the mainstream media to provide them with the facts. Sullivan's voice has to be added to all of this or the media, once again, does a disservice to the viewers.
By Paul Sakuma, AP
Execuitive Director of Veterans for Common Sense Paul Sullivan is part of a class-action lawsuit filed Monday against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that is struggling to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from the wars abroad.
Lawsuit says VA mishandled claimsBy Laura Parker, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A coalition of disabled Iraq war veterans sued the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday, accusing the VA of illegally denying or delaying claims for disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit names Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, among others, and asks for sweeping changes in the way the federal government handles claims of more than 1.6 million veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.go here for more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-23-iraq-vets_N.htm
Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Law suit message to VA "you can't treat them like crap" after this again
Attorney leading suit a veteran in battling VA
C.W. Nevius
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Gordon Erspamer, the attorney who brought the lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs that went to trial this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is a big, unresponsive government agency's worst nightmare.
He's a rainmaker attorney for a major firm in the city who has set aside time to take legal action that doesn't earn a penny. And besides that, he's got a compelling and personal back story and a chip on his shoulder to prove it.
Erspamer's cause since the late '70s has been the rights of armed forces veterans, and this week's trial has the VA squirming over a shocking rate of suicides among vets and has captured the national spotlight.
The trial led the CBS Evening News this week, and Erspamer says he's getting thousands of e-mails and calls from veterans and media outlets.
Five years ago, he admits, the American public probably couldn't have told you what post-traumatic stress disorder was. Now they are not only aware of the number of vets who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD - Erspamer estimates it will be one-third of the 1.7 million who served - but they are ready to look critically at how they've been treated.
"If you add up the veterans' suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and compare it to the total combat deaths, the veteran suicides are higher," says Erspamer, who introduced a VA e-mail at the trial that showed an average of 18 vets a day are committing suicide. "The VA doesn't want that out."
Erspamer is working the case pro bono with the support of his employer, the high-powered international law firm Morrison & Foerster. This isn't his area of interest. He's a well-regarded partner in the firm who is considered an expert in energy litigation.
But although the case has already taken him away from his regular practice for almost four months, Erspamer says this is only the beginning of the journey.
"I have no doubt in my mind that this will go to the Supreme Court," he said in an interview this week. "But this is not only legally correct, it is morally correct. For me, this is personal."
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/24/BA3K10AIB1.DTL
C.W. Nevius
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Gordon Erspamer, the attorney who brought the lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs that went to trial this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is a big, unresponsive government agency's worst nightmare.
He's a rainmaker attorney for a major firm in the city who has set aside time to take legal action that doesn't earn a penny. And besides that, he's got a compelling and personal back story and a chip on his shoulder to prove it.
Erspamer's cause since the late '70s has been the rights of armed forces veterans, and this week's trial has the VA squirming over a shocking rate of suicides among vets and has captured the national spotlight.
The trial led the CBS Evening News this week, and Erspamer says he's getting thousands of e-mails and calls from veterans and media outlets.
Five years ago, he admits, the American public probably couldn't have told you what post-traumatic stress disorder was. Now they are not only aware of the number of vets who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD - Erspamer estimates it will be one-third of the 1.7 million who served - but they are ready to look critically at how they've been treated.
"If you add up the veterans' suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and compare it to the total combat deaths, the veteran suicides are higher," says Erspamer, who introduced a VA e-mail at the trial that showed an average of 18 vets a day are committing suicide. "The VA doesn't want that out."
Erspamer is working the case pro bono with the support of his employer, the high-powered international law firm Morrison & Foerster. This isn't his area of interest. He's a well-regarded partner in the firm who is considered an expert in energy litigation.
But although the case has already taken him away from his regular practice for almost four months, Erspamer says this is only the beginning of the journey.
"I have no doubt in my mind that this will go to the Supreme Court," he said in an interview this week. "But this is not only legally correct, it is morally correct. For me, this is personal."
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/24/BA3K10AIB1.DTL
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
VA faulted in diagnosing suicide candidates
VA faulted in diagnosing suicide candidates
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Former soldiers are killing themselves at three to seven times the rate of the general population and the Department of Veterans Affairs is failing to diagnose or treat them effectively, a suicide expert testified Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the VA's mental health system.
Department personnel aren't asking enough questions to determine whether veterans are suicidal, aren't sharing information about suicide risks with the VA's network of hospitals and clinics and aren't implementing their own plans to improve the system, Ronald Maris, a University of South Carolina sociology professor, told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti in San Francisco.
A majority of the VA's counselors, doctors, social workers and psychologists "don't have the tools and the information that they need to intervene effectively with suicidal vets," said Maris, a former president of the American Association of Suicidology who has been a consultant to the Army on suicide prevention.
He was particularly critical of the VA's top health care administrator, William Feeley, who said in a pretrial deposition April 9 that the agency has no systematic national plan for suicide prevention. Feeley also said he was unaware of any methods of tracking veterans at risk of suicide and that suicide rates "are not a metric we are measuring."
"I would say he was singularly uninformed about suicide," Maris said.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/23/BADL10A15L.DTL
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Former soldiers are killing themselves at three to seven times the rate of the general population and the Department of Veterans Affairs is failing to diagnose or treat them effectively, a suicide expert testified Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the VA's mental health system.
Department personnel aren't asking enough questions to determine whether veterans are suicidal, aren't sharing information about suicide risks with the VA's network of hospitals and clinics and aren't implementing their own plans to improve the system, Ronald Maris, a University of South Carolina sociology professor, told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti in San Francisco.
A majority of the VA's counselors, doctors, social workers and psychologists "don't have the tools and the information that they need to intervene effectively with suicidal vets," said Maris, a former president of the American Association of Suicidology who has been a consultant to the Army on suicide prevention.
He was particularly critical of the VA's top health care administrator, William Feeley, who said in a pretrial deposition April 9 that the agency has no systematic national plan for suicide prevention. Feeley also said he was unaware of any methods of tracking veterans at risk of suicide and that suicide rates "are not a metric we are measuring."
"I would say he was singularly uninformed about suicide," Maris said.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/23/BADL10A15L.DTL
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
VA stalling on care, judge told at S.F. trial
VA stalling on care, judge told at S.F. trial
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
(04-21) 17:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge Monday in San Francisco.
The rights of hundreds of thousands of veterans are being violated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, "an agency that is in denial," and by a government health care system and appeals process for patients that is "broken down," Gordon Erspamer, lawyer for two advocacy groups, said in an opening statement at the trial of a nationwide lawsuit.
He said veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 a day - a number acknowledged by a VA official in a Dec. 15 e-mail - and the agency's backlog of disability claims now exceeds 650,000, an increase of 200,000 since the Iraq war started in 2003.
Justice Department lawyer Richard Lepley countered that the VA runs a "world-class health care system." He said the changes the plaintiffs seek in their lawsuit - better and faster mental health care, and more rights for veterans appealing denials of benefits - are beyond the judge's authority.
"Of course we're obliged to provide health care," Lepley said, but "the court does not have standards to determine the speed or the scope or the level of that care."
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti is presiding over the nonjury trial, scheduled to last two weeks. Conti, a conservative jurist and World War II veteran appointed to the bench by former President Richard Nixon, ruled in January that the case could go to trial. In doing so, he rejected the government's argument that civil courts have no authority over the VA's medical decisions or how it handles grievances.
If the advocates can prove their claims, Conti said in his ruling, they would show that "thousands of veterans, if not more, are suffering grievous injuries as the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care."
He also ruled that veterans are legally entitled to five years of government-provided health care after leaving the service, despite federal officials' argument that they are required to provide only as much care as the VA's budget allows in a given year.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/22/MNQK109AA7.DTL
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
(04-21) 17:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge Monday in San Francisco.
The rights of hundreds of thousands of veterans are being violated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, "an agency that is in denial," and by a government health care system and appeals process for patients that is "broken down," Gordon Erspamer, lawyer for two advocacy groups, said in an opening statement at the trial of a nationwide lawsuit.
He said veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 a day - a number acknowledged by a VA official in a Dec. 15 e-mail - and the agency's backlog of disability claims now exceeds 650,000, an increase of 200,000 since the Iraq war started in 2003.
Justice Department lawyer Richard Lepley countered that the VA runs a "world-class health care system." He said the changes the plaintiffs seek in their lawsuit - better and faster mental health care, and more rights for veterans appealing denials of benefits - are beyond the judge's authority.
"Of course we're obliged to provide health care," Lepley said, but "the court does not have standards to determine the speed or the scope or the level of that care."
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti is presiding over the nonjury trial, scheduled to last two weeks. Conti, a conservative jurist and World War II veteran appointed to the bench by former President Richard Nixon, ruled in January that the case could go to trial. In doing so, he rejected the government's argument that civil courts have no authority over the VA's medical decisions or how it handles grievances.
If the advocates can prove their claims, Conti said in his ruling, they would show that "thousands of veterans, if not more, are suffering grievous injuries as the result of their inability to procure desperately needed and obviously deserved health care."
He also ruled that veterans are legally entitled to five years of government-provided health care after leaving the service, despite federal officials' argument that they are required to provide only as much care as the VA's budget allows in a given year.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/22/MNQK109AA7.DTL
Murray seeks resignation of top VA mental health official
Murray seeks resignation of top VA mental health official
By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
(04-22) 15:19 PDT Washington, CA (AP) --
A Democratic senator on Tuesday called for the chief mental health official of the Department of Veterans Affairs to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, deliberately withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans.
"Doctor Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go," said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."
Murray and other Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco this week starts with "Shh!" and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment.
"Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" the e-mail asks.
A VA spokesman declined immediate comment Tuesday.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/22/national/w151156D02.DTL
By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
(04-22) 15:19 PDT Washington, CA (AP) --
A Democratic senator on Tuesday called for the chief mental health official of the Department of Veterans Affairs to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, deliberately withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans.
"Doctor Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go," said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."
Murray and other Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco this week starts with "Shh!" and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment.
"Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" the e-mail asks.
A VA spokesman declined immediate comment Tuesday.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/22/national/w151156D02.DTL
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