Veterans are denied mental health help

[babylonsister]

DAMMIT, what is this country doing to these soldiers? In our name?? :argh:

Veterans are denied mental health help
By Philip Dine
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
10/21/2007

WASHINGTON — After two combat tours in Iraq on a "quick reaction team" that picked up body parts after suicide bombings, Donald Schmidt began suffering from nightmares and paranoia. Then he had a nervous breakdown.

The military discharged Schmidt last Oct. 31 for problems they said resulted not from post-traumatic stress disorder but rather from a personality disorder that pre-dated his military service.

Schmidt's mother, Patrice Semtner-Myers, says her son was told that if he agreed to leave the Army he'd get full benefits. Earlier this month, however, they got a bill in the mail from a collection agency working for the government, demanding that he repay his re-enlistment bonus, plus interest — $14,597.72.

Schmidt, 23, who lives near Peoria, Ill., is one of more than 22,000 service members the military has discharged in recent years for "pre-existing personality disorders" it says were missed when they signed up.

"They used these guys up, and now they're done with them and they're throwing them away," Semtner-Myers said.

more...

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/washington/story/A4781B1563BC2E448625737A0011D862?OpenDocument

[Deja Q]

1. Given the conditions necessary for enlistment, the mentally ill are typically disqualified.

Something definitely seems amiss.

[jody]

2. Obama is on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, what has he done to solve this problem? n/t

[otherlander]

7. Good question.

[babylonsister]

8. From his Senate website:

I don't know what happened to this soldier; slipped through the cracks? And how many others are just like him?

http://obama.senate.gov/issues/veterans/

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Senator Obama fought a VA proposal that would have required a reexamination of all Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases in which full benefits were granted. He and Senator Durbin passed an amendment that became law preventing the VA from conducting a review of cases, without first providing Congress with a complete report regarding the implementation of such review. In November 2005, the VA announced that it was abandoning its planned review.

Senator Obama passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). TBI is being called the signature injury of the Iraq war. The blast from improvised explosive devices can jar the brain, causing bruising or permanent damage. Concussions can have huge health effects including slowed thinking, headaches, memory loss, sleep disturbance, attention and concentration deficits, and irritability.

[jody]

9. That's pure BS. Obama has the position on the committee to fight for veterans' rights and he has

done nothing.

[babylonsister]

10. Don't let your dislike cloud your judgment; that came from the Senate

website; do you think it's wrong? Oh, and then there's this, which I bet you could have found if you googled as I did. So he is doing 'something'.

The Associated Press
VA: 10 patients died under care of former surgeon at IL hospital

By Jim Suhr, Associated Press Writer | October 19, 2007

Ten patients died under the care of an embattled surgeon during the roughly 20 months he worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital in southern Illinois, according to a letter released Friday.

But Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, who received the letter, said they're not satisfied with the department's response to pointed questions about how the agency handled a background check before hiring Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez at the Marion, Ill., VA hospital.

The senators also are concerned about the overall quality of care veterans receive at the hospital and perhaps elsewhere in the VA system.

The department's unfolding probe of Veizaga-Mendez and federal patient privacy laws precluded the release of details about the deaths, Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Gordon Mansfield told the senators in the letter dated Oct. 12 and released Friday by Durbin.

Durbin said last month VA officials told him nine veterans -- all in some way linked to Veizaga-Mendez -- died at the hospital during a six-month period ending in March, during which the hospital would have expected only two deaths.

more...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/10/19/va_10_patients_died_under_care_of_former_surgeon_at_il_hospital/

[jody]

11. Please show me one bill that Obama has introduced that would solve the problems veterans have with

getting mental health care.

Don't let your blind worship of Obama cloud your recognition that he has done nothing to help veterans.

[babylonsister]

12. I'm not even sure who I'm supporting, so there is no blind worship here.

You either can accept he's done things to help vets, or you don't. And I see where you're going with that.

Veterans

As a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama is committed to helping the heroes who defend our nation today and the veterans who fought in years past.
Benefits Disparities

Illinois has a large proportion of aging veterans. Unfortunately, Illinois ranked 50 out of 53 states and territories in disability benefits for at least 20 years. In light of this troubling reality, Senator Obama led efforts to uncover the reasons for this disparity and correct it. As a result of his involvement, the VA has increased the number of claims reviewers in the Chicago office, providing for a faster processing of claims. The VA has also increased training to ensure more consistent decisions. Senator Obama has worked with Senator Durbin to require the VA to provide veterans in six states, including Illinois, with notification of their rights to appeal any benefit decisions. As a result of these appeals, Illinois veterans are starting to see larger benefit checks.

The Bush Administration’s approach to handling veterans’ health care ignores the reality of increasing demands on the VA, and the additional burden placed on veterans. The Administration has established a means test for VA health care eligibility, and it has banned hundreds of thousands of veterans – some who make as little as $30,000 a year – from enrolling in the system. These changes affect both older and younger veterans, and Senator Obama has opposed them, fighting instead for greater funding for veterans’ health care.
Greater Funding for Veterans Health Care

As early as February 2005, Senator Obama warned of a shortfall in the VA budget. Four months later, the VA reported that in fact it had more than a $1 billion shortfall. Senator Obama cosponsored a bill that led to a $1.5 billion increase in veterans' medical care. During the debate on the Fiscal Year 2007 budget, Senator Obama cosponsored measures that would have provided additional funding increases for veterans.

In January 2007, Senator Obama reintroduced the Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act to improve the VA’s planning process to avoid budget shortfalls in the future. The bill requires the VA and the Department of Defense to work together and share data so that we know precisely how many troops will be returning home and entering the VA system.
Homeless Veterans

Every year, 400,000 veterans across the country, including an estimated 38,000 in Chicago, spend some time living on the streets. Senator Obama has been a leader in fighting homelessness among veterans. He authored the Sheltering All Veterans Everywhere Act (SAVE Act) to strengthen and expand federal homeless veteran programs that serve over 100,000 homeless veterans annually. During the debate on the Fiscal Year 2007 budget, Senator Obama passed an amendment to increase funding for homeless veterans programs by $40 million. These funds would benefit programs that provide food, clothing, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and employment and housing assistance to homeless veterans.

Working with Senators Akaka and Craig, Senator Obama passed legislation in December 2006 to provide comprehensive services and affordable housing options to veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development and nonprofit organizations. This legislation was signed into law and is modeled on parts of the SAVE Act and the Homes for Heroes Act, a measure that Senator Obama had previously authored.
Food for Recovering Soldiers

Senator Obama introduced an amendment that became law providing food services to wounded veterans receiving physical therapy or rehabilitation services at military hospitals. Previously, service members receiving physical therapy or rehabilitation services in a medical hospital for more than 90 days were required to pay for their meals.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Senator Obama fought a VA proposal that would have required a reexamination of all Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cases in which full benefits were granted. He and Senator Durbin passed an amendment that became law preventing the VA from conducting a review of cases, without first providing Congress with a complete report regarding the implementation of such review. In November 2005, the VA announced that it was abandoning its planned review.

Senator Obama passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). TBI is being called the signature injury of the Iraq war. The blast from improvised explosive devices can jar the brain, causing bruising or permanent damage. Concussions can have huge health effects including slowed thinking, headaches, memory loss, sleep disturbance, attention and concentration deficits, and irritability.
Easing the Transition to the VA

Senator Obama passed an amendment that became law requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) to report to Congress on the delayed development of an electronic medical records system compatible with the VA's electronic medical records system. DOD's delay in developing such a system has created obstacles for service members transitioning into the VA health care system.

Part of the Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act, which Senator Obama reintroduced in January 2007, would help veterans transition from the DOD health system to the VA system by extending the window in which new veterans can get mental health care from two years to five years. The Lane Evans bill also would improve transition services for members of the National Guard and Reserves.

http://obama.senate.gov/issues/veterans/

[jody]

13. I stand by my statement. n/t

[Yael]

3. The mind boggles

I hope he can get some help. The corruption is so deep it blows me away to even think about it.

[Mike03]

4. An Egregious Tragedy

It's almost incomprehensible that we are treating our veterans this way. It's hard enough for people to deal with mental illness, find and seek help; but to abandon these people as they come back from the most irrational, illogical war we have probably ever waged is just unspeakable. This is just more evidence that the politicians really don't give a damn about the soldiers.

And this phenomena will have incredibly bad blowback as these abandoned soldiers return.

[brentspeak]

5. The Pentagon doesn't mind forking over billions of taxpayer dollars to Halliburton and buddies

But it can manufacture endless reasons to deny troops their deserved benefits.

[gateley]

6. Shameful. (I seem to be using that word a lot lately). nt

[libodem]

14. This just breaks my heart

and my mind. It's important to acknowledge the injustice of it all but my brain goes on stymie, when some stuff is so wrong. I try not to be a hater. I get so tired of hating. I'll say a little prayer for cheneybush that they wake up laughing with joy every day and have so much money they can build a houses with gold bars, to laugh it up in.