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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kawika Riley (Veterans’
Affairs)
May 16,
2008
AKAKA CALLS VA EMPLOYEE’S
SUGGESTION TO MISDIAGNOSE VETERANS DISTURBING AND DISAPPOINTING
Calls for
Inspector General investigation and renewed guidelines for PTSD
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman
of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, issued the following
statement this morning regarding an email sent by a Department
of Veterans Affairs employee suggesting that in order to save
time and resources, VA should avoid diagnosing veterans with
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The email was sent by a
mental health professional at the Temple, Texas Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, and suggested that the facility’s mental health
staff should stop diagnosing veterans with PTSD.
“This incident
is both disturbing and disappointing, and provides further
evidence that VA’s mental health program requires significant
attention,” said Akaka. “I
have asked VA’s Inspector General to review diagnosis patterns
at the facility involved as well as any benefits decisions based
on diagnoses from that facility. I am also calling on VA
Secretary Peake to provide renewed guidelines to all VA field
offices on the proper diagnosis and treatment of PTSD and on
handling claims for compensation for PTSD.”
Psychological
war wounds are difficult to diagnose and harder still to heal,
but they are no less real than any other service-connected
injury,” added Akaka, who is working with
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to
bring S. 2162,
the bipartisan
Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008,
to the Senate floor for a vote.
“I continue to be concerned
that VA’s mental health system is unprepared for the rising
demands placed on the system by both younger and older veterans.
I will keep working to improve standards and funding for
veterans’ mental health care.”
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