VA Doctors Told To Not Diagnose Veterans With PTSD

Washington (dbTechno) - An e-mail has surfaced which shows Veterans Affairs doctors being told to not diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to cut costs.

Veterans advocacy groups in an uproar over this, and want all documents related to the policies of the way in which the Veterans Affairs Department handles post-traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans who are diagnosed with PTSD are automatically eligible for health benefits, as well as disability retirement pay in some instances.

The e-mail came from a PTSD program coordinator at a Veterans Affairs hospital. It asked doctors to stop diagnosing PTSD, and instead diagnose Adjustment disorder, which does not allow the veterans to receive the above benefits.

VA Secretary James Peake put out a statement, saying the e-mail is real, but does not represent policy. He stated “A single staff member, out of VA’s 230,000 employees, in a single medical facility sent a single e-mail with suggestions that are inappropriate and have been repudiated at the highest level of our health-care organization. The employee has been counseled and is extremely apologetic.”

This isn’t stopping groups such as VoteVets.org and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington of pursuing this further.