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| Walter Reed, Part II |
| 2007-06-17 |
| Front-page Sunday WaPo continues the anti-war crusade, but at least today's issue is not that the war is lost, only that the military is lost. Troops Are Returning From the Battlefield With Psychological Wounds, But the Mental-Health System That Serves Them Makes Healing Difficult Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents' home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone. But a "black shadow" had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children. In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression. At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled "severe and chronic." In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was "in need of major help" and that he had provided "more than enough evidence" to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, "have been well documented." None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. "The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat," his rejection letter stated. More at link, but you get the idea. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #4 but the psychologists can't understand that. To them, everyone who has a chronic pain problem is depressed: I have a chronic pain problem, so I also therefore suffer from depression. OP, I hear ya.. but getting old build character! lol It's also a CONtest too sometimes, pretending you can still kick ass and take names with a dinged up body! LOL.. If you complain about pain to a new Dr. it's a strange thing to watch and listen while they fish trying to winkle out why you are depressed when you are NOT.. this holds true at Ft Miley and UCSF etc. Seems to me that it's endemic to all Drs. in Gubmint or Private settings. I think, they think us guys are incapable of detecting the symptoms of depression or can't express ourselves adequately. I find it helps to blame Drs. for my aches and pains and my phantom depression! ;-) |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-06-17 16:54 |
| #3 I've been dealing with the VA for about 16 years now, so I know how the system works. Unfortunately, too many VA counsellors DON'T, and hand out some pretty poor advice. Nor am I surprised that this veteran's first application was turned down - I think the VA does that to EVERYONE the first time. If you're not serious, or if you're REALLY stressed out, you don't reapply, and they save time, effort, and money having to deal with you. Also, the VA rating system is a fraud. It, too, is weighed heavily against the veteran. You need two things to resolve the problems with the VA in your favor: an excellent doctor that either knows the system, or will listen, and a good attorney specializing in VA compensation cases. The military in general isn't up to dealing with psychological problems, especially PTSD. That system, too, is weighted against the veteran. I constantly get diagnosed as suffering from "depression" - my real problem is that I have constant, unremitting, unresolved PAIN issues. I've learned to live with that, but the psychologists can't understand that. To them, everyone who has a chronic pain problem is depressed: I have a chronic pain problem, so I also therefore suffer from depression. PTSD is TOTALLY beyond them. The active duty providers are no better than most of the VA or civilian practitioners. Guys like this get caught in the VA paper mill, and end up in deeper trouble because they don't get the help they need. It's a national disgrace. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-06-17 13:15 |
| #2 Related story this past week about the Seattle VA hospital: conflicting rules about mental ward patient safety ( suicide prevention) and ADA compliance had Senator Patty Murray (D-tennis shoe gramma) all a twitter. you can bet that if the ADA assistive devices were not in place and a patient fell down, her song would be a bit different. Last line of the story was that in the entire life of the Seattle facility, there have been 2 suicides. how does that stack up with others? that is not mentioned. |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2007-06-17 12:08 |
| #1 By the way, my wife visited a doctor recently who worked at Walter Reed. He told me the hospital was the finest in the world, but the number of troops served caused the hospital to buy adjacent properties, which just happened to be surrounded by some of the not-too-nice areas surrounding (a.k.a. slum). I didn't see that in the WaPo. That makes me suspicious about Jesse's story, too - unfortunately. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-06-17 08:38 |