Edvard Munch's The Scream, 1893
I have seen men march to the wars, and then I have watched their homeward tread, And they brought back bodies of living men, But their eyes were cold and dead: Edmund Vance Cooke
But now The Center For American Progress reports that Army Doctors are apparently 'under a lot of pressure to NOT diagnose PTSD' ~ because the treatment is too expensive:
" Last month, the Air Force Times reported that "as many as 300,000 troops had PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and received inadequate care." The Department of Veterans Affairs noted at the time that only "about half of all disability claims for PTSD are approved." It appears now that the Army's neglect of soldiers with symptoms of PTSD ~ including nightmares, flashbacks, and "an inability to think clearly or remember things well, which makes performing basic daily takes difficult" ~ is by design.
An audio tape acquired by Salon provides evidence that "the military does not want veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD" because treating the condition is too expensive.
Secretly recording a conversation with his doctor, a soldier asked why he had been diagnosed with an "anxiety disorder" rather than PTSD. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public," psychologist Douglas McNinch told the patient. "Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder." McNinch added, "Unfortunately, yours has not been the only case. ... I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers."
Salon reports that "after the Army became aware of the tape, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate its implications." The Army has conducted an internal investigation but "cleared itself of any wrongdoing." http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/pr20090408
Salon is now doing an in depth investigation of the Army's internal investigation where it supposedly cleared itself. See ~ http://www.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/04/09/ptsd/index.html?source=newsletter
If this insensitive military neglect sounds familiar, it was definitely the case under the Bush/Cheney administration ~ but why is it still being tolerated under the Obama administration?
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/04/10.html
