Veterans Not Satisfied With New Regulation On PTSD And Collecting Disability Benefits

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Posted on 13th July 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The government’s new rule regarding disability benefits for veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder are an improvement but still don’t go far enough, according to veterans’ groups. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/us/13vets.html?scp=1&sq=veterans%20and%20mental%20health&st=cse

The new regulation says that veterans no longer have to document a specfice event, like a particular bomb blast, as the cause of them developing PTSD. Such evidence is often hard, if not impossible, to track down, according to The New York Times.

President Obama even referenced the new regulation on his radio show this weekend, saying, “I don’t think our troops on the battlefield should have to take notes to keep for a claims application.”

While veterans groups were happy about the change in the rule, they still voiced criticism about it. They are concerned about a clause that says the final say on whether a vet’s PTSD is a result of their military service can only be made by a doctor or psychologist that works for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The veterans believe that private doctors should be allowed to make that determination, too. Such physicians have often been treating a vet and are familiary with his or her issues and background, the veterans groups argue.

The veterans affairs department argues that there will be more consistency in the exams if they are done by doctors working for the government, and that these physicians will be ablet to pick out “malingerers.”

Groups such as the National Organization of Veterans Advocates fear that government doctors will reject legitimate PTSD claims from veterans.

The veteran affairs department held a press conference on the new regulation regarding PTSD and disability payments on Monday. http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1922

Officials denied that government doctors would be less likely to find that a veteran’s PTSD was due to their military service.   

 

 

     

  

 

Government Ready To Change Disability Rules For Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Posted on 9th July 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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In a change that could affect hundreds of thousands of veterans, the government is expected to soon issue new guidelins that would make it easier for those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder to collect disability benefits, The New York Times reported Thursday. 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/us/08vets.html?_r=1&hp

The new regulations from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs would put an end to the current rule that requires veterans to document events — like a mortar attack — that might have resulted in them suffering from PTSD.

These changes would finally give brave servicemen who have been in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam a break, and make it feasible for them to collect the disability payments they deserve. Finding documents to verify firefights and bombings takes a lot of time — if you can find them at all. 

And the way the rules are now, servicemen who suffer from PTSD but did not serve in combat, like women soldiers, are shut out of collecting disability. 

The Times reported that under the new guidelines, the veterans’ department will award compensation to veterans if they can “show that they were in a war zone and in a job consistent with the events that they say caused their conditions.”

Veterans would no longer have to prove that they had been under fire “or saw a friend die,” according to The Times. 

The new regulations would pave the way for more veterans to collect disability benefits, which include free medical and mental health care, and monthly payments up to $2,000.

There have been 150,000 cases of PTSD diagnosed among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to The Times.     

Cat soothes post-traumatic stress disorder for vet

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Posted on 5th November 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 11/5/2008

By MIKE BAIRD
Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) _ A Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder received an unconventional prescription in July.

“John McGahey needs a service pet,” his physician wrote. “He plans on using a cat. This pet is allowed to travel with Mr. McGahey anywhere.”

The last part of the prescription has been the toughest to fill. The 53-year-old former medical corpsman has been denied access to some public places with Patch, his 6-month-old white male service cat.

“It’s not like I’m trying to take an alligator with me,” McGahey said. “I just want people to know service animals can be other than dogs.”

McGahey was first diagnosed in the late 1970s after treatment in Philadelphia Naval Hospital. “I have a lot of flashbacks,” he said. “I get paranoid in public, and petting Patch helps keep me calm. When I’m ripping the bed apart at night he licks me.”

Stress disorder such as McGahey’s develops in some people after an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death, according to the National Institute on Mental Health.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual.” It defines service animals as “any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability” regardless of whether licensed or certified by a state or local government.

Despite counseling and group treatment, McGahey spiraled downward as he tried to douse his nightmares with alcohol and drug abuse that tore at the fabric of his family. The uncontrolled paranoia alienated his wife and he lost custody of his children, he said. McGahey rode with motorcycle groups “on roads to nowhere” for several years, he said, “until waking up as a wino on the streets of Los Angeles.”

McGahey escaped his self-abuse, he said, on Jan. 3, 1988, by admitting himself into an abuse treatment program in Walla Walla, Wash. There his diagnosis was again confirmed and he was helped to apply for and receive disability income while completing a 12-step abuse program.

He said he has remained sober since.

The past 20 years McGahey has conducted hundreds of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in several states. In Corpus Christi he is known as “Big John” in weekly meetings at Salvation Army, Loaves & Fishes and in the Nueces County Courthouse and Jail.

While passing out hundreds of copies of the “Big Book,” the bible of Alcoholics Anonymous, to help others with sobriety, he has found difficulty helping others learn the rules for service animals, McGahey said. It began at home.

He lives downtown at Sea Gulf Villa Apartments, federally subsidized housing for the elderly and disabled. Manager Wendy Bishop had him fill out paperwork and photographed Patch to allow him to keep his cat without charging a pet deposit.

McGahey first melted the myth that service animals are dogs-only at an H-E-B. Executive staff contacted store managers where he shops to arrange for him to carry Patch in a pouch the cat has been trained to stay inside.

McGahey and his feline also regularly ride Regional Transportation Authority buses, but only after he asked permission, which prompted RTA administrators to look up the Department of Transportation’s stance on service animals for people with disabilities. Federal Transit Administration regulation 49 C.F.R. Part 37 provides that public and private entities, such as taxis, buses and trains, permit service animals to accompany people in their vehicles and facilities.

The first time McGahey toted Patch with him into the Veterans Administration medical clinic, he encountered some resistance. He was required to show a copy of the ADA definition of service animals and his doctor’s prescription, which were photocopied for his file, before he was permitted to keep Patch with him.

Bayfest organizers allowed Patch entry this year after a gate attendant first told McGahey he couldn’t bring in his cat. McGahey said he has not been permitted to take Patch into local restaurants, and he understands that it’s often because of owners’ misunderstanding of federal regulations.

He wants to take Patch to AA meetings, but has been told he can’t bring the feline into the courthouse. And deputies at Nueces County Jail have refused Patch entrance. McGahey understands the jail is not a public place and agrees it may not be allowed because the ADA ruling is specific to “places the public is allowed.” But Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal defended McGahey’s right to courthouse access with his service animal.

“Sometimes bureaucracy gets in the way of common sense,” Neal said. “As long as (McGahey) meets the criteria for ADA, he can carry his cat.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Tests start on US-backed drug stress disorder

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Posted on 3rd November 2008 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 11/3/2008 2:50 PM

Tests start on US-backed drug stress disorder

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Clinical trials have begun on a new U.S-backed drug to treat the debilitating feeling of heightened vigilance experienced by veterans with post-traumatic stress, Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Synosia said Monday.

The study is funded with $1.4 million from the U.S. Defense Department and will focus on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Synosia said.

The company said it hopes the drug, called nepicastat, will help patients who have lost the ability to accurately assess danger, resulting in a constant sense of alertness.

The condition, known as hyperarousal, is one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. Others include sleeplessness, anger and withdrawal from friends and family.

Post-traumatic stress disorder affects people from all walks of life, but is particularly common in veterans. Some 40,000 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with the disorder since 2003.

Synosia said the clinical trial will be conducted by researchers at veterans medical centers in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Houston; and Charleston, South Carolina.

Officials at the U.S. Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs could not immediately be reached for comment.

Initial results about the effectiveness and tolerability of nepicastat are expected next spring, said Synosia spokesman Jan Gregor. Synosia is conducting separate trials to test whether nepicastat is effective as a treatment for cocaine abuse.

Nepicastat works by inhibiting the conversion of the brain chemical dopamine into an adrenaline-like compound called norepinephrine.

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On the Net:

Synosia: http://www.synosia.com

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.