Veterans Law Prof Blog

Choice Card Woes?

The President’s proposed budget wants to reallocate approximately $10 billion dollars in the VA’s budget meant for the Choice Card program.  The Choice Card was created last year to alleviate wait times that veterans had to get medical appointment sat the VA.  However, only 27,000 veterans out of the 9 million eligible have used the Choice Card, so the White House believes the funds for the Choice Card could be better used in other places in the VA’s budget – such as reducing the backlog in claims.  However, many veterans have voiced concern that the Choice Card is too confusing and another solution is required.  According to the Washington Post “some veterans say that when they attempted to use their card, the VA told them they had to live more than 40 ‘miles in a straight line, or as the crow flies,’ from their VA rather than Google maps miles, which makes the card harder to use. Several VA doctors e-mailed The Washington Post saying they themselves don’t understand how to use the program.”  The Post also reports that House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) rejected the plan to reallocate the Choice Card monies, calling it a “complete non-starter, which I will not support.”  Read about the Choice Card issues here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/02/16/it-was-meant-to-reduce-wait-times-but-veterans-say-new-choice-cards-are-causing-more-problems/

VA Reaching Sexual Assault Survivors Through Facebook

Stripes.com reported this month that General Alison Hickey, the Undersecretary for Benefits at the Veterans Benefits Administration has appointed a claims specialist trained in “Military Sexual Trauma” (MST) to a group Facebook page for survivors of MST.  The Facebook page was created by an MST survivor who reports that since a claims specialist has been appointed to liaison with the group 19 veterans have had their MST claims for benefits approved by the VA.  Anecdotally, it has often been true of the VA that if a veteran can just speak to someone about their claims (as opposed to passing a never ending stream of paperwork back and forth between veteran and VA) the veterans claims are much more likely to be understood and approved.  Perhaps this approach is a new way to help at least those who reach out on social media for help?  http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/va-reaches-out-to-sexual-trauma-survivors-via-facebook-1.329813

Damages for waiting veterans?

An Inspector General investigation of the Oakland, California VA Regional Office found that several thousand claims had been piled up and not processed dating back to the mid-1990s.  In 2012 it was discovered that approximately 14,000 claims had not been processed.  At this unannounced follow up visit  in July 2014, the IG was unable to tell if the original 14,000 claims discovered two years earlier had been appropriately processed because of VA’s poor record keeping practices. Further, the IG noted that “Oakland VARO staff did not properly store 537 informal claims because these claims were not discovered until the office was undergoing a construction project. Some of these informal claims dated back to July 2002.”  Now, what is the remedy for these veterans who have been waiting so long for benefits?  Is paying back benefits enough or should some type of damages be awarded to these veterans?  Nothing in law allows for this type of payment, yet, but perhaps it is something that should be considered?  It will also be interesting to see if any discipline actions stem from this investigation. See the investigation here:  http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-14-03981-119.pdf

PTSD & Combat - Eddie Routh's non-combat PTSD

There is a lot of discussion in the news right now about veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and criminal acts.  The next big media frenzy surrounding a veteran with PTSD will come in the form of the high-profile Eddie Routh case.  In 2013, Routh shot “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and another veteran, Chad Littlefield.  Routh’s parents say that Routh had been formally diagnosed with PTSD. Additional mention has been made of the fact that Routh’s attorney will attempt to plead the insanity defense because Routh has a mental illness, but there is no indication yet whether this defense will be based on PTSD and its symptoms. See the article about Eddie Routh’s upcoming trial here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/01/22/the-trial-of-eddie-routh-the-man-who-killed-chris-kyle-will-be-american-snipers-darkest-chapter/ 

All of this raises an interesting aspect of PTSD and its triggering events.  There is a lot of discussion about whether Eddie Routh has PTSD or not.  The discussion seems to surround a debate about his combat experience.  The Warfighter Foundation, a nonprofit supports combat veterans, has issued statements questioning Routh’s reported PTSD because he never saw combat.  A spokesman for the Foundation is quoted as saying “Eddie Routh served one tour in Iraq in 2007, at Balad Air Base (the 2nd largest U.S. installation in Iraq), with no significant events. No combat experience. .. This has NOTHING to do with PTSD. He was an individual with psychological problems that were not associated with his service. So don’t give me that bleeding heart bulls**t that he was a veteran suffering from PTSD.   See the article here: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/05/veterans-group-claims-to-have-uncovered-potentially-significant-truth-about-chris-kyles-alleged-killer/  

Whether Eddie Routh has PTSD is something I do not know the answer to.  However, I do know that entirely too often military personnel with no combat experience in the traditional sense suffer from PTSD. For example, one Vietnam veteran with the job (MOS) “electronic device repairman” I worked with was required to supply direct combat support to forward serving troops.  This veteran was required to repair lighting on perimeters while being forced to dodge bullets and avoid dead bodies while under sniper fire.  A glance at his records would not have revealed this type of trauma, and yet it existed and caused him harm forty years later.  Additionally, there are a number of veterans who merely from the constant exposure to potential harm experience trauma.  They do not have to actually see  or experience an ultimate harm.  The VA has recognized this type of trauma as prevalent in the literature and in the veteran population by altering the requirements for proving an in-service event that triggers PTSD.  http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1922

While I understand that the experience of combat veterans is not equivalent to anything else, I do have concerns about lessening the trauma experienced by others servicemembers merely because they are not combat veterans.  If veterans eat each other alive, things are surely spiraling downhill and signify major problems for veterans in the future.  If veterans culturally cannot support each other and appreciate differences in service, who will?  And if these veterans are discounted, how much more difficult will it be for them to get treatment from an already swamped VA health care system?

 

 

The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for America's Veterans Act is almost a reality

This week the Senate unanimously passed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act following the House’s lead were the bill passed unanimously in January.  The act is named in tribute to Clay Hunt, a Marine sniper who took his own life after a battle with PTSD and very little support from the VA that was charged with treating him. 

With 22 veterans a day committing suicide, many of whom are attempting to seek care from the VA, this bill could not come at a more crucial time for America’s veterans.  The bill will encourage more psychologists and psychiatrists to treat veterans at the VA through a loan repayment program.  The bill also calls on the VA to analyze its own mental health system and practices and will lengthen the amount of time veterans can be treated at the VA.

Let’s hope that with this leverage, the VA will be able to hire more practitioners to treat those who are suffering and prevent the long wait times for counseling and therapeutic services that contributed to Clay Hunt’s tragic and unnecessary passing.   God speed Clay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/bill-aimed-at-improving-mental-health-treatment-for-veterans-passes-senate.html?_r=0