Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiVets Cleared to Sue US over PTSD Claims
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal court in San Francisco has cleared the way for a major national class action lawsuit on behalf of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had sought to dismiss the lawsuit claiming that the groups bringing the suit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, were simply "advocacy organizations" and did not have standing to sue on behalf of the estimated 320,000 to 800,000 service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with cases of PTSD.
"We won this round against VA. Veterans will have our day in court," the director of Veterans for Common Sense Paul Sullivan said in a statement. "The VA must now release documents under discovery about their deliberate attempts to deny and delay medical care and disability benefits for all veterans, especially our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans."
"The decision is vitally important," added Melissa Kasnitz, an attorney with the Berkeley, California based non-profit Disability Rights Advocates, which along with the law firm Morrison and Forrester is representing the veterans groups. "It allows the case to move forward toward trial."
"We want the government to ensure that veterans get prompt care and that the VA disability claims process is fair and run in a timely fashion," she added.
The complaint, filed in federal court in July, sought a Judge's order finding that VA's system of handling disability claims and appeals is so dysfunctional that it violates veterans' constitutional and statutory rights. The suit also calls for court orders requiring VA to provide immediate medical and psychological help to returning troops and to screen them for risk of suicide.
The VA now has a backlog of over 600,000 applications for claims, and a decision on a claim can take up to 12 years to be processed through appeals. According to data obtained in November by McClatchy Newspapers, veterans must wait an average of 183 days for a claim to be decided.
A CBS news investigation released last November found that 120 veterans kill themselves every week; or over 6,000 per year.
CBS asked all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records for veterans and non-veterans, and found that veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide.
In 2005, CBS found a total of at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. The Veterans groups suing the VA contend the long wait for health care and disability care through the government system contribute to the large number of suicides.
In his 42-page ruling allowing the class action suit to go forward, U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti wrote that the federal system for weighing individual veterans' claims "does not provide an adequate alternative remedy for Plaintiffs' claims," but stopped short of ruling on the merits of the claims themselves.
The VA declined comment on the Conti decision, but issued a statement saying it is "dedicated to meeting the mental health care needs of all veterans." It noted an increase in its mental health care staff and creation of new programs to treat returning soldiers.
But veterans groups aren't convinced and will be back in court February 22.
"We are seeking an immediate order from the court to force the government to stop turning away veterans who are suicidal," attorney Kasnitz said. "Also, Congress has appropriated money to the VA to help Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans but the money hasn't been spent. We are asking the court to force the VA to stop impounding the money."
Copyright © 2008 OneWorld.net.
13 Comments so far
Show AllI just responded to an email I received early last year, with regard to casualities among the civilian Contractors deployed in the occupation. There was an article in the NY Times about the increasing numbers and the attitude of the Contractors toward anyone complaining about the conditions of service. I'd like to see the conjunction of U.S. military and civilian casualties publicized, for a truer reflection of the cost of war on all of us. As long as the true numbers remain hidden, we may not be moved to act. Or, we may not be moved, anyway. As the U.S. economy tanks, and the global economy seems to follow, the relationship of all these factors becomes more apparent, at least to some of us who view the global picture. Here is the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/world/middleeast/19contractors.html?ex=1337227200&en=06714ffa2ba414b.... If it doesn't work, here is the information to look it up. "Contractor Deaths in Iraq Soar to Record"
By JOHN M. BRODER and JAMES RISEN
Published: May 19, 2007
I wonder how these numbers have grown? What are the casualties on the civilian side? Of course, these do not come close to revealing the Iraqi and other "foreign" combatants and service providers.
Let's expand our vision to include everyone involved, including each of us. We do not have to be victims of this holocaust, but we certainly can contribute to its solution through personal discipline and vigilance.
peace,
st john
LIAR_IN_CHIEF -- Wants no "NO VET LEFT w/o PTSD"
Otherwise, they'd be able to pro-actively provide real "Support for our Troops", and possibly protect citizens from gov't counter-insurgency.
This idea is long overdue. Veterans of all encounters are horored in the media yet individually are terrorized by the country they served when it comes to receiving promised benefits.
The entire nation should be Shame-Shame- Shame.
Politicians create these Wars based upon whatever for Corporate interest. They generate untold profits at the expense of our human resources(military personnel). They effect the lives of untold millions because of their selfish gain.
The Veteran must unite in a way unseen in America to hold the establishment accountable. The Benefits promised under contract must be honored.
SHAME ON THE PEOPLE OF aMERICA FOR ALLOWING THIS CALLOUS TREATMENT OF OUR vETERANS.
Where are the People to standup for the Veteran?
Where are the fucking presidential candidates on this issue? I have not heard one word or question addressed to the returning vets. I cannot even believe the Republicans running are getting any attention. They are the most frightening set of inbreds, and it makes me wonder what planet I have landed on. I must be from an alternative universe because none of this makes any sense to me. DU is killing and damaging hundreds of thousands of people of all nationalities. I don't give a fuck what country they are from, we, the USA(Unconscious Stupid Assholes), have no right to invade another country and poison the people and destroy their lands. And, then we are killing "our own" with DU and PTSD. What am I missing in this equation? I don't usually use this kind of language, but it is time to liberate ourselves from the insanity of the ruling class. Unfortunately, they have the support or the ignorance of the "people" to prop them up. And, the use of sonar on whales is beyond the pale. I hope these people are aware of Karma, 'cause she is not a merciful goddess.
peace,
st john
If the vets can walk, I'll bet they could take over washington pretty damn quick. If the government doesn't get to helping these kids, you know where they are going, to go sit on the whitey house lawn.
Here is where 'SUPPORT THE TROOPS' usually goes down the drain. Bu$h the inferior will stop this cold unless the fascist court does it for him.
Bushco is not only killing them "over there", but continues to kill them over here. Not to mention the new news that some vets with PTSD are also committing homicides after returning home from Iraq.
This problem has not been addressed since the Vietnam War. Let's hope this lawsuit has legs. And lets hope the wheels of justice move faster than usual. How many more will die before a ruling in favor of the vets comes down? And who will be accountable for the blood on their hands?
There were over 500,000 Gulf War vets recieving disability paymnents in 2004.
This link takes less than three minutes to absorb. It fully explains the PTSD issue.
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/du_howkilling.htm
In addition, over 130 Gulf War vets are committing suicide every week.
600,000 applications?
"The VA must now release documents under discovery about their deliberate attempts to deny and delay medical care and disability benefits for all veterans, especially our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans."
This is truly tragic. It goes to show that these soldiers are pawns in the Administration's sick and twisted game of chess. I look at these scarred and traumatized veterans in relation to these American kids the military have their prospective eye on and ask myself when this brutal cycle when end.
All of this Because those pINAC neo cons wanted oil and money, and my husband a Viet Nam vet is being harrassed by the vA about a 23 year old loan that was waived by them in 2001, but they say something else our own Senator Jeff Bingaman couldn't even help us much he got it cut in half and now my husband only has to pay interest and 1/2 the debt, but 23 years ago and it was forgiven .This govt can go to Hell and all the pwoplw that are running aren't any better.The Vets are FUCKED something they don't tell you when you join........
Of course a higher dollar amount of VA benefits for PTSD should not be the goal here. The goal should be a higher standard of treatment. That higher standard may be achieved with the same dollar amount or even less, if the program is configured to maximize value.
The government's task is to ensure that all economic activities leverage cooperation and competition to maximize value. The average work week in hunter/gatherer societies is 15 hours. Advanced societies provide advanced benefits/services which require more labor inputs. But there are also ways to increase productivity to bring the hours back down to 15/week.
The capitalists want less value, i.e. more dollars churning through the economy and longer work weeks for greater exploitation/enslavement of people. But a functional society requires that the people have plenty of free time to enlighten themselves and uphold their civic responsibilities. So for this reason and others, it is mandatory that maximum value be the goal, not maximum dollar amounts.