The nation's largest wartime veterans organization is applauding the
U.S. Army's decision to launch a service-wide review of mental health
cases dating back to 2001 to ensure that any soldiers suffering from
behavioral health illnesses weren't denied appropriate medical
retirement benefits.
The decision, made by Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff
Gen. Raymond Odierno, comes after several post-traumatic stress
diagnoses at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord
outside Seattle were wrongly reduced to lesser illnesses during medical
retirement evaluations.
"We are pleased that the Army has chosen to right these wrongs and take
a closer look at each of these cases," American Legion National
Commander Fang A. Wong said. "The American Legion also thanks Sen. Patty
Murray of Washington for her efforts in making this investigation a
reality. Sen. Murray received complaints from soldiers about the way
they were treated at Madigan, and she chose to act on their behalf.
"The American Legion has, time and time again, expressed its opposition
to diagnosing any form of PTSD as a 'personality disorder,'" Wong
continued. "Doing so belittles both the servicemember and the traumatic
event he or she went through, and it limits their well-earned and
deserved medical benefits. The Army's realization that there may have
been misdiagnoses comes as no surprise to The American Legion. In
hearing from several mental health experts and servicemembers in the
past 16 months, we've learned that this was an ongoing problem."
The American Legion formed a Traumatic Brain Injury/Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder Ad-Hoc Committee in October 2010 tasked with
investigating the treatment methods used by the departments of Defense
and Veterans Affairs, and reviewing alternative treatment methods. Since
its formation, the committee has heard from both military and
private-sector mental health experts, veterans and active-duty
servicemembers, and their families.
"Our committee has heard from servicemembers who were told they had a
pre-existing behavioral disorder and were denied the proper benefits or
downgraded to lesser benefits," Wong said. "Already, more than 100 of
these diagnoses have been restored to PTSD. That is a step in the right
direction, and The American Legion urges the Army to continue until
every wrong mental health diagnosis is reversed."
The Army will review a statistically valid cross section of cases and
retirement evaluations from Army hospitals across the country dating
back to 2001 to see whether problems exist beyond Madigan.
"If it happened at Madigan, it could happen elsewhere," Wong said. "We
are pleased the Army is taking that stance and evaluating its other
medical facilities."