"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD

[Nonno]

"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD" | Salon News

"April 8, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- "Sgt. X" is built like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he rode in while in Iraq. He's as bulky, brawny and seemingly impervious as a tank.

In an interview in the high-rise offices of his Denver attorneys, however, symptoms of the damaged brain inside that tough exterior begin to appear. Sgt. X's eyes go suddenly blank, shifting to refocus oddly on a wall. He pauses mid-sentence, struggling for simple words. His hands occasionally tremble and spasm.

For more than a year he's been seeking treatment at Fort Carson for a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the signature injuries of the Iraq war. Sgt. X is also suffering through the Army's confusing disability payment system, handled by something called a medical evaluation board. The process of negotiating the system has been made harder by his war-damaged memory. Sgt. X's wife has to go with him to doctor's appointments so he'll remember what the doctor tells him."

-----

"When Sgt. X went to see McNinch with a tape recorder, he was concerned that something was amiss with his diagnosis. He wanted to find out why the psychologist had told the medical evaluation board that handles disability payments that Sgt. X did not, in fact, have PTSD, but instead an "anxiety disorder," which could substantially lower the amount of benefits he would receive if the Army discharged him for a disability. The recorder in Sgt. X's pocket captured McNinch in a moment of candor. (Listen to a segment of the recording here.)

"OK," McNinch told Sgt. X. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS [instead]." McNinch told him that Army medical boards were "kick[ing] back" his diagnoses of PTSD, saying soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have "serious PTSD issues."

"Unfortunately," McNinch told Sgt. X, "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, but unfortunately, you know, now the V.A. is jumping on board, saying, 'Well, these people don't have PTSD,' and stuff like that."

 

[JollyRoger]

"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD" | Salon News

"April 8, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- "Sgt. X" is built like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he rode in while in Iraq. He's as bulky, brawny and seemingly impervious as a tank.

In an interview in the high-rise offices of his Denver attorneys, however, symptoms of the damaged brain inside that tough exterior begin to appear. Sgt. X's eyes go suddenly blank, shifting to refocus oddly on a wall. He pauses mid-sentence, struggling for simple words. His hands occasionally tremble and spasm.

For more than a year he's been seeking treatment at Fort Carson for a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the signature injuries of the Iraq war. Sgt. X is also suffering through the Army's confusing disability payment system, handled by something called a medical evaluation board. The process of negotiating the system has been made harder by his war-damaged memory. Sgt. X's wife has to go with him to doctor's appointments so he'll remember what the doctor tells him."

-----

"When Sgt. X went to see McNinch with a tape recorder, he was concerned that something was amiss with his diagnosis. He wanted to find out why the psychologist had told the medical evaluation board that handles disability payments that Sgt. X did not, in fact, have PTSD, but instead an "anxiety disorder," which could substantially lower the amount of benefits he would receive if the Army discharged him for a disability. The recorder in Sgt. X's pocket captured McNinch in a moment of candor. (Listen to a segment of the recording here.)

"OK," McNinch told Sgt. X. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS [instead]." McNinch told him that Army medical boards were "kick[ing] back" his diagnoses of PTSD, saying soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have "serious PTSD issues."

"Unfortunately," McNinch told Sgt. X, "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, but unfortunately, you know, now the V.A. is jumping on board, saying, 'Well, these people don't have PTSD,' and stuff like that."

All he need's to hear is (without liberal interpretation) "Thank you Sgt.X for your service and duty to your country and God Bless you. And thank you very much."

 

[JollyRoger]

I wonder how....

these guy's handled "PTSD"

* John Adams - A
* Samuel Adams - A
* Ethan Allen - American/British
* Benedict Arnold - American/British
* John Burgoyne - B
* Aaron Burr - A
* George Rogers Clark - A
* Charles Cornwallis - B
* John Dickinson - A
* Benjamin Franklin - A
* Nathanael Greene - A
* Alexander Hamilton - A
* John Hancock - A
* Patrick Henry - A
* William Howe - B
* Thomas Jefferson - A
* John Paul Jones - A
* Thaddeus Kosciuszko - A (Polish)
* Marquis de Lafayette - A (French)
* James Madison - A
* Francis Marion - A
* Thomas Paine - A
* Baron von Stueben - A (German)
* George Washington - A

 

[Beelzebaby666]

Everytime you see this photo

...You should cry.

 

[toppick08]

...You should cry.

 

[AK-74me]

Salon: Even too nuts for most nuts.

 

[Larry Gude]

these guy's handled "PTSD"

George Washington - A

You are, of course, aware of the betrayals to the troops following our revolution? We have a long and sordid history of treating our soldiers like #### after we've used them up.

 

[aps45819]

You are, of course, aware of the betrayals to the troops following our revolution? We have a long and sordid history of treating our soldiers like #### after we've used them up.

The Bonus Army massed at the United States Capitol on June 17 as the U.S. Senate voted on the Patman Bonus Bill, which would have moved forward the date when World War I veterans received a cash bonus. Most of the Bonus Army camped in a Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats, then a swampy, muddy area across the Anacostia River from the federal core of Washington. The camps, built from materials scavenged from a nearby rubbish dump, were tightly controlled by the veterans with streets laid out, sanitation facilities built and parades held daily. To live in the camps, veterans were required to register and prove they had been honorably discharged. The protesters had hoped that they could convince Congress to make payments that would be granted to veterans immediately, which would have provided relief for the marchers who were unemployed due to the Depression. The bill had passed the House of Representatives on June 15 but was blocked in the Senate.


[edit] The U.S. Army intervenes
On 28 July, 1932, Attorney General Mitchell ordered the police evacuation of the Bonus Army veterans, who resisted; the police shot at them, and killed two. When told of the killings, President Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to effect the evacuation of the Bonus Army from Washington, D.C.

At 4:45 p.m., commanded by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the 12th Infantry Regiment, Fort Howard, Maryland, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Maj. George S. Patton, Fort Myer, Virginia, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of Civil Service employees left work to line the street and watch the U.S. Army attack its own veterans. The Bonus Marchers, believing the display was in their honour, cheered the troops until Maj. Patton charged the cavalry against them — an action which prompted the Civil Service employee spectators to yell, "Shame! Shame!"

After the cavalry charge, infantry, with fixed bayonets and adamsite gas, entered the Bonus Army camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River, to their largest camp; President Hoover ordered the Army assault stopped, however, Gen. MacArthur—feeling this free-speech exercise was a Communist attempt at overthrowing the U.S. Government—ignored the President and ordered a new attack. Hundreds of veterans were injured, several were killed — including William Hushka and Eric Carlson; a veteran's wife miscarried; and many other veterans were hurt.

The Posse Comitatus Act — forbidding civilian police work by the U.S. military — did not apply to Washington, D.C., because it is the federal district directly governed by the U.S. Congress (U.S. Constitution, Article I. Section 8. Clause 17). The exemption was created because of an earlier "Bonus March". In 1781, most of the Continental Army was demobilized without pay, two years later, in 1783, hundreds of Pennsylvania war veterans marched on Philadelphia, surrounded the State House wherein Congress was in session, and demanded their pay. The U.S. Congress fled to Princeton, New Jersey, and, several weeks later, the U.S. Army expelled the war veterans back to home, out of the national capital.

 

[ImnoMensa]

Any doctor who would allow the Government to make their decisions for them is a yellow coward. Where is the conscience of the medical community to allow such practices, and worse, to go along with it?

 

[Pete]

Imagine how it will be when the government controlls ALL medical care.

Doctor: Just between us I am under a lot of pressure to stop diagnosing pregnancy and call it "abdominal extension" instead because it is cheaper.

Woman: But....but...but I am 6 months along!

Doctor: It will be OK, just take the Malox and motrin I gave you and go to the emergency room when the contractions start.

 

[_MightyMouse_]

You are, of course, aware of the betrayals to the troops following our revolution? We have a long and sordid history of treating our soldiers like #### after we've used them up.

Afterall, why do you think we're refered to as G.I's (government issue) since we can be replaced by the next young enlistee who signs the dotted line at your local MEPS.

 

[GoodnessME]

Any doctor who would allow the Government to make their decisions for them is a yellow coward. Where is the conscience of the medical community to allow such practices, and worse, to go along with it?

It is going to happen to YOU and ME if we have universal health!!!

 

[ImnoMensa]

More likely rationed health where the Doctor says this guy isnt healthy enough to waste money on a by-pass. Life and death in the hands of an affirmative action employee sitting at a government computer.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm inclined to disregard stories with an anonymous source.

 

[BoyGenius]

I'm inclined to disregard stories with an anonymous source.

Wasn't the whole deep throat, Nixon mess an anonymous source?

 

[BoyGenius]

This is some screwy chit.

Imagine how it will be when the government controlls ALL medical care.

Doctor: Just between us I am under a lot of pressure to stop diagnosing pregnancy and call it "abdominal extension" instead because it is cheaper.

Woman: But....but...but I am 6 months along!

Doctor: It will be OK, just take the Malox and motrin I gave you and go to the emergency room when the contractions start.

You mean, like it already is?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/nyregion/01comp.html

 

[czygvtwkr]

Wasn't the whole deep throat, Nixon mess an anonymous source?

An anonymous tip that leads to an investigation that uncovers something is one thing and someone writing something on the internet anonymously is another.

 

[BoyGenius]

An anonymous tip that leads to an investigation that uncovers something is one thing and someone writing something on the internet anonymously is another.

"Washington — Mark Felt, better known as the anonymous source “Deep Throat,” who dragged into the spotlight the Watergate scandal that drove President Nixon from office in 1974, set a legendary example of how American investigative journalists work with confidential sources.
Read more: Mark Felt, Watergate’s Famed Anonymous Source, Dies at Age 95 - http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/December/20081222171617esnamfuak0.8100397.html#ixzz0CEs11tsq"

Mark Felt, Watergate's Famed Anonymous Source, Dies at Age 95

 

[Larry Gude]

"Washington — Mark Felt, better known as the anonymous source “Deep Throat,” who dragged into the spotlight the Watergate scandal that drove President Nixon from office in 1974, set a legendary example of how American investigative journalists work with confidential sources.
Read more: Mark Felt, Watergate’s Famed Anonymous Source, Dies at Age 95 - http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/December/20081222171617esnamfuak0.8100397.html#ixzz0CEs11tsq"

Mark Felt, Watergate's Famed Anonymous Source, Dies at Age 95

Mark Felt is celebrated by the people who worked with him as a traitor to his profession, his oaths of office and, frankly, his nation. He short circuited a process that may or may not have worked itself out otherwise. In any event, support for him is partisan based on who he 'got'; Nixon, an R.

Look at how Linda Tripp was treated and you'll see that 'whistle' blowers are viewed from who they got, not whether they did right or not.

 

[vraiblonde]

"Washington — Mark Felt, better known as the anonymous source “Deep Throat,” who dragged into the spotlight the Watergate scandal that drove President Nixon from office in 1974, set a legendary example of how American investigative journalists work with confidential sources.

What is your point and why is this a rebuttal to Czy's post?