Filner says PTSD misdiagnoses cheat vets - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Filner says PTSD misdiagnoses cheat vets

The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee plans a summer attack on the military’s disability review system, hoping that congressional hearings focusing on what he called the “terrible scandal of deliberate misdiagnosis” of mental health problems could lead to an overhaul of government policies.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said he expects to have veterans testify they were improperly diagnosed as having pre-existing personality disorders rather than post-traumatic stress disorder, a move that denies service members military disability benefits and could, under some circumstances, even leave them with no post-service veterans’ benefits if their mental health problems have led to misconduct, such as abuse of alcohol or drugs.

“This is a real scandal, in my opinion, to save a few dollars ... that wrecks lives,” Filner said Thursday in a meeting with reporters to talk about committee plans.

Dates for the hearings have not been set, but he mentioned August — when Congress generally takes a break — as a possibility in order to draw extra attention to the testimony.

Filner accused the military of “purposeful misdiagnosis” and of misleading service members into believing that accepting a pre-service personality disorder as the root of their problems would still leave them with government help.

“There were lies, real lies,” Filner said.

Filner said he has raised the issue with the Army, which said it had reviewed instances in which Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans were determined to have personality disorders rather that combat-related mental health issues. Army officials said they did not find any instances of misdiagnosis.

“I guess they just went back and asked the doctors who made the diagnoses if they made any mistakes, and they all said they hadn’t,” Filner said.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has tried to address the issue in a bill to improve the government’s policies for wounded combat veterans. Under the Senate bill, S 1606, a person who has spent 30 or more days on active duty is presumed to be in sound physical and mental condition for the purposes of establishing eligibility for disability retired pay. The only exception would be if there is “compelling evidence” or medical proof the disability existed before military service began.

Filner said he had not seen the Senate proposal but agreed with the concept that the government should not look for excuses to deny benefits to military members and veterans.

“We need to change the adversarial process,” Filner said, adding that his long-term goal would be to attempt a dramatic change in the veterans’ health care system so that simply being a veteran would be sufficient to receive treatment, without having to first prove that an injury, illness or disease is service-connected.