Group sues over personality disorder discharges - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Group sues over personality disorder discharges

Vietnam Veterans of America filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday demanding records for 26,000 veterans who it says were “wrongfully discharged” for personality disorders.

The Defense Department’s “personality disorder designation prevents thousands of wounded veterans from accessing service-connected disability compensation or health care,” said John Rowan, VVA’s president.

Personality disorders are considered a pre-existing condition, which means that service members receiving administrative discharges for those disorders have no opportunity to get disability compensation or medical benefits.

An investigation by Congress into the use of this type of discharge in recent years discharges found that many service members separated for pre-existing personality disorder had served in combat and displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Personality disorders typically develop before age 18.

“They said they corrected it, but they did nothing to remedy these people they pushed out,” said Chuck Luther, a combat veteran who was separated for personality disorder. The Veterans Affairs Department has since diagnosed him with PTSD and traumatic brain injury and awarded him a disability rating of 95 percent.

Luther said his DD214 states that he received an honorable discharge, but just beneath that, it states: “personality disorder.”

The VVA lawsuit also asks that the military release records of people discharged for “adjustment” or “readjustment” disorder.

Since 2008, the Army Surgeon General must approve any personality disorder discharges. Since that rule was enacted, the number of discharges for adjustment disorder has risen.

VA mental health professionals say that if someone experiences adjustment issues due to combat stress for three months, the diagnosis should be changed to PTSD. Service members discharged because their PTSD interferes with their ability to perform their jobs automatically receive a disability rating of 50 percent and health care benefits. Discharges for adjustment disorders do not bring the same benefits.

“We’re looking to see if the personality discharges went down as adjustment disorders went up,” said Tasha Brown, of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School.

Brown said that an average of 3,750 troops were discharged for personality discharge every year from 2001 to 2007. In 2008, that number dropped to 960, and again to 650 so far in 2010.

Discharges for adjustment disorder have risen from 1,452 in 2006 to 3,840 in 2009.

Berger said he hopes the lawsuit will convince Congress to mandate a review of the personality disorder discharges and to force the Defense Department to make reparations to service members who were wrongfully discharged.