You'll want to keep an eye on a class-action case "Veterans For Common Sense et al. v. Mansfield, Case No. C 07 3758, U.S.D.C. (N.D. Cal. 2007)"
This is a federal lawsuit on behalf of veterans with pending VA claims based upon PTSD.
You are invited to learn more:
http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/
New! Here's a page linking to case filings (very useful stuff): http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/cfd.html
2 comments:
The incidence of PTSD appears to be high amoung the veterans out of Iraq. The following article cites an interesting statistic:
"Evan Kanter, MD, PhD, staff psychiatrist in the PTSD Outpatient Clinic of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, said that estimates are for a minimum of 300,000 psychiatric casualties from service in Iraq, to this point, with an estimated lifetime cost of treatment of $660 billion. That is more than the actual cost of the war to date ($500 billion)."
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/565407
According to a SF Chroncle write who's sorting through the filings, "Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues ..."
"...They said the law entitles veterans only to "medical care which the secretary (of Veterans Affairs) determines is needed, and only to the extent funds ... are available."
"The argument drew a sharp retort from a lawyer for advocacy groups that sued the government in July. The suit is a proposed class action on behalf of 320,000 to 800,000 veterans or their survivors.
"Veterans need to know in this country that the government thinks all their benefits are mere gratuities," attorney Gordon Erspamer said. "They're saying it's completely discretionary, that even if Congress appropriates money for veterans' health care, we can do anything we want with it."
Read and decide for yourself:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/05/MNQLUQ4IS.DTL
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