ptsd More On Va Shreddergate Exposed

[allan]

More on VA Shreddergate Exposed

February 2, 2010 by Robert L. Hanafin · 5 Comments

Shreddergate

In the past two years we at Veterans Today have been following and reporting on Department of Veterans Affairs attempts to cut costs by shredding or otherwise destroying Veterans claims mostly for PTSD.

Both our Managing Editor Bob Higgins and Senior Editor Gordon Duff reported on aspect of this in Loss of Veteran Records Still Continues AND VA “Shreddergate” Whistleblower Still in Prison.

Now it has been revealed in a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against the VA that seeks investigation after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) admitted to destroying documents responsive to CREW’s May 2008 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The lawsuit CREW v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs stems from CREW’s FOIA request for documents related to the VA’s policy of under-diagnosing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after an email was revealed in which VA employee Norma Perez discussed this policy.

Since this issue first came to light, and continuing into the Obama administration, the VA has resisted providing any documents.

Most recently the VA claimed it had produced everything it had despite the fact that it had not even turned over Norma Perez’s email or – despite public outcry and congressional hearings on the matter – any other records referring to the email.

As a result, CREW argued the VA’s search clearly had been inadequate and, amazingly, the agency said that it couldn’t locate the email because it was destroyed in 2008, months after CREW filed both its FOIA request and this lawsuit. In fact, all the VA’s backup tapes were destroyed, including the one containing the Perez email. The VA says it cannot produce any emails predating December 9, 2008.

Based on the destruction of the records, CREW has asked the Court to let us depose VA employees who may have known exactly what the VA was doing about PTSD and the extent to which the agency refused to provide proper medical care for veterans with PTSD.

Anne Weismann, CREW’s chief counsel, stated, “It is incredible that with all of the public outrage and concern over this issue, the VA took no steps to preserve important records. This smacks of a cover-up to avoid liability for a disgraceful policy that deprived our nation’s veterans of appropriate health care.” Weismann continued, “The VA is not above the law; like all other agencies, it cannot simply destroy documents that have been requested under the FOIA just because those documents may cast the agency in a bad light.”

Click here to read CREW’s brief.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org, or contact Matt Jacob at (202) 408-5565 or mjacob@citizensforethics.org.

Read more at: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/02/02/mo...ergate-exposed/

[71M10]

Greetings all:

Two and one-half years ago when I started dealing with the VA again(I was passive on original post service claim) I also just thought it was an agency that had grown so large it couldn't function. Then I saw the shenanigans they got away with on my original rating in 1988 after i filed for an increase and got a copy of my C-file. My seperation physical has been disappeared from my sevice medical records. The one in which I was sent for multiple chest x-rays and sent over to the cardiology clinic to be cleared before out processing. Did i mention I have a claim in for hypertensive heart disease?

I believe there is a pervasive and malicious "us against them attitude" in the Benefits Administration division in VA. In some places the obstruction follows every rule and pauses frequently and for long periods to ensure everything is "right". Some places are more like sports teams. All know what the stated and unstated goals are, most players will follow the rules but some will intentionally commit that foul to try to gain an advantage for thier team. Unfortunately the few referees on the field are paid for by the home team.

Remember, millions of undesirables in 1930's-40's Germany were loaded up on trains to go to "Work Camps". I am not implying that the government is trying to murder veterans. But lets be clear, the non-adversarial veteran friendly VA isn't what it says it is (lets remember those "work" camps). The system could and would be fixed if those governing us wanted it fixed.

Best regards,

Tyler