Veterans Affairs Minister to investigate lump-sum payments

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Jean Pierre Blackburn to release survey of ombudsman’s report on Veterans Charter

Jean Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Veterans Affairs

On June 15th, the Minister of Veterans Affairs told the House of Commons that he was getting ready to make public a report on lump-sum benefits paid to Canadian veterans.

Prior to the Veterans Charter introduced in 2006 by the Conservative government, veterans of Canadian Forces received a lifetime benefit if they became disabled in action. Report earlier this year said that many veterans, especially those suffering from PTSD, were not prepared to become their own investment advisers to wisely invest the funds.

“Some people have criticized the lump sum payment,” said Blackburn during Question Period. “I personally went to Valcartier to hear what was said when the ombudsman held his consultation. I was so concerned by this point that I asked our department to verify what those receiving the lump sum payment were doing with their money: were they spending it carefully or, on the contrary, inappropriately. In the next few days, we will be releasing the results of this survey.”
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Military and Congress slow to respond to brain injured soldiers

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Byline

Part 2 of Brain Injuries Undiagnosed in Thousands of Soldiers and the response is slow

ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff is carried on a stretcher from a bus to a medical evacuation plane at Ramstein airbase, southern Germany, on Jan. 31, 2006. (Michael Probst/AP Photo)

See Part 2 of Brain Injuries Undiagnosed in Thousands of Soldiers

by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, and Daniel Zwerdling, NPR, ProPublica – WASHINGTON, D.C.

Missing Records

The military’s handling of traumatic brain injuries has drawn heated criticism before.

ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff chronicled the difficulties soldiers faced in getting treatment for head traumas after recovering from one himself, suffered in a 2006 roadside bombing in Iraq.

The following year, a Washington Post series about substandard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital described the plight of several soldiers with brain injuries.Members of Congress responded by dedicating more than $1.7 billion to research and treatment of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, a psychological disorder common among soldiers returning from war. They passed a law requiring the military to test soldiers’ cognitive functions before and after deployment so brain injuries wouldn’t go undetected.

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Brain Injuries Undiagnosed in Thousands of Soldiers

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Byline

Military medical system is failing to diagnose brain injuries in troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, part 1 of 2

William Fraas during occupational therapy at Mentis Neuro Rehabilitation Center in El Paso, Texas. Fraas survived several roadside blasts in Iraq, but suffered brain damage. (Blake Gordon/Aurora Photos)

by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, and Daniel Zwerdling, NPR

ProPublica - WASHINGTON, D.C.–The military medical system is failing to diagnose brain injuries in troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom receive little or no treatment for lingering health problems, an investigation by ProPublica and NPR has found.

So-called mild traumatic brain injury has been called one of the wars’ signature wounds. Shock waves from roadside bombs can ripple through soldiers’ brains, causing damage that sometimes leaves no visible scars but may cause lasting mental and physical harm.

Officially, military figures say about 115,000 troops have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries since the wars began. But top Army officials acknowledged in interviews that those statistics likely understate the true toll. Tens of thousands of troops with such wounds have gone uncounted, according to unpublished military research obtained by ProPublica and NPR. Continue reading →

PTSD is real not fraud say veterans

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Byline

Associated Press story claiming fraud from post traumatic stress syndrome is stereotypical bad reporting and not real

photo - VA Watchdog

Editor – the media are locked in the past when they print stories that portray people with disabilities as either heroes conquering all or shirkers collecting disability pensions. Last week AP printed another in the long line of unsubstantiated reports that many PTSD claims were fraudulent. In tide of new PTSD cases, fear of growing fraud. The story is simply not true. Veterans for common sense responds.

By VCS – On May 1, the Associated Press printed an incomplete and inaccurate article about veterans who file disability claims against the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Without citing a source, AP wrote, “The problem: The [VA claims] system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.” Continue reading →

Vets With PTSD Eligible For More Disability Benefits

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Thousands of US veterans from the Afghan and Iraq wars who’ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome could receive larger disability checks from the government.

The federal government has settled a lawsuit with The National Veterans Legal Services Program and is mailing letters to some veterans to explain. About 4,300 veterans are being contacted. Need to check whether you’re affected by this? Visit ptsdlawsuit.com to learn more.
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Bogus study says post-traumatic stress disorder being over-diagnosed

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Stephen Pate

Dr. Muhammed Amin says PTSD is over diagnosed

Memorial University psychiatrist Dr. Amin Muhammad promotes research based on personal observation not science

Study says post-traumatic stress disorder being over-diagnosed reads the headline but the story is false.

Dr. Muhammed Amin, self-proclaimed expert on post traumatic stress syndrome, declares in copyrighted CP story today that “post-traumatic stress disorder is being over-diagnosed in Canada and the western world — a potentially costly situation that could lead to skyrocketing disability claims.” CP

The claim is not substantiated by medical science but it based on his “own experience, those of his colleagues and the vast amount of literature that currently exists about PTSD”. CP

This story will not doubt get re-printed without fact checking by newspapers around the world as a new revelation. How timely that Dr. Amin makes the claim a few days after Remembrance when Canadians and many western countries honor those who served in the military.

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Enable America Endorses President Obama’s Plan

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Stephen Pate

Lawyer Richard Salem, childhood blindness encouraged him to found Enable America

My administration is committed to ensuring that all Americans have the chance to fulfill their potential and contribute to our nation, President Obama

Enable America, a non-profit devoted to improving employment for disabled veterans and others with disabilities, is applauding new initiatives announced by President Barack Obama, that will open new opportunities for employment.

PR.com Enable America, a non-profit organization devoted to improving employment for disabled veterans and others with disabilities, is praising President Barack Obama’s initiatives to ensure fair and equal access to employment for all Americans, including people with disabilities.

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US Veterans wait more than a year for VA claims

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Stephen Pate

US soldiers with disability claims can wait over a year photo: pix4notes.wordpress.com

Delayed payments have the potential to adversely affect the economic status and quality of life for veterans who are eligible for benefits

The US Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General reported September 23, 2009 that 11,000 veterans have waited 448 days on average to have their claims processed.

Delays were based on workload management delays from organizations outside the VA, the report said.

“We projected that inefficient VARO workload management and/or claims processing activities performed by entities outside VARO control delayed 11,063, almost all of the 11,099 claims. Workload management is a coordinated system used to control how claims and other work move through the adjudicative process.” Continue reading →

President Obama wants to start email campaign on health care reform

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Stephen Pate

President Barack Obama listens to a question during a town hall meeting on health care reform, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009, at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, N.H. photo: US News / AP

Plenty of argument on both sides, this is the President’s case

The White House wants to start an email campaign to counter what it calls “viral emails that fly unchecked and under the radar, spreading all sorts of lies and distortions.”

Up in Canada, we already have government paid health care which we wouldn’t give up for all the tea in china.

My brother had a fantastic, upper executive Silicon Valley job with the best private health care plan. He had a heart attack. After being in a coma for 18 days the insurance ran out.

Luckily he had another heart attack which was worth five more days of hospital care. The doctors and the hospital pushed the closest relative, his 19 year old daughter, to pull the plug based on “the cost to maintain in a vegetative state.”

We don’t have to make those decisions in Canada if we want to hope for improvement. I believe he was alive in his coma. He would cry when his daughter visited and frown at me when I tried to get a reaction.

My brother died the day they pulled the plug on his life support. Continue reading →

124th Canadian soldier murdered by our politicians

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Stephen Pate

124 Canadian soldiers have been murdered by our politicians

Eight years in a foreign war with no end in sight for some amorphous reason and the ego of Stephen Harper

With story from AFP

The 123rd and 124th Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan on Monday in a Griffon helicopter crash.

Prime Minister Harper and Defense Minister Peter MacKay will utter those empty words “Our hearts go out the families. They have our condolences.” Continue reading →

Veterans lose benefits while politicians send young to their fate

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Stephen Pate

Canadian soldiers evacuate injured personnel after their armoured vehicle was struck by an oncoming vehicle outside of Kandahar City. The March 31, 2006, incident wounded two Canadian soldiers. (Robin Mugridge/Combat Camera/Canadian Forces)

Canadian soldiers evacuate injured personnel after their armored vehicle was struck by an oncoming vehicle outside of Kandahar City. The March 31, 2006, incident wounded two Canadian soldiers. (Robin Mugridge/Combat Camera/Canadian Forces)

Lump sum payments save Government and penalize veterans who risk their lives for what?

With story from Charlottetown Guardian

The Canadian Government has perpetrated a fraud on disabled Canadian Forces soldiers called New Veterans Charter, as of April 1, 2006. Instead of the disability pension benefit that provided for their needs on a monthly basis for life, they now receive a lump sum benefit $260,843.84.

It amazes me how politicians like our Prime Minister Stephen Harper can pontificate with solemn patriotism about the need for men and women to fight in Afghanistan while scrimping on their needs when they come back home with disabilities.

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