Index
A Victory for Veterans
Published: May 18, 2011 --- Editorial --- The New York Times
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered an overhaul of mental health care for veterans,
who are killing themselves by the thousands each year because of what the court called the “unchecked incompetence” of the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
In a scathing 2-to-1 ruling on May 10, the judges said delays in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-
related mental injuries violated veterans’ constitutional rights. The delays are getting worse as more troops return from
Afghanistan and Iraq, the judges said.
About 18 veterans commit suicide on an average day.
Het Hof van Beroep van de Verenigde Staten voor het Ninth Circuit gaf opdracht voor een revisie
van de geestelijke gezondheidszorg voor veteranen, die met duizenden per jaar zelfmoord plegen
als gevolg van wat de rechtbank noemde de "ongecontroleerde incompetentie" van het Department
of Veterans Affairs. In een vernietigende 2-tegen-een uitspraak op 10 mei, verklaarden de rechters
dat vertragingen in de behandeling van post-traumatische stress stoornis en ander door gevechts-
handelingen veroorzaakt psychisch letsel de grondwettelijke rechten schenden van veteranen.
Volgens de rechters worden de vertragingen steeds groter naarmate er meer troepen terug komen uit Afghanistan en Irak.
Op een gemiddelde dag plegen ongeveer 18 veteranen zelfmoord.
The government’s obligations are clear. Veterans are entitled by law to be treated for injuries and illnesses. Benefits claims are supposed to be dealt with in days or weeks, but it takes an average of more than four years to fully adjudicate a mental health claim. When a veteran appeals a disability rating, the process bogs down drastically. The problem is an overwhelmed bureaucracy and a chronic inadequacy of resources and planning.
The judges said the system for screening suicidal patients was ineffective, and cited a 2007 inspector general’s conclusion that suicide-prevention measures were mostly absent. The same report found that the veterans department’s regional medical centers have suicide-prevention experts, but its 800 community-based outpatient clinics — which veterans most often use — do not. This crisis plagues active-duty soldiers, too, and the Pentagon has lagged in responding effectively. The government has long known what it was up against with P.T.S.D. and brain injuries — the signature afflictions of current wars.
This new ruling came two years after the appeal was filed, during which lawyers for the government and the nonprofit advocacy organizations that sued, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, were trying to negotiate a plan for fixing the system. Those negotiations did not succeed, so the judges have remanded the case to the district court to order one.
The government can keep appealing, but it should work with the advocates and enact a plan to fulfill the promise of the veterans affairs secretary, Eric Shinseki, to do better. For 25 million veterans, including 1.6 million who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the choice is clear.
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Published: May 18, 2011 --- Editorial --- The New York Times
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered an overhaul of mental health care for veterans,
who are killing themselves by the thousands each year because of what the court called the “unchecked incompetence” of the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
In a scathing 2-to-1 ruling on May 10, the judges said delays in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-
related mental injuries violated veterans’ constitutional rights. The delays are getting worse as more troops return from
Afghanistan and Iraq, the judges said.
About 18 veterans commit suicide on an average day.
Het Hof van Beroep van de Verenigde Staten voor het Ninth Circuit gaf opdracht voor een revisie
van de geestelijke gezondheidszorg voor veteranen, die met duizenden per jaar zelfmoord plegen
als gevolg van wat de rechtbank noemde de "ongecontroleerde incompetentie" van het Department
of Veterans Affairs. In een vernietigende 2-tegen-een uitspraak op 10 mei, verklaarden de rechters
dat vertragingen in de behandeling van post-traumatische stress stoornis en ander door gevechts-
handelingen veroorzaakt psychisch letsel de grondwettelijke rechten schenden van veteranen.
Volgens de rechters worden de vertragingen steeds groter naarmate er meer troepen terug komen uit Afghanistan en Irak.
Op een gemiddelde dag plegen ongeveer 18 veteranen zelfmoord.
The government’s obligations are clear. Veterans are entitled by law to be treated for injuries and illnesses. Benefits claims are supposed to be dealt with in days or weeks, but it takes an average of more than four years to fully adjudicate a mental health claim. When a veteran appeals a disability rating, the process bogs down drastically. The problem is an overwhelmed bureaucracy and a chronic inadequacy of resources and planning.
The judges said the system for screening suicidal patients was ineffective, and cited a 2007 inspector general’s conclusion that suicide-prevention measures were mostly absent. The same report found that the veterans department’s regional medical centers have suicide-prevention experts, but its 800 community-based outpatient clinics — which veterans most often use — do not. This crisis plagues active-duty soldiers, too, and the Pentagon has lagged in responding effectively. The government has long known what it was up against with P.T.S.D. and brain injuries — the signature afflictions of current wars.
This new ruling came two years after the appeal was filed, during which lawyers for the government and the nonprofit advocacy organizations that sued, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, were trying to negotiate a plan for fixing the system. Those negotiations did not succeed, so the judges have remanded the case to the district court to order one.
The government can keep appealing, but it should work with the advocates and enact a plan to fulfill the promise of the veterans affairs secretary, Eric Shinseki, to do better. For 25 million veterans, including 1.6 million who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the choice is clear.
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