Ward 54
Not too long ago I casually commented that the military seems to have gotten a much better at recognizing and treating PTSD. Apparently I spoke too soon. Good Lord, after the suffering of the Vietnam vets I thought there was no way that mental health treatment would slip through the cracks again. In fact, I was sort of worried that the treatment might be too aggressive. Not the case.
On Feb. 18th Salon ran a story called "Behind the Walls of Ward 54" which read in part:
"Perhaps most troubling, the Army seems bent on denying that the stress of war has caused the soldiers' mental trauma in the first place. (There is an economic reason for doing so: Mental problems from combat stress can require the Army to pay disability for years.) Soto-Ramirez's medical records reveal the economical mindset of an Army doctor who evaluated him. "Adequate care and treatment may prevent a claim against the government for PTSD," wrote a psychologist in Puerto Rico before sending him to Walter Reed."
There it is ... there is the root of the problem. Once again psychiatrists are in a role other than the one that they are meant to play. They are not there to save the Pentagon some cash and they are not there to protect the government from claims. They must be allowed to do what they are meant to do - to treat people who are having psychological problems to the very best of their ability.
In her blog "The Broad View" Ellen Dana Nagler writes:
"For some time now I've been collecting information on post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide in the armed forces, going all the way back to World War II. As my dossier grows, so does the evidence that today the Army is seriously short-changing its Iraq warriors by denying them the dignity of their service-related psychological disorders — which translates to denying them adequate treatment and denying them disability pay."
This travesty cannot be allowed to continue. Right now these people are soldiers - in a year or two they won't have that status anymore - they just be "crazies", perhaps homeless, and possibly end up in a jail cell where their illnesses will get much worse. Mentally ill people are so reviled in our society that they make the homosexual community look warmly accepted. If we are going to help these soldiers it has to happen now, before they are tossed aside.
On Feb. 18th Salon ran a story called "Behind the Walls of Ward 54" which read in part:
"Perhaps most troubling, the Army seems bent on denying that the stress of war has caused the soldiers' mental trauma in the first place. (There is an economic reason for doing so: Mental problems from combat stress can require the Army to pay disability for years.) Soto-Ramirez's medical records reveal the economical mindset of an Army doctor who evaluated him. "Adequate care and treatment may prevent a claim against the government for PTSD," wrote a psychologist in Puerto Rico before sending him to Walter Reed."
There it is ... there is the root of the problem. Once again psychiatrists are in a role other than the one that they are meant to play. They are not there to save the Pentagon some cash and they are not there to protect the government from claims. They must be allowed to do what they are meant to do - to treat people who are having psychological problems to the very best of their ability.
In her blog "The Broad View" Ellen Dana Nagler writes:
"For some time now I've been collecting information on post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide in the armed forces, going all the way back to World War II. As my dossier grows, so does the evidence that today the Army is seriously short-changing its Iraq warriors by denying them the dignity of their service-related psychological disorders — which translates to denying them adequate treatment and denying them disability pay."
This travesty cannot be allowed to continue. Right now these people are soldiers - in a year or two they won't have that status anymore - they just be "crazies", perhaps homeless, and possibly end up in a jail cell where their illnesses will get much worse. Mentally ill people are so reviled in our society that they make the homosexual community look warmly accepted. If we are going to help these soldiers it has to happen now, before they are tossed aside.
posted by Christine at Friday, February 25, 2005
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