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Ripping off Vets...the Military Way
Rising Hegemon —
This is disgusting and burned deep within the bureaucratic psychology of the VA no doubt: "OK," McNinch told Sgt. X. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS [instead]." McNinch told him that Army medical boards were "kick[ing] back" his diagnoses of PTSD, saying soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have "serious PTSD issues." "Unfortunately," McNinch told Sgt. X, "yours has ...
ThinkFast: April 8, 2009
Think Progress —
... A veteran patient named “Sgt. X” recorded an conversation with a V.A. psychologist last June who told him, “All the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD.” Salon writes that the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate the matter, and the Army “cleared itself of any wrongdoing” in its own internal investigation. Listen to the recorded conversation ...
The WonkLine: April 8, 2009
Wonk Room —
... According to a secret recording of psychologist Douglas McNinch, clinicians “are being pressured” by the Army to not diagnose post traumatic stress disorder, because soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have “serious PTSD issues.” ...
Army Pushing Psychologists to Misdiagnose PTSD
The Latest on Air America —
... say they are being pressured by the U.S. Army to ignore symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, because diagnoses of PTSD requires years of expensive long-term care. The investigation began when an injured sergeant covertly recorded an appointment he had with a military doctor, during which the doctor explained his less-severe diagnosis of "anxiety disorder" and not PTSD. The doctor, Douglas McNinch, did not know he was being recorded when he decided to level with his patient, "Sgt. X" : "OK," McNinch told Sgt. X. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would ...
Supprt the Troops
Shakesville —
I don't even have the words to convey how indescribably angry this makes me: Army psychologist Douglas McNinch was inadvertently caught on tape by his patient, "Sgt. X," explaining that he and other Army clinicians were "being pressured to not diagnose PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS [instead]," and revealing that the Army's medical boards were rejecting "his diagnoses of PTSD, saying soldiers had not seen enough trauma to have 'serious PTSD issues'." ...
Wednesday's Mini-Report
Political Animal —
... . * Has the Army pressured medical staff not to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorders? * Speaking of veterans' issues, Tammy Duckworth ...
Army Pressuring Doctors to Fudge PTSD Diagnoses
COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us —
... to do about treatment?' And they said, 'Oh, we are just counting people. We don't plan on treating them.'" McNinch replied, "'You are bringing a generation of brain-damaged individuals back here. You have got to get a game plan together for this public health crisis.'" When McNinch learned he would be quoted in a Salon article, he cut off further questions. He also said he would deny the interview took place. Salon, however, had recorded the conversation. Read the whole thing here. Ugly. Time to create a few more brain injuries. By ...
Friday Linkfest
Comments from Left Field —
... A Salon investigative piece about Army doctors being pressured not to diagnose PTSD was sparked after an Iraq combat veteran used a pocket recording device to tape a session with his psychologist (because he had memory problems related to a traumatic head injury). ...
Jon Soltz: Why Army Suicides Continued to Rise In May, and What We Can Do
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... of the VA Center in Temple, TX last year. In that case, there was talk of not giving veterans a proper PTSD diagnosis, because of the cost of having to pay disability to those veterans. Then, Mark Benjamin at Salon.com uncovered an extremely similar case involving doctors at Fort Carson, under pressure to deny soldiers PTSD. That needs to end. ...
