The Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008 (Updated)
Rep. Tom Allen, representing Maine’s 1st district, has introduced The Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008 (H.R. 5448) which acts on the recommendations put forward by the Veterans Disability Commission and seeks to remove the often absurd hurdles placed in front of veterans trying to established service connection to their PTSD.
The full text of this legislation can be found here (PDF link)
The quote below is from Rep. Tom Allen’s press release
“The goal of my bill is to improve diagnosis, compensation, and treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD,” Representative Allen said. “The largest and most significant change my bill would make is to change the standard of proof for veterans who do not have full military records to verify that the cause of their PTSD occurred during service- known as an in-service stressor. Above all, my bill assures that our nation acknowledges that for our veterans with PTSD their experience in the military forever changed them and left them with scars they will carry throughout their lives.”
Representative Allen noted that under current law, veterans must have both a PTSD diagnosis and military documentation or two “buddy statements” that the stressor occurred during service. This has led to situations where it is clear to mental health professionals that an event during a veteran’s service caused the veteran’s PTSD, but the veteran is not eligible to receive compensation for disability because of incomplete military records.
“This has led to situations where it is clear to mental health professionals that an event during a veteran’s service caused the veteran’s PTSD, but the veteran is not eligible to receive compensation for disability because of incomplete military records,” Representative Allen said. “For these veterans, under my bill, a diagnosis of PTSD by a mental health care professional who establishes a logical relationship between exposure to military stressors and current PTSD symptoms is enough to prove that the PTSD is service connected.”
Representative Allen’s legislation also requires VA employees responsible rating disability compensation claims involving PTSD successfully complete a certification program that incorporates best practices issued by the VA’s National Center on PTSD. It directs the VA to audit the examinations Department of Veterans Affairs mental health professionals conduct for veterans who submit claims for PTSD disability compensation to ensure that such employees take sufficient time necessary to diagnose and accurately rate the severity of the disorder. And, it requires that the documents mental health professionals consider when evaluating for PTSD and raters rating the claims must include the veteran’s records from VA Vet Centers along with written opinions of any medical professional providing mental health care.
Please contact your Representative to ask them support or co-sponsor The Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008.
Update:
On July 12, 2008 the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a legislative hearing on pending legislation which included H.R. 5448, The Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008. Below are excerpts from the Congressman’s testimony.
Veterans for Common Sense reviewed VA documents to determine the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans diagnosed with PTSD—about 67,000. The organization also found the VA concluded that only about half of these veterans have a service-connected disability. This raises the question of the status for the other 30,000 or so veterans. Some veterans may not know they can file a claim or may still have a claim pending. But as I have learned from veterans in my district, proving that PTSD is service-connected can be very difficult, particularly for veterans of older conflicts. And denial of service-connection leaves these veterans without access to VA health benefits or disability compensation.
The veteran, not the agency that possesses the records, has the burden of producing documents that prove the trauma occurred. How was Terry Belanger, a disabled veteran in Biddeford, Maine, supposed to find the records that the government said it didn’t have the time or money to look for? His doctors confirmed he had PTSD. His nightmares and flashbacks referred to his time in Vietnam. The Army trusted him when he served his country. Why should we distrust him now, in his time of need?
Indeed, what is remarkable about Terry’s case is that the records were ever uncovered. It happened only because Terry was so persistent and would not let his family down. He kept filing and appealing until finally, after sixteen years, someone in the National Archives found thousands of pages that they had missed before.
Under my common sense bill, if a veteran is diagnosed by a certified medical health professional as suffering from PTSD related to the veteran’s military service, the VA must accept this finding as sufficient proof of service-connection. As with other disability claims, the VA must resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. However, the VA can rebut this finding of service-connection by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. Thus, if contrary evidence exists, and the VA produces it, the claim will not be allowed.
Under my bill, veterans like Terry Belanger would not have to wait two decades for the VA to find the relevant records. The law would also help the many veterans whose traumatic experience in the service never made it into official records. The new standards in my bill would apply to all veterans diagnosed with PTSD, not just those from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would also acknowledge the inherent dangers of military service and be applicable to all those who served our nation in uniform, not just those who faced combat. It also accommodates cases of PTSD related to military sexual trauma that may not have happened in a combat zone.
You can read Congressman Allen’s full testimony before the committee here.
