Military Doctors Withholding Treatment from Soldiers with Mental Health Problems
The military is denying crucial care to soldiers, making them vulnerable on the battlefield.
Since 9/11, one Army division has spent more time in Iraq than any
other group of soldiers: the 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort
Drum, New York.
Over the past 6 years and and six months, their 2nd Brigade Combat
Team (BCT) has been the most deployed brigade in the army. As of this
month, the brigade had completed its fourth tour of Iraq. All in all,
the soldiers of BCT have spent 40 months in Iraq.
At what cost? According to a February 13 report
issued by the Veterans for America’s (VFA) Wounded Warrior Outreach
Program, which is dedicated to strengthening the military mental health
system, it is not just their bodies that have been maimed and, in some
cases, destroyed. Many of these soldiers are suffering from severe
mental health problems that have led to suicide attempts as well as
spousal abuse and alcoholism.
As the VFA report points out, “Mental health experts have explained
that ’shifting the goalposts’ on a soldier’s deployment period greatly
contributes to an increase in mental health problems.”
Perhaps it
should not come as a surprise that, during its most recent deployment,
the 2nd BCT suffered heavy casualties. “Fifty-two members of the 2nd
BCT were killed in action (KIA),” the VFA reports and “270 others were
listed as non-fatality casualties, while two members of the unit remain
missing in action (MIA).”
This level of losses is unusual. “On their most recent deployment,”
the VFA report notes, “members of the 2nd BCT were more than five times
as likely to be killed as others who have been deployed to OEF and OIF
and more than four times likely to be wounded.” One can only wonder to
what degree depression and other mental health problems made them more
vulnerable to attack.
When they finally returned to Fort Drum,
these soldiers faced winter conditions that the report describes as
“dreary, with snow piled high and spring still months away. More than a
dozen soldiers reported low morale, frequent DUI arrests, and rising
AWOL, spousal abuse, and rates of attempted suicide. Soldiers also
reported that given the financial realities of the Army, some of their
fellow soldiers had to resort to taking second jobs such as delivering
pizzas to supplement their family income.”
What has the army done to help the soldiers at Fort Drum? Too little.
In recent months, VFA reports, it has been contacted by a number of
soldiers based at Fort Drum who are concerned about their own mental
health and the health of other members of their units. In response, VFA
launched an investigation of conditions at Fort Drum, and what it found
was shocking.
Soldiers told the VFA that “the leader of the mental health
treatment clinic at Fort Drum asked soldiers not to discuss their
mental health problems with people outside the base. Attempts to keep
matters ‘in house’ foster an atmosphere of secrecy and shame,” the
report observed “that is not conducive to proper treatment for
combat-related mental health injuries.”
The investigators also discovered that “some military mental health providers
have argued that a number of soldiers fake mental health injuries to increase the
likelihood that they will be deemed unfit for combat and/or for further
military service.”
The report notes that a “conversation with a leading expert in treating combat psychological wounds” confirmed “that some military commanders at Fort Drum doubt the validity of mental
health wounds in some soldiers, thereby undermining treatment
prescribed by civilian psychiatrists” at the nearby Samaritan Medical
Center in Watertown, NY.
Because some soldiers do not trust Samaritan, the report reveals that a
number of “soldiers have sought treatment after normal base business
hours at a hospital in Syracuse, more than an hour’s drive from
Watertown … because they feared that Samaritan would side with base
leadership, which had, in some cases, cast doubt on the legitimacy of
combat-related mental health wounds.
According to the VFA, the problem of military doctors refusing to
back soldiers with mental health problems is widespread: “VFA’s work
across the country has confirmed that soldiers often need their doctors
to be stronger advocates for improved treatment by their commanders and
comrades. For instance, soldiers need doctors who are willing to push
back against commanders who doubt the legitimacy of combat-related
mental health injuries.”
While talking to soldiers at Fort Drum,
VFA also discovered “considerable stigma against mental health
treatment within the military and pressure within some units to deny
mental health problems as a result of combat.
Soldiers at Fort Drum are not alone. In an earlier report titled
“Trends in Treatment of America’s Wounded Warriors”
VFA disclosed that leaders of the military mental health treatment
system have been warning Department of Defense leadership of the
magnitude of the mental health crisis that is brewing.
©2008 BlueBloggin. All Rights Reserved.
.ShareThis
</img>
</img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img> </img>


(Source Link)