Study Casts Doubt On Vets' Care

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
May 2, 2008 Care for many brain-injured Iraq veterans falls short, the VA said.
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Many Iraq war veterans with traumatic brain injury are not getting adequate health care and job assistance for their long-term recovery despite years of government pledges to provide such care, Veterans Affairs Department investigators say.
"Significant needs remain unmet," according to the report released yesterday by the VA's inspector general. The report is the first to examine the Bush administration's long-term efforts in supporting veterans with traumatic brain injury, a leading problem among troops struck by roadside bombs that often causes lasting emotional and behavioral difficulties.
The study tracked 52 patients who received VA treatment after sustaining brain injury over seven months in 2004. An initial review by the inspector general in 2006 found gaps in follow-up care and family counseling 16 months after the injury and urged the VA to improve long-term case management.
The VA pledged to coordinate the necessary follow-up care with the Pentagon, but the latest audit concluded that efforts were still falling short for roughly one in four patients.
It found that 10 of the 41 veterans who agreed to be interviewed said they were not getting needed help for health care, vocational rehabilitation, family support or housing. At least four cited trouble in getting primary or specialty eye care, and others reported gaps with family counseling for problems such as depression and anger.
'Too little, too short' "This is very troubling," said Michael O'Rourke, assistant director for veterans health policy at Veterans of Foreign Wars. "The fact of the matter is from the very beginning, VA and Defense went in with too little, too short [on resources], because they weren't expecting this to be a prolonged conflict of war.
"I've seen a lot of effort to correct problems that exist," he said. "But constant vigilance is required."
The report included a VA response in which the department acknowledged problems with case management but said that with recent improvements, it now had "systems in place to ensure that all veterans with TBI are being followed as their clinical needs require."
For example, the VA pointed to plans announced last week to start calling 570,000 recent combat veterans to make sure they know what services are available to them.
'Positive steps' In the audit, investigators praised the new measures as "positive steps" but questioned whether the VA's latest promise to keep watch over veterans would prove to be a reality. They said that "at least eight of 49 veterans we contacted had significant unmet needs and no evidence of VA case management in the previous year."
"We continue to be concerned that all veterans discharged after inpatient rehabilitation for TBI receive case management, unless this has been explicitly denied by the patient," investigators stated, adding that they would continue monitoring the VA to ensure Iraq War veterans are receiving the care they need.
The report comes amid renewed scrutiny of the Bush administration's efforts in treating veterans with traumatic brain injury, which in its mild form is known as a concussion, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder in light of a prolonged Iraq war.
About 19 percent, or an estimated 320,000, of U.S. combat troops who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan may have suffered head injuries, a recent RAND Corp. study said.
 
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