Please, do not let Brandon Friedman's VoteVets diary slide into oblivion; it deserves to be atop the recommended list.
Today, VoteVets.org and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) released a bombshell of an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee. The email directs VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Brandon Friedman's diary is presenting hard evidence, documentary evidence, that the VA is pushing on medical staff to avoid making appropriate diagnoses so that the VA can save money. This policy denies vets an opportunity to seek and obtain appropriate mental health care.
One result, largely unreported, is the significant number of vets who commit suicide. This happens on a daily basis, and is a little-noted cost of war. Beancounters at the VA are scrimping to save dollars, while soldiers, veterans and their families are paying the highest price imaginable.
It is time to stop stigmatizing mental health care, and start providing necessary and appropriate care to vets. That cannot happen unless and until correct diagnoses are given.
Please recommend Brandon Friedman's diary. Thanks.
UPDATE: Thanks to all who recommended Brandon's diary after it slid off the homepage. It is now on the Rec list. Please help keep this issue front and center.