Vietnam
Veterans of America has joined a proposed class action lawsuit in Connecticut
against the armed forces. The lawsuit, filed by a veteran last year against the
Army, Navy and Air Force, states that Vietnam War-era veterans who suffered
PTSD were discharged under other-than-honorable conditions which meant they
were ineligible for disability and other benefits. The military has not
reviewed or upgraded the discharge statuses of thousands of those vets with
service-related PTSD. As John Rowan, national president of
Vietnam Veterans of America,
said, PTSD was not understood by mental health professionals when those vets
were in service.
"Now that diagnoses have been
updated," says veterans’ lawyer James Fausone, "it seems perfectly
reasonable that there are some vets who would like their discharge status
changed to reflect that."
The U.S. Attorney's Office is currently
reviewing the matter and plans to respond in court. The office is representing
the military in this lawsuit, which was filed by Vietnam vet John Shepherd.
Shepard says he was first diagnosed with PTSD in 2004, but repeatedly has had
his discharge upgrade requests denied. Shepherd is being represented by Yale Law
School students who are working at a Connecticut-based legal services
clinic for vets. According to those students, the Army has approved less than 2
percent of Vietnam vet upgrade applications since 2003, in sharp contrast to
the 46 percent of overall discharge upgrades. And, say the students, some of
the vets who are being denied an upgrade have been formally diagnosed with PTSD
by Veterans Affairs.
The students estimate that some
85,000 of the 250,000 other-than-honorably discharged Vietnam veterans had
PTSD. Their PTSD was likely a factor in the discharges that were based on
conduct including drug use, unauthorized absence without leave, and shirking.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,
is in support of the vets, and has reportedly been working in concert with the Yale
Law Clinic and federal agencies to attempt to resolve the issue. He stated that
though PTSD was not understood in the past, that should not preclude how cases
are assessed now.
No comments:
Post a Comment