CREW AND VOTEVETS.ORG ASK HOUSE ARMED SERVICES TO INVESTIGATE ARMY MISDIAGNOSES OF SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS WITH PTSD

5 May 2009 // Washington, D.C. – In light of news reports that the Army has instituted the cost-cutting practice of ordering doctors to misdiagnose soldiers returning from battle with anxiety disorder rather than post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org today asked the chair of the House Armed Services Committee to investigate the extent of this outrageous practice.

Last month, Salon.com reported on a series of conversations at Fort Carson last summer between a sergeant and his psychologist, Dr. Douglas McNinch, during which the doctor admitted he was under pressure from the Army to avoid diagnosing soldiers with PTSD. The sergeant, who taped his conversations because he suffers from memory problems due to brain injuries, met with Dr. McNinch to learn why the doctor had told the medical evaluation board responsible for the Army’s disability payment system that the sergeant suffered from anxiety disorder rather than PTSD. Dr. McNinch explained, on tape, “I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all clinicians up here are being pressured not to diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS instead.” Dr. McNinch continued, “yours has not been the only case . . . I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It’s not fair. I think it’s a horrible way to treat soldiers . . .” Dr. McNinch has explained he was pressured to misdiagnose PTSD cases by a colonel, who was then head of Fort Carson’s Department of Behavioral Health.

With a diagnosis of anxiety disorder, the sergeant would receive substantially lower benefits upon a discharge for a disability.

Despite these recorded conversations the Army refused to take any action, relying instead on its own seriously flawed internal investigation. Salon.com revealed that when Gen. Richard Cody, then vice-chief of staff, met with the sergeant’s legal representatives last July, he stated, “There is no one in leadership telling doctors to do this . . . This is not Army policy.” Two weeks later, the Army formally completed its internal investigation concluding that none of the Army’s medical staff had attempted to influence or coerce the outcome of clinical evaluations. The Army’s investigative report admitted, however, that there are “potential systemic pressures” that “may lead providers to avoid making a diagnosis of PTSD...contrary to their clinical judgment.” Neither the sergeant who taped his conversation with Dr. McNinch, nor the Army officer Dr. McNinch identified as pressuring him to misdiagnose soldiers was interviewed.

CREW and VoteVets.org are asking the House Committee to investigate because the Senate Armed Services Committee refused to do so.

The refusal to diagnose PTSD may be a systemic problem throughout the military. As exposed last year by CREW and VoteVets.org, and through a hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the Department of Veterans Affairs has also pressured health professionals to diagnose adjustment disorder rather than PTSD in soldiers returning from war.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today, “It is outrageous that those who are supposed to take care of our service members and veterans will so easily compromise their health. Attempting to cut costs is reasonable, but changing diagnoses is not akin to cutting coupons. Those who serve our nation so heroically deserve better treatment.”

“Talk to anyone who has served recently, and they can tell you they have experienced an issue with a non or under-diagnosis of PTSD, or know someone who has,” said Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org. “This is a problem we’ve all heard of in the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs, and yet, there has yet to be a real investigation of the issue. Chairman Skelton has a chance to do a real service for those who serve in our military by investigating this issue with the scrutiny it deserves.”

Read CREW and VoteVets.org’s letter to the House Armed Services Committee in the Related Documents section on the right.