The Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be dodging its responsibilities to veterans in need of mental healthcare by seeking to appeal a ruling made by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last spring. The side effects of the VA’s stonewalling include an increased burden on the nation’s healthcare system and dire consequences for the veterans in need of services.
Citing the VA’s “unchecked incompetence,” the Ninth U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals ruled that veterans’ groups could pursue legal proceedings to force the VA to overhaul its procedures so that veterans in need of healthcare, in particular, in need of mental health services, will get those services in a timely manner.
Two veterans groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, sued the VA, claiming that the VA’s bureaucracy was so slow, veterans were not getting timely care and adjudication of claims. Veterans suffering from mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are often forced to wait weeks for services as the VA system struggles under an overwhelming demand for mental health services. The court case noted that on an average day, 18 veterans commit suicide – a quarter of those are enrolled to receive health services from the VA – and another 1,000 of VA-enrolled veterans attempt to take their own lives each month.
The three-panel appellate judges in San Francisco found that the “VA’s failure to provide adequate procedures for veterans facing prejudicial delays in the delivery of mental healthcare violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment” and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Instead of meeting with the veterans’ groups to find a solution, the VA is asking for a rehearing with a full appellate panel saying, among other things, that the Veterans Judicial Review Act prevents courts from second-guessing the VA’s decision-making processes. The veterans’ groups are requesting the VA’s petition be denied.
The longer the VA delays fixing its system, the more strain is placed on veterans and their families, and the nation’s healthcare and public support systems, noted Mark Covall, president and chief executive officer of National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems.
“If the VA is not doing what they need to do, then these individuals will be seeking care and most likely that’s going to be in an emergency situation – that’s going to be one of the spots where we’ll see an increasing number of vets come to, and ultimately, that puts an additional burden on the system, unless they had some kind of private insurance,” he said.
“I think in some ways the VA is somewhat overwhelmed (by the high demand for mental health services) with so many of these returning vets having PTSD and other types of traumatic brain injuries and so forth, that result in some real serious behavioral and psychiatric problems,” Covall added. “I do think that they were not fully prepared, and probably to this day are not fully prepared, to really take on the demand and the very difficult needs that a lot of these returning vets are having.”
[See also: VA spending increases on post-traumatic stress disorder research.]
Many vets who cannot get treatment for their mental health issues often find themselves unable to get or keep jobs, which often results in homelessness, and in some cases, incarceration, Covall pointed out.
Veterans with mental health issues who end up living on the streets or find themselves in jail is a growing problem, Covall said, and he doesn’t think the VA can handle it on its own.
“I don’t think the VA is in a position to do this alone, although I know that they have been hesitant, and I think, still nationally are hesitant, to go out beyond their walls as much as I think they probably should,” he said. And while he couldn’t speak to the particulars of the court case, given the deadly consequences for so many veterans, he said “the focus right now should be on those military folks that are coming back that have serious mental health problems and addictive problems. As I said, to get them the care and the services they need should be the priority of everybody.”
The VA declined to comment for this story.
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