Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he has asked the VA’s Inspector General to review diagnosis patterns at the facility.
The VA identified the sender of the e-mail as Norma Perez, who is a post-traumatic stress disorder team leader at the VA medical center in Temple. She is not a physician.
Temple-area veterans were not happy when they heard about the e-mail.
The Teague Medical Center psychologist obviously has never seen combat, said Jim Evans, junior vice commander and senior vice commander elect of VFW Post No. 4008.
“I think she spoke out of line and I think most veterans feel the same way,” Evans said.
Evans, who served in the Air Force from 1955 to 1964, said he hadn’t suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, but knew plenty who had.
“They’re still living with those memories,” he said.
Soldiers who have served their country and been put in harm’s way, Evans said, deserve all the help they can get.
At the Belton VFW Post No. 10377, Jerry Simpson Sr. wasn’t pleased with the information that someone on the VA staff would try to hinder a veteran receiving proper medical care.
“It’s just not good … they’re there to help the people,” Simpson said. “It’s not just those who have served in Iraq who need help - there are veterans of other wars who are suffering.”
Simpson was in the military from 1957 to 1977, serving one tour in Vietnam.
He said he was fortunate that he came home uninjured.
“I didn’t get the Purple Heart I didn’t want,” Simpson said.
After a copy of the e-mail was distributed Thursday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a congressional watchdog group, and the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans lobbying group VoteVets.org, VA Secretary James Peake said the action was by a single employee and that the agency was committed to accuracy.
The e-mail dated March 20 was forwarded to VoteVets.org. It said, “Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest that we refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out.”
A recent Rand Corp. study found that about one in five troops who served in the recent wars have symptoms of major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Akaka said in a statement that he asked Peake to provide renewed guidelines to all VA offices on the proper treatment of PTSD cases.
Last week, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., called Peake before his committee to answer questions about a different set of e-mails that had surfaced during a trial that seemed to suggest VA officials were hiding the number of veterans who were trying to commit suicide. Filner asked Peake to fire those involved with the e-mails, but Peake said after the hearing that he had no plans to do so.
Filner said Friday in an interview at his office that he will likely ask Peake to appear again to answer more questions. Filner said he wants to know what motivated the Texas employee to send the e-mail about saving the VA money.
“Where is she getting it from?” Filner said. “Why is she saying this? Who is giving her the order?”
Although the employee was a team leader, VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said Friday that the woman was not in management and her e-mail was just a suggestion. “We’re not aware of any other instances where this happened,” Aikele said.
(Telegram staff writer Janice Gibbs and The contributed to this report.)
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