Army colonel removed from post amid concerns over PTSD diagnoses
SEATTLE -- An Army colonel has been removed from his position amid concerns that soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder aren't being properly diagnosed.
The US Army Medical Command and the Western Regional Medical Command are investigating questions about whether bureaucratic red tape and a possible effort to save taxpayer money have have kept veterans from getting the correct diagnoses.
Until those questions are resolved, Col. Dallas Homas has been administratively removed from his post as commander of the Madigan Healthcare System.
Reached Monday, many veterans said PTSD is frequently under diagnosed and the issue needs to be properly addressed.
"I think it's a good thing that (Homas) has been relieved from his command. I think that there are a lot of veterans that are wrongly being disenfranchised of their rights," said Chanan Suarez, who served as a Navy corpsman for 5 years.
Suarez was diagnosed with PTSD, but it took roughly 10 months to get his paperwork back. Still, he considers himself lucky.
"A lot of times these higher ups encourage these doctors to diagnose these folks that have repeatedly been deployed with other diagnoses that isn't categorized as PTSD so they'll go and say you don't have PTSD you have a personality disorder," he said.
Fourteen soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord will soon receive the results from their PTSD re-evaluations. Officials from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center decided to take a second look at the the soldiers after concerns were raised about their initial diagnoses.
Adam Horton served in the Navy for 8 years, and just last week was diagnosed with PTSD.
"There's no emphasis on looking at it. There needs to be an outside objective opinion to this systemic problem as opposed to having military doctors look at military people," Horton said.
Although the current evaluations are complete, additional active duty soldiers have come forward asking for a re-evaluation at Walter Reed.
The US Army Medical Command and the Western Regional Medical Command are investigating questions about whether bureaucratic red tape and a possible effort to save taxpayer money have have kept veterans from getting the correct diagnoses.
Until those questions are resolved, Col. Dallas Homas has been administratively removed from his post as commander of the Madigan Healthcare System.
Reached Monday, many veterans said PTSD is frequently under diagnosed and the issue needs to be properly addressed.
"I think it's a good thing that (Homas) has been relieved from his command. I think that there are a lot of veterans that are wrongly being disenfranchised of their rights," said Chanan Suarez, who served as a Navy corpsman for 5 years.
Suarez was diagnosed with PTSD, but it took roughly 10 months to get his paperwork back. Still, he considers himself lucky.
"A lot of times these higher ups encourage these doctors to diagnose these folks that have repeatedly been deployed with other diagnoses that isn't categorized as PTSD so they'll go and say you don't have PTSD you have a personality disorder," he said.
Fourteen soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord will soon receive the results from their PTSD re-evaluations. Officials from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center decided to take a second look at the the soldiers after concerns were raised about their initial diagnoses.
Adam Horton served in the Navy for 8 years, and just last week was diagnosed with PTSD.
"There's no emphasis on looking at it. There needs to be an outside objective opinion to this systemic problem as opposed to having military doctors look at military people," Horton said.
Although the current evaluations are complete, additional active duty soldiers have come forward asking for a re-evaluation at Walter Reed.
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