Inadequate Services Provided to Iraq and Afghanistan “Polytrauma” Veterans
The latest issue of United Spinal Association’s ActionOnline news magazine includes two significant feature articles regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). One feature uncovers the lack of VA Polytrauma System of Care facilities and support nationwide, and the other describes the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission’s report calling for an overhaul of the VA’s outdated and unfair system of benefits and services.
“It is impossible to read these two articles without reaching the simple conclusion that the federal government is not doing enough to care for returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with multiple injuries. This situation borders on a national disgrace,” said Paul J. Tobin, President and CEO of United Spinal Association.
At learn that polytraumic injuries are usually received from improvised explosive devices or rocket-propelled grenades, and they include traumatic brain injuries (TBI), spinal cord injuries, loss of limbs, burns, fractures, blindness, hearing loss, and cognitive disorders. TBI is the most common component to polytraumic injuries and recent studies show that for every death that occurs in Iraq or Afghanistan, there is about a 10-fold to 20-fold higher number of U.S. service members returning with at least moderate to severe TBI. Yet, the VA operates just four (4) specialized polytrauma rehabilitation centers, and 17 other polytrauma sites that offer only outpatient and long-term follow-up care. The situation is probably worse for members of the National Guard and Army Reserve who often forego medical exams to return to their families and civilian jobs.
discover the most important conclusions of this recently-issued study. Its most sweeping recommendation is that VA disability compensation payments should be increased immediately by up to 25%. Further, the Commission determined that the VA’s disability “rating schedule” is antiquated and vulnerable to great subjectivity by its employees who determine the severity of the disability on a scale of 0% to 100%. This rating schedule was formulated during World War II and it has changed very little since that time. “Unless the VA moves quickly to fix its broken disability rating system to reflect the nature of the wounds experienced by our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, these brave men and women will not be compensated appropriately for the injuries that they received in service to their country,” Tobin added.