Found below are few news items that caught my attention the past week. I trust that some of our readers will click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that interest them.
Is the VA on Automatic Pilot?
The video included in this news clip shows Army veteran Dennis Magnasco trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment at his local VA hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts. But a nearly five-minute phone call became a maddening stream of automated audio messages. ...
While much of the world is focused on transformative businesses and technologies, the Department of Veteran Affairs (“VA”) remains oblivious to the needs of Veterans with PTSD.
Despite a slew of reports from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) citing the need for major reforms with the VA, it seems like it is business as usual for these entrenched bureaucrats. Found below is just a few of these ...
Continue Reading →As we all settle in to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow, let us reflect on the large number of brave Veterans who have suffered from PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Indeed, there are enough wounded Veterans from our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to fill several Super Bowl stadiums.
Nevertheless, I suspect that sports’ pundits will be more focused on CTE – chronic traumatic encephalopathy – found on ...
Continue Reading →The folks at the Veterans Affairs Administration and the pharmaceutical industry must be drooling over the recent “Opinion” piece by Richard A. Friedman entitled a “A Drug to Cure Fear,” which was published in the New York Times on January, 24th, 2016. In fact, Dr. Friedman believes a new prescription drug might be useful in helping Veterans with PTSD.
In this “Opinion” article, Dr. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry and the Director of Psychopharmacology clinic at ...
Continue Reading →In today’s New York Times, there was an editorial written by Nate Bethea, an Army Infantry Officer from 2007 to 2014, entitled “Sarah Palin, This is What PTSD is All About.” (Editor’s Note: Actually, the original NYT’s article was “The Truth About PTSD,” but presumably the spin-masters at the New York Times felt that by channeling Sarah Palin they would attract more readers).
Ms. Palin raised more than a few eyebrows recently during ...
Continue Reading →Treating Veterans and Active Duty personnel suffering from TBI or PTSD with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (“HBOT”) has always been regarded as “black magic” by both the VA and the DoD. In fact, earlier this year, the VA concluded their trial “study” with the following observations:
Continue Reading →“To date, there have been nine peer-reviewed publications describing this research,” Dr. David Cifu, VA’s national director for physical medicine and rehabilitation recently told the Oklahoman. “All the research consistently supports that there is no ...
SFTT has long chronicled the abuse by the VA of prescribing painkillers to treat Veterans suffering from PTSD. Most everyone – except the pharmaceutical companies – recognize the hazards, but few take the necessary steps to do anything about it.
In a not too surprising development, President Obama “is expected to announce steps on Wednesday that he hopes will reduce an alarming rise in deaths from drug overdoses, including mandating more ...
Continue Reading →In yet another disturbing article by the New York Times, entitled “In Unit Stalked by Suicide, Veterans try to Save One Another,” author Dave Phillips chronicles the benign neglect of the VA in helping our brave Veterans to cope with the aftermath of war. With no disrespect to Mr. Phillips, a similar article could be written every week detailing the chronic neglect of the VA for warriors at risk of suicide.
While I ...
Continue Reading →Not long ago I had the opportunity to represent the warrior-run non-profit One Mind for Research at a Hollywood Telethon to raise money for Veteran charities. My role in the production was a live, 90-second interview on stage with actor and host Alan Alda. We talked very briefly about my experience as a wounded warrior with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Mr. Alda asked me: what did I expect when I returned home from a ...
Continue Reading →COLIN AND KAREN ARCHIPLEY ARE TWO-TIME NATIONAL TREASURES!
The first occasion was defending the nation as a Marine Corps husband-wife team. Colin was not only a Marine Rifleman, he was a Marine noncommissioned officer. While media pundits and politicians focus on super fighter jets, unmanned drones and the Hollywood virtues of thermobaric Hellfire missiles, combat soldiers know that the ...
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