LI veterans cheer relaxed rules for PTSD benefits

Local veterans are praising a White House decision announced Monday that makes it easier for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to receive federal Veterans Affairs benefits.

Joe Ingino, president of the Nassau County Chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, said the old regulations penalized veterans who were traumatized by wartime incidents but who could not prove a specific incident led to their disability.

"This will help a lot of veterans who were turned away," Ingino said. "If you were getting rocketed and mortared and people were getting killed around you but you never fired your weapon, don't tell me that isn't a stressor."

Until now, the claims process administered by the VA favored veterans whose combat records showed they had come under attack. Veterans in noncombat roles had to prove that some wartime incident triggered their post-traumatic stress disorder - an anxiety disorder that some people encounter after experiencing an event that causes or threatens serious harm or death.

Under the new rules, veterans seeking PTSD benefits need only show that the conditions under which they served could have contributed to their illness, whether or not an attack was involved.

Relaxing the qualifications for receiving federal benefits could significantly expand the number of people eligible and force increased spending. Nearly 2 million U.S. troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and some 2.6 million served during Vietnam War.

Navy reservist Philip Stefanelli, 43, of Holbrook, said troops stationed in battle zones routinely live under a threat of death for weeks at a time, even if they never engage in a firefight.

In May 2009, he was at Camp Liberty - part of the Victory Base Complex near the Baghdad Airport - when Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, of Sherman, Texas, walked into a psychological counseling center there and is accused of pulling out a weapon and fatally shooting five fellow service members.

Three months later, Stefanelli was close enough to feel the blast of a truck bomb that killed scores of people at the Iraq Foreign Ministry.

"You're constantly on guard because you don't know who you can trust," said Stefanelli, who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has not been diagnosed with PTSD. "I think there are people who are coming back who don't know they have it, or don't want to tell anyone."

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can include flashbacks, rage, withdrawal, sleeplessness, hypervigilance or avoidance of reminders of the original trauma.

Elysa LeBron, clinical coordinator for the Rosen Family Wellness Center in Manhasset, which treats GIs returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, said wartime stress can be extreme even for troops who never experience bloody exchanges.

"The daily uncertainty of what is going to happen to you or your buddies can be a trigger," she said. "You don't have to experience a death or get shot at to develop PTSD."
Post-traumatic stress disorder: A medically recognized anxiety condition that can develop from seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury that leaves a person responding with intense fear, helplessness or horror.

Old rules: Veterans Affairs personnel judging claims for PTSD disability benefits were required to collect proof that a noncombat veteran actually was exposed to a hostile military event.

New rules: The VA will no longer require proof that an event occurred. All that is needed now is a VA doctor confirming that the event, recalled by a veteran, adequately supports a diagnosis of PTSD and the veteran's symptoms are related to the claimed event.

Disability compensation: A tax-free benefit paid to veterans for disabilities that are a result of - or made worse by - injuries or afflictions associated with active service.

More than 400,000 veterans who are receiving VA compensation benefits have been diagnosed with service-related PTSD.

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs