SF War Vets Fight To Rebuild A 'Broken System'

Friday, September 28, 2007

By Erik Rosales

SAN FRACISCO September 28 2007 (KGO) -- Some are calling it a counter strike as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs filed a motion Friday asking the court to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against it back in July.

The suit, filed by Bay Area veterans groups charges that the V.A. system has failed hundreds of thousand of vets with combat stress disorder.

Kasey Corbit is a disability rights advocates attorney. She is representing veteran groups vowing to continue their fight for timely medical treatment for wounded veterans. Corbit calls the V.A.'s motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit, disgraceful.

"What they are saying is troops that go over and fight in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't entitled to mental health care, if they want benefits they have to fight their way through a system that's broken. "

The plaintifs, Veterans For Common Sense and Veterans United For Truth, estimate that 120,000 to 300,000 former service members suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

Their lawsuit claims veterans are unable to get help because of the V.A.'s huge backlog of disability claims and inadequate handling of those claims and appeals.

"I gave them a couple several pieces of paperwork several times and it got misplaced."

Former National Guard sergeant, Stephen Edwards Junior, spent a year in Iraq, and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.

He says dealing with the V.A. system at times can be frustrating.

"This whole organization was established to help veterans, and when veterans are getting turned away, and waiting two, three, or four years to be assisted, that's unacceptable."

Kerri Childress, with the V.A. Palo Alto Health Care System declined to comment on the lawsuit but told ABC 7, quote "I can not speak for the entire V.A. system, but here in Palo Alto we have some of the highest patient satisfaction scores in the country. We are currently meeting the demand."

The lawsuit asks for no monetary damages, nor does it address individual claims of veterans. Plaintiffs say all they want to do is fix a system that's broken. It doesn't bend for any reason, no matter what the circumstances are for any person, and that makes it difficult when people are suffering.

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