VA PTSD Service Dogs Rule: Senator Schumer NY Pushes Back

New York Senator Charles Schumer is speaking out against the new US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule that cuts off funds for service dogs of veterans with PTSD.  This new VA rule is set to take effect next months.

According to CBS New York:

Senator Schumer said research shows that trained service dogs are effective in helping veterans with mental and emotional disorders such as PTSD cope with their return to civilian life.

Federal law currently states that the VA can reimburse vets for the cost of owning a service dog if a doctor signs off on it, but the new policy would limit that reimbursement only to vets with physical disabilities.

The senator was joined by service dogs and veterans during his news conference to appeal for the directive to be tossed out in favor of allowing doctors to decide if a service dog can assist a veteran.

The VA is conducting research on how effective service dogs are at helping vets cope, but wanted to end the program until the study is complete in 2014.

In fact, the VA is conducting a three year clinical trial study on the effects of service dogs relieving PTSD symptoms.  The study is in the first year of the three year study.  

The purpose of this study is to evaluate use of service dogs for individuals who have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Objectives include:

(1) assess the impact service dogs have on the mental health and quality of life of Veterans;

(2) to provide recommendations to the VA to serve as guidance in providing service dogs to veterans; and

(3) To determine cost associated with total health care utilization and mental health care utilization among veterans with PTSD.

 Several service dog organizations are participating in this study.  Dogs are adopted from animal shelters, trained as PTSD service dogs, then matched with a veteran.  Individual base line studies are done, then followed quarterly to determine if medical stats - such as blood pressure - change after the veteran is working with the service dog.  At present, there are 350 veterans enrolled in this Florida based study.
 

VA Says No Service Dogs Benefits for PTSD Sufferers

Though I'm really not a big (personal) fan of social media, I do rely on it for news bites.  And I saw something shocking on Facebook yesterday.  Canines with a Cause posted a link to an article about service dog benefits no longer being allowed by the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).

What?!

You read that correctly.  If you are a veteran with vision, hearing or mobility related injuries, you may receive service-dog benefits.  However, veterans who only suffer with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) or another mental health disability, will not qualify.

The VA justified its decision by saying that they'd not been able to determine that service dogs provide medical benefit to veterans with mental illness.  They also cited nationally established and widely accepted training protocols for sight, hearing and mobility assistance dogs and the lack of similar training protocols for mental health service dogs.

According to an article written by Christine Stapleton of The Palm Beach Post:

�Veterans with service dogs were baffled by the rule.

�You get doctors and people telling you that you�re not disabled enough,� said Jim Stanek, an infantryman in the U.S. Army who served three tours of combat duty in Iraq. Stanek, who has been diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injury, helped found Paws and Stripes, a non-profit group in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that provides service dogs and training to veterans with PTSD and mental health disabilities.

�What do I have to do? Have my leg amputated?� Stanek asked. �Is that what I need to do to get what I need to recover?

"Service dogs are individually trained to perform tasks for a specific person. Some of the tasks performed to assist veterans with PTSD include surveying darkened rooms, turning on lights, re-orienting their owner during nightmares or flashbacks, navigating through crowds, sensing anxiety, enforcing boundaries for personal space and retrieving a cellphone, said Sally Chester, secretary of Genesis Assistance Dogs Inc. of West Palm Beach.�

You can read the final draft of rules concerning veterans in need of service dogs here.

Canines With a Cause is a non-profit organization that helps shelter dogs find homes by training them to work as companion, therapy and service dogs for veterans in need.  According to them, a Pentagon study found that one in four veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, depression or anxiety.