Continued fallout from the release of an email by CREW and VoteVets.org obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The email can be seen here. Last week, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held hearings on the subject. The Chair of that Committee, Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), blasted the VA for its "widespread indifference":

The Veterans Affairs Department seems to have a widespread indifference toward veterans with mental illness, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka and other Senate Democrats said yesterday.

Their comments came after the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which Akaka chairs, heard a VA psychologist deny she was trying to save money when she suggested in an e-mail to her staff that they use other mental illness diagnoses for veterans who may have post-traumatic stress disorder.

"This incident was both disturbing and disappointing," Akaka said. "It reinforced fears among many veterans that the VA's mental health system is not meeting all their needs."

The e-mail, written by Norma Perez, a former PTSD program coordinator for the VA medical center in Temple, Texas, followed another problem where VA officials tried to suppress data on veteran suicides, Akaka said.

"Together, these incidents suggest a possible trend — widespread indifference to the invisible wounds of war," Akaka said. "We are concerned about systemwide problems within VA's mental health system."

Akaka has asked the VA to review and revise its PTSD treatment and compensation guidelines and provide complete data on veterans' suicides. He also has requested a VA inspector general's investigation of the Temple VA medical center.