Survivor Benefits

Nearly 11,000 Survivors to Receive Retroactive Payments by New Years 12/25/08. The Department of Veterans Affairs has identified nearly 11,000 surviving spouses of deceased veterans who will receive a lump-sum payment before the New Year to correct an error in their VA benefits. Also documented were more than 73,000 who had been previously paid. VA officials are still tracking down eligible survivors. VA

Veterans File Lawsuit Regarding PTSD

Federal Lawsuit Alleges Department of Defense Improperly Denied Medical, Disability Benefits to Veterans 12/25/08. A class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., alleges that the Department of Defense illegally denied medical and disability benefits to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The suit, filed on behalf of five veterans and the National Veterans Legal Services Program, claims that the individuals were discharged from duty after an Army review board concluded they had experienced PTSD and were unable to serve; however, the lawsuit states that the disorders were not rated severe enough for the veterans to qualify for ongoing disability payments and medical coverage for themselves and their families. KaiserNetwork.org

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Single-Topic Issue

Volume 44, Number 7, 2008 12/3/08. The Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development has a new issue available online with a single topic focus on TBI. JRRD

Committee on Women Veterans

New Members Appointed to Committee on Women Veterans 12/23/08. Four new members have been appointed to the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans for the Department of Veterans Affairs, an expert panel that advises VA on issues and programs affecting women veterans. VA

Long-Term Consequences of TBI

DoD and VA Initiatives Addressing IOM Recommendations 12/22/08. Following a medical literature review to look for associations between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and long-term health problems, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a comprehensive report Dec. 4 titled Gulf War and Health: Volume 7. Long-term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury, available at: http://www.health.mil/include/exitwarning.aspx?link=http://www.iom.edu/CMS/4683/60519.aspx. This article follows up an earlier article. Military Health System

Genetic Predisposition to PTSD

Vulnerability to post-traumatic stress disorder runs in families, study shows 12/21/08. The researchers used statistical methods to assess heritabilities. One method was used to determine the genetic component of a disorder such as PTSD. Then, a separate analysis was used to see if different phenotypes shared genes. The results showed that a significant amount of genes are shared between PTSD and depression, PTSD and anxiety, and finally depression and anxiety. University of California - Los Angeles via Eurekalert!