OUTRAGEOUS OR NOT?

On June 30, 2016, a 70% disabled medically retired Veteran of over 20 years honorable Army service reported to a VA appointment with his new primary care physician (PCP) expecting a routine initial/needs assessment or general medical examination (GME). The Veteran suffered from the following service-connected Mood disorders: • Dysthymia • Chronic severe depression • Insomnia • Chronic fatigue syndrome • PTSD symptoms Instead, the PCO of the VA failed to greet the Veteran and establish a rapport and ignored him for an uncomfortable amount of time. When the PCP finally decided to speak to the Veteran, he stated his conclusion that the honorably discharged Veterans had “personality disorders” and then immediately launched a series a rapid-fire rhetorical and accusatory questions that were libelous in nature (the Veterans’ final physical profile or PULHES was “113111” with “S1” meaning a perfect psychiatric score, he had maintained a “secret” security clearance without suspensions or revocations for over 20 years, and all mental testing showed no personality disorders). The drowsy Veteran gradually became hypervigilant (also commonly called “fight or flight” mode) due to the PCP callously reminding him of dormant past traumas and the two began arguing. The dispute eventually got heated over the details of the Veterans military service record: • “S1” psychiatric rating (PUHLES physical profile) for over 20 years. • Maintained a “secret” security clearance without suspensions or revocations for over 20 years (last renewed in 2014). NOTE: the National Agency Check includes thirteen (13) adjudicative guidelines A thru M with “I” involving a background check for any history of untreated mental illness, unreliability or dysfunctional behavior (to include personality disorders). • No letters of reprimand • No bad performance evaluations • No criminal record • No divorces (almost 30 years of marriage) • No drug or alcohol usage • No firings in work history (for misconduct or otherwise) • No objective evidence of any alleged “personality disorders” apparent to family, friends, co-workers, supervisors, etc. The seasoned Veteran anticipated that the PCP would retaliate for losing the argument and having his ego bruised by writing more lies against him in the official progress notes documenting the appointment. The Veteran warned the PCP not to abuse his power as my new VA doctor and retaliate in his official medical record, further maligning his honorable military service record or he would file complaints through the VA administrative channels (as well as others). However, this admonishment fell on deaf ears and the vengeful PCP made two (2) “personality disorder” misdiagnoses using the following: • 35 deviations from the GME standard of care • 100 omissions of material evidence (lies of omission) • 100 false statements Although the Veteran was eventually able to get the two (2) “personality disorder” misdiagnoses cleared and amended from his official VA medical records (ordered by the Dept. of VA’s Office of General Counsel in Washington, DC), it was not without great cost in the form of mental anguish and emotional distress (a civilian psychologist demanded that the VA increase his PTSD from 50% to 70% as a direct result of the PCPs actions, not an unexpected and uncommonly severe reaction to defendant’s conduct considering his preexisting service-connected mood disorders). Do you feel the Dept. of VA primary care physician (PCP), a family medicine doctor, went “beyond the bounds of decency” that would not be tolerated by society, causing the Veteran to suffer emotional harm that is to be expected under the circumstances? Was the PCP’s behavior “outrageous”? A) Yes, the primary care physician's conduct was outrageous. B) No, the primary care physician's conduct was NOT outrageous.