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It took a few seconds for an Iraqi roadside bomb to rattle Sergeant Steve Edwards' head in December 2004. But it took 14 months for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to compensate him for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During one stretch, Edwards called the VA weekly to plead for assistance. "I was saying we're about to be homeless," he says, "and all I got was some schmuck on the other line who says they're trying their best."
Now Edwards, along with hundreds of thousands of other veterans, is part of class action lawsuit against the VA asserting that that just isn't good enough. Filed Monday by a California public interest group and law firm on behalf of vets diagnosed with PTSD, the suit is the first to accuse the federal department of constitutional violations and to seek sweeping changes in its processing of disability claims. The VA is charged with "shameful failures ... to meet our nation's legal and moral obligations to honor and care for our wounded veterans" who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Without systematic reform, the suit contends, "the costs to these veterans, their families and our nation will be incalculable," and will contribute to a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans and a burden on local social services.
