GOP House Members Sound Alarm on VA Failing to Provide Vets Adequate Brain Injury Exams

Signage is seen outside of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington on Aug. 30, 2020. Reuters/Andrew Kelly

Three members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, themselves veterans, have urged the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to investigate what they are calling troubling allegations that a neurologist at the Tomah VA Medical Center in Wisconsin may have failed over an 18-year period to provide hundreds of veterans with thorough and adequate compensation and pension (C&P) exams.

Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas), and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) contend in a letter (dated April 21) they sent to VA Inspector General Michael Missal that “an incomplete disability exam can result in a veteran being denied, or losing entitlement to, their earned benefits.”

Bost served in the Marine Corps. Luttrell and Van Orden are Navy SEAL combat veterans.

House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) Standing behind Rep. Bost is Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Veteran's Affairs Committee.  Rep. Mike Bost

The committee members are calling on the VA to not only follow up and expand on its review showing that 22 of 72 examinations that Dr. Mary Jo Lanska performed were incomplete but also to look into the possibility that the VA has a bigger and more widespread problem with faulty and inadequate examinations than those involving just one doctor.

In the letter, the lawmakers called to task the VA for taking so long to discover the problems with Dr. Lanska’s exams, writing that “it is unacceptable that VA identified these errors almost three years after the provider stopped completing C&P exams, and only after these concerns were brought forward publicly.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden asks questions during a meeting of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2023. Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times via screenshot of live video

The letter continued: “We question whether these deficiencies are limited to the Tomah VAMC neurologist, or whether these findings indicate a possible systemic failure in the VA’s ability to provide veterans with adequate traumatic brain injury (TBI) disability exams and conduct effective quality review of such exams.”

Tomah VA Medical Center issued a press release and veterans service announcement on April 21, stating that “after an initial review of Neurology Compensation and Pension (C&P) examinations conducted by a Tomah VA provider determined some of those examinations were considered incomplete.”

The release stated that the “VA is reviewing all available options, to include exploring potential re-examinations where appropriate, and urges any affected Veteran to contact VA.”

Morgan Luttrell

Morgan Luttrell brings particular focus, experience, and expertise to the issue of quality neurological and brain injury care.

Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas). Rep. Morgan Luttrell

During a training exercise in 2009, off the coast of Virginia, Luttrell fell from a Black Hawk helicopter onto a moving ship. He broke his back and sustained a TBI. Amazingly, Luttrell, after a difficult rehabbing and recovery, continued to serve. He retired in 2014 with a medical discharge granted for his spinal injury.

Following his discharge, Luttrell, who already held a bachelor’s degree that he earned from Sam Houston State University before enlisting in the Navy, went on to the University of Texas at Dallas, where he completed his master’s degree in applied cognition and neuroscience.

Luttrell puts to use his real-life experience and trauma, and his academic training and credentials to help veterans with TBI and other neurological disorders. One pathway he researches and develops ways to provide this support is through the use and application of artificial intelligence (AI).

“As a disabled veteran myself, I understand and appreciate the challenges our service members face once they’ve returned home,” said Rep. Luttrell in a statement he sent to The Epoch Times on May 3.

“It’s critical we ensure that our veterans receive the highest quality care and support, especially in regard to traumatic brain injury disability exams. I'll continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to improve the lives of veterans.”

Morgan Luttrell is the twin brother of Marcus Luttrell, author with Patrick Robinson of the bestselling book, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10,” which tells the story of the battle in Afghanistan in June 2005 out of which only Luttrell survived, and in which his conduct earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.  “Lone Survivor” was made into a major motion picture of the same name, starring Mark Wahlberg as Marcus Luttrell.

Holding VA Accountable

The letter to Inspector General Missal comes in the wake of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, stewarded by Chairman Bost, inquiring and holding up for scrutiny other VA procedures and operations.

As The Epoch Times reported on April 18, Bost and Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) joined Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in asking the VA why it has not used available administrative tools to remove problem employees from positions at VA facilities.

A story in The Epoch Times on April 7 reported how the VA extended its pause on rolling out an electronic health record (EHR). Bost and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) had been highly critical of the problems, tied to several veterans’ injuries and four deaths, that the VA encountered installing and operating the system.

On April 24, Bost and Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano introduced a bill to fix the long-standing problems with the EHR system.