I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5448 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the disability compensation 

evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for veterans 

with post-traumatic stress disorder, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder by the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2008 

Mr. ALLEN (for himself and Mr. MICHAUD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

disability compensation evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder by the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Full Faith in Veterans 

5 Act of 2008’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Men and women who serve in the Armed 

4 Forces make great sacrifices for the Nation and for 

5 freedom. 

6 (2) The Nation takes great pride in the integ7 rity of members of the Armed Forces and places full 

8 faith and confidence in these men and women serv9 ing in the Armed Forces. 

10 (3) The Nation should extend such full faith to 

11 the integrity of those men and women when they 

12 make claims for disability compensation related to 

13 their service. 

14 (4) In the spirit of the Armed Forces’ pledge 

15 never to leave a man behind, the Nation should 

16 never leave a veteran behind. 

17 (5) Military service is inherently dangerous and 

18 stressful whether during peacetime or during war. 

19 (6) Post-traumatic stress disorder (referred to 

20 in this section as ‘‘PTSD’’) is a debilitating mental 

21 health condition linked to military service that the 

22 Secretary of Veterans Affairs should make every ef23 fort to diagnose and effectively treat. 

24 (7) It is recognized in the medical community 

25 that PTSD can onset at anytime after a traumatic 


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1 event, and the course of the disorder can contain pe2 riods of both relapse and remission. 

3 (8) Denial by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

4 of claims for disability compensation for PTSD due 

5 to incomplete military records does a disservice to 

6 those who have honorably served the country. 

7 (9) Military records that would validate such 

8 claims may have been lost due to no fault of the vet9 eran. 

10 (10) Due to the dangerous and fast-paced envi11 ronment in which the members of the Armed Forces 

12 operate, not every significant and possibly traumatic 

13 incident in the life and service of each member is 

14 chronicled accurately or completely. 

15 (11) Evaluations for disability compensation for 

16 PTSD often place veterans under the additional 

17 hardship of reliving traumatic events by describing 

18 them to unfamiliar medical professionals. 

19 (12) According to the Institute of Medicine and 

20 representatives of certain veterans’ service organiza21 tions, evaluations for pension and disability com22 pensation for PTSD are sometimes completed in as 

23 little as 20 minutes, despite recommendations of the 

24 mental health community that evaluations should 

25 take place over a period of one hour or more. 


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1 (13) The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commis2 sion, established pursuant to title XV of the Na3 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

4 2004, issued recommendations to improve the care, 

5 compensation, and treatment of veterans diagnosed 

6 with PTSD, including updating the schedule for rat7 ing disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, 

8 United States Code, establishing new criteria for the 

9 diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, and using a ho10 listic approach to treat veterans with PTSD that in11 corporates treatment, compensation, and vocational 

12 assessment. 

13 SEC. 3. STANDARD OF PROOF FOR SERVICE-CONNECTION 

14 OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. 

15 (a) STANDARD OF PROOF.—Section 1154 of title 38, 

16 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

17 following new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of 

19 service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder al20 leged to have been incurred in or aggravated by service 

21 in the active military, naval, or air service a diagnosis of 

22 post-traumatic stress disorder by a mental health profes23 sional together with a written determination by the profes24 sional that such disorder is related to the veteran’s service, 

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1 ships of such service, notwithstanding the fact that there 

2 is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation in 

3 such service, and, to that end, shall resolve every reason4 able doubt in favor of the veteran. Service-connection of 

5 post-traumatic stress disorder may be rebutted by clear 

6 and convincing evidence to the contrary. In the case of 

7 such a rebuttal, the Secretary shall make all documents 

8 related to the service-connection of the veteran’s disability 

9 available to the veteran.’’. 

10 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (c) of section 1154 

11 of title 38, United States Code, shall apply with respect 

12 to any claim for disability compensation under laws ad13 ministered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for which 

14 no final decision has been made before the date of the 

15 enactment of this Act. 

16 SEC. 4. IMPROVEMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF17 FAIRS EVALUATIONS OF CLAIMS RELATING 

18 TO POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. 

19 (a) CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING FOR CERTAIN

20 EMPLOYEES.— 

21 (1) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM.— 

22 (A) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—The Sec23 retary of Veterans Affairs shall require covered 

24 employees to successfully complete a certifi25 cation program established by the Secretary. 


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1 Such program shall include a periodic recertifi2 cation requirement. 

3 (B) COVERED EMPLOYEES.—For the pur4 poses of this paragraph, a ‘‘covered employee’’ 

5 is an employee of the Department of Veterans 

6 Affairs who is responsible for rating disabilities, 

7 evaluating claims for disability compensation 

8 for post-traumatic stress disorder, or adjudi9 cating disability compensation ratings. 

10 (C) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The cer11 tification program under subparagraph (A) 

12 shall— 

13 (i) provide specialized training on the 

14 psychological and medical issues (including 

15 comorbidities) that characterize individuals 

16 with post-traumatic stress disorder and 

17 give guidance on how to appropriately 

18 manage commonly encountered problems in 

19 evaluating and rating such disorder; and 

20 (ii) incorporate the recommendations 

21 contained in the Best Practice Manual for 

22 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 

23 Compensation and Pension Examinations 

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1 Traumatic Stress Disorder of the Depart2 ment of Veterans Affairs. 

3 (D) REVIEW OF REQUIREMENTS.—The 

4 Secretary shall regularly review and update the 

5 requirements for successfully completing the 

6 certification program under subparagraph (A) 

7 to take into consideration medical advances and 

8 to reflect lessons learned. 

9 (2) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The Secretary of 

10 Veterans Affairs shall provide training to support 

11 the certification program required under paragraph 

12 (1). 

13 (b) AUDITS OF EXAMINATIONS.—The Secretary of 

14 Veterans Affairs shall conduct audits of the examinations 

15 conducted by employees of the Department of Veterans 

16 Affairs of veterans who submit claims for disability com17 pensation for post-traumatic stress disorder to ensure that 

18 such employees are taking sufficient time necessary to di19 agnose and accurately rate the disorder. 

20 (c) UPDATE OF SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABIL21 ITIES.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

23 begin updating the schedule for rating disabilities under 

24 section 1155 of title 38, United States Code. The Sec25 retary shall begin by updating the schedule with respect 


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1 to post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, 

2 and other mental disorders. The Secretary shall complete 

3 such update not later than five years after the date of 

4 the enactment of this Act. 

5 (d) NEW CRITERIA FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS

6 DISORDER.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall im7 plement the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Man8 ual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, specific to post-trau9 matic stress disorder and use such criteria for the purpose 

10 of rating post-traumatic stress disorder pursuant to the 

11 schedule for rating disabilities under section 1155 of title 

12 38, United States Code. 

13 (e) HOLISTIC APPROACH REQUIRED.—The Secretary 

14 of Veterans Affairs shall implement a holistic approach for 

15 providing treatment for veterans with post-traumatic 

16 stress disorder. Such approach shall combine treatment 

17 for post-traumatic stress disorder, compensation, and vo18 cational assessment. 

19 (f) TREATMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS.— 

20 The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall require an em21 ployee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who is re22 sponsible for adjudicating disability compensation ratings, 

23 in developing evidence for a claim for disability compensa24 tion to take into consideration the following: 


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1 (1) In the case of a veteran who has visited a 

2 center for the provision of readjustment counseling 

3 and related mental health services under section 

4 1712A of title 38, United States Code, any treat5 ment records of the veteran from that center. 

6 (2) In the case of a veteran who has received 

7 mental health services from a mental health profes8 sional, any written opinion of that mental health 

9 professional submitted to the Department by the 

10 veteran. 

11 (g) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS.—In 

12 carrying out subsections (c), (d), and (e), the Secretary 

13 of Veterans Affairs shall consider materials on post-trau14 matic stress disorder and mental health provided by the 

15 National Center on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder of the 

16 Department of Veterans Affairs and the Institute of Medi17 cine. 

18 (h) EMPLOYEE.—For purposes of this section, the 

19 term ‘‘employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs’’ 

20 includes an employee of any entity with which the Sec21 retary of Veterans Affairs has entered into a contract for 

22 the provision of conducting examinations or rating disabil23 ities for purposes of determining the amount of disability 

24 compensation to be provided to a veteran under laws ad25 ministered by the Secretary. 


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1 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 Not later than two years after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

4 submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this 

5 Act and the amendments made by this Act. Such report 

6 shall include any evidence of fraud or abuse relating to 

7 any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act. 

Æ 


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