Date: 2007-03-28
Speaker: TIM MURPHY (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Pennsylvania

Mr. Chairman. I certainly support this and so many other amendments on this bill which are so very. very important not only to our veterans. but it serves as a model. as do so many veterans programs. of something we could be doing for other Americans. Let me speak first to the point of what these do when we manage and coordinate patient care. We had an issue recently in the Energy and Commerce Committee which I serve on doing this. another aspect. and it was a very lively discussion. But recognize that someone who is wounded. as well as someone who has other medical illnesses. a single diagnosis is usually iot something that stands loan. For example. a person with diabetes may have several other endocrine problems. problems with their kidneys. with their diet. their circulation. their limbs. their mobility. and of course there are emotions. too. all of which can be very. very complex to deal with. When the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center did a study on coordinating the care of people with diabetes. for example. they found when they assign people to work on these cases. they reduce rehospitalization by 75 percent. Washington Hospital in Washington. Pennsylvania reduced rehospitalization of folks with heart disease by 50 percent. These are extremely important aspects. And we have to look upon these as things that not only save - money. but they save lives and they save a lot of care. Let me also point to an amendment offered by my dear friend. Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. when he talked about mental illness.. When we are talking about the wounds of war or the wounds of life. not all of these wounds are visible. They are not necessarily scars one can see. they are not something you can put a bandage on. but they are very real. The psychological wounds of war are such that they can break up a family. keep someone from holding a job. perhaps lead someone to try to selfmedicate their problems away with drugs or alcohol. all too common problems among our veterans. And then when they are not dealt with. we find people who become more dependent upon others. that with difficulties with their families. with their children. perhaps become hopeless. have trouble holding a job. And all of those continued effects of wounds of war go on. It is extremely important that we recognize in Mr. KENNEDYS amendment. as well as Ms. JOHNSONs amendment and other aspects of this whole bill that what is vitally important is we treat the whole person. The time is long past due in this country where we look at medical symptoms and medical disease as something that shows up on an xray or a blood test or some other sophisticated test. Indeed. the wounds of war are not always visible. nor .are they things that appear soon after the battle. Post traumatic stress disorder. other anxiety disorders can remain latent for years and suddenly reappear. I remember meeting a veteran at a VA hospital who ended up with some problems after 20 or 30 years after the Vietnam War. He had recently had a liver transplant. Under the medications and other aspects. he silddenly began having nightmares thak he never had before. He had all this psychological trauma that was never showing up before. What is so important is that we work to train people to understand these issues. which the gentleladys amendment talks about. that we work to deal with the mental illness issues. which