Lawyers as healthcare professionals

Of course, this article from the Associated Press leans heavily on the SSG Bales case, still making believe that PTSD explains his actions two weeks ago so neatly that even the most ignorant journalist can understand. But this time they make it sound like the Army just packs them off while ignoring their problems. And do they bother to talk to the mental health professionals who work with people afflicted with PTSD? No, they ask lawyers;

Critics say the Army has a history of bandaging the problem and rushing troops back into combat by loading them up on prescription drugs. Military courts also do not recognize PTSD as a legitimate defense, said attorney Geoffrey Nathan, who has represented a number of court-martialed troops.

“They’re still in a state of denial as to what combat soldiers go through in the field of battle,” Nathan said.

If I were a journalist, and I most certainly AM NOT, I would ask Geoffrey Nathan, since this is not the Civil War and soldiers in this day and age aren’t merely cannon fodder in battles that depend solely on the weight of numbers to defeat the enemy, what would the Army have to gain by sending injured soldiers into battle if they aren’t capable of performing to the level of professionalism and expertise that today’s highly technical military requires from it’s trigger pullers? Nathan is the one in a state of denial, because he doesn’t understand the nature of combat. But he has found a defense that no one will be able effectively counter – which means from a legal aspect, that everyone he defends with this vacuous defense will be found not guilty.

However, in the end, it only muddies the waters surrounding PTSD, so while Nathan and Bales’ attorney John Henry Browne, have no interest in the number of people who aren’t their clients and who actuallly suffer from PTSD, their intellectually stinted defense of their own methods in the long run only damage the perception of Americans have of the people who fight their wars.

For some Americans, Bales is the epitome of a soldier afflicted by war’s psychological wounds, pushed by the Army beyond his limits.

Bales’ attorney says he does not know if his client suffered from PTSD but his initial statements appear to be building a possible defense around the argument that the horrific crime was the result of a 10-year military veteran sent back to a war zone for a fourth time after being traumatized.

Browne “doesn’t know” if his client suffered from PTSD, but he’s more than willing for PTSD to be the first words out of his mouth at a press conference.

Some troops treated for PTSD yearn to return to the battlefield where they feel more comfortable surrounded by their fellow troops and on a mission than in the unsettling quiet of their home life, mental health professionals say.

But Bales’ attorney said that was not the case with his client.

John Henry Browne of Seattle said Bales had suffered injuries during his deployments, including a serious foot injury and head trauma and did not want to go on a fourth tour.

So, because Bales doesn’t fit the mold of a typical soldier with PTSD, he must have it. Maybe it was his fricken injured foot that caused him to go into the village and murder 16 people. Folks with injured feet don’t usually go in to town and shoot everyone up, either. It’s as plausible as PTSD, at this point in the discussion.

I’ve read some of the comments here from lawyers who have said that they would use the same defense for a client in similar circumstances. Just because the defense would work, doesn’t make it right to use. Your jobs are to get your clients out of a sentence they deserve. My job, on the other hand, is to do my level best to prevent lawyers from sentencing perfectly innocent people to a lifetime of carrying the burden that lawyers and journalists are so eager to heap upon them.

Category: Veteran Health Care