Julia Perry's story: "I stand in solidarity with military sex abuse survivors, because I was a proud Sailor, until my pelvis was fractured & didn't heal. I was medically discharged, still needing lots of care for the chronic pain. The Department of Veterans Affairs put a physician on my case who was a liar and sexual predator. He convinced me to undergo unapproved treatment, no nurse present, and I was raped. Continuous patient exploitation pushed me to run out of the state to re-start my life. He located me again and stalked me for months, even taking time off from medical duties & being on medical school clinical faculty to fly out and say to me, "I have done you a grave disservice." Mainly he tried to see if I remembered all I'd been through. Yeah, I do.
There is such a thing as an “Iatrogenic Illness,” which is one resulting from the activity of a health care provider or institution; said of any adverse condition in a patient resulting from treatment by a physician or allied health professional. You know Uncle Sam will not let that term be associated with my life.
Twenty-nine years later, my disability claim JUST got me entitled to appear for a VA evaluation for PTSD and a week later, I received a landmark award, in principle, for benefits. I won a claim under Sec. 1151, Title 38, U.S.C., which is for an injury or illness occurring as a result of VA treatment. However, to retaliate against me, the VA made my "effective date" 22 years later than the 1992 claim documents--I only got retroactive benefits from Jan. 27, 2014 to Mar. 31, 2014. The psychologist PTSD evaluator specifically wrote: "Veteran reported sexual trauma to multiple VAMC providers, but a timely diagnosis and treatment is not evident, the result being that the disability (PTSD) continued to progress.” The Veterans Benefits Administration threw that into “file 13.”
The monetary recovery is a pittance because of the chicanery of ignoring when I filed the claim or when my medical record took notice of it, and substituting the date I wrote a letter asking President Obama not to just look at campus assaults, but those by medical professionals, too. This sick physician had a track record; I got his state license to practice suspended; another violation while he was on probation, for what he did to me, got him turned in by a co-worker, and made his license get revoked for life. In the documents, a matter of public record by Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, the Agreed Order says, "violated the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship, therefore his conduct constitutes unprofessional and dishonorable conduct that deceived, defrauded and/or injured J.P. and constitutes a deviation from the acceptable standard of care."
You all should know military and veterans facility doctors do not have to carry malpractice coverage The VA won't do anything about it, they're incensed I even expected them to investigate. Congresspersons haven't been able to bring any attention to this plight, either. There are doctors who rape, it's too awful for people to think about. My mother told me I "had better just see to it that it stays out of the newspaper, so don't have to be embarrassed in front of my friends." Veterans (after service) assaulted in VA care need as much a safety net (powerful media presence, legislation, pro bono assistance with taking a legal stand, admission to VA inpatient MST programs, etc.) as those still in uniform."
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