In a final rule effective October 5, 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it will provide service dogs to veterans with hearing, vision, or mobility-related disabilities, but not to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health disorders.
This rule comes at the conclusion of a long, detailed study by the VA which analyzed the value of service dogs to veterans suffering from certain types of disabilities. Unfortunately for veterans suffering from PTSD, the VA nixed the idea of providing them service dogs due to to the unavailability of medical evidence supporting this need. Little clinical research addresses mental health service dogs, and the VA could not determine that these dogs provided a “medical benefit” to these veterans.
According to the VA, the only evidence in support of providing service dogs to veterans suffering from mental disorders is anecdotal accounts of subjective benefits. Such anecdotes show a decreased dependence on medications; an increased sense of safety or decreased sense of hyper-vigilance; an increased sense of calm; and the use of the dog as a physical buffer to keep others at a comfortable distance. The VA concluded that these “subjective accounts” could not be used as a basis for administering VA benefits. Such a tight-fisted approach is hardly surprising given the overburdened and underfunded state of the VA system.
At least the final rule provides for those veterans suffering from physical ailments, which is more than can be said for years past. Surprisingly, until now, the VA had no official program or mechanism for providing service dogs to veterans who needed them. With the issuance of this new rule, benefits to veterans include assistance with veterinary care; travel benefits associated with obtaining and training a dog; and the provision, maintenance, and replacement of hardware required for the dog to perform the tasks necessary to assist such veterans. The new regulations governing these provisions are set forth at 38 CFR Part 17.
In order to be eligible to receive benefits for having a service dog, a veteran must receive a certificate under 38 CFR 17.148. The eligibility requirements under 38 CFR 17.148 are as follows. First, the veteran must be diagnosed as having a visual, hearing, or substantial mobility impairment; and the VA clinical team that is treating the veteran for this impairment must determine based on medical judgment that it is optimal for the veteran to manage the impairment and live independently through the assistance of a trained service dog. Second, in order for the service dog to be recognized under this program, the dog and the veteran must have successfully completed a training program offered by an organization accredited by Assistance Dogs International or the Internal Guide Dog Federation, or both.
While this is a step forward, the rule doesn’t note one important point: the VA isn’t actually providing the service dog to the veteran in need. Rather, the rule merely provides that in the event that the veteran obtains the service dog (which requires thousands of dollars and an approval process), if the veteran meets certain stringent conditions the VA will pay for various elements of maintaining and keeping the service dog.
One must wonder how many veterans will in fact meet these criteria. In fact, the VA itself in the final rule states that it estimates that only one hundred veterans will be eligible for such veterans. One hundred veterans. Considering that the VA itself estimates that as of June 2010, 3.16 million veterans are receiving disability compensation benefits, the provision of service dogs to only one hundred of these individuals is almost laughable.
But, of course, it isn’t laughable. These veterans’ needs are real, and this situation is serious.
For the full text of the final rule, which was issued on September 5, 2012, visit http://cryptome.org/2012/09/va090512.htm.
