Groups Find Trauma Rule for Veterans Lacking

A new federal regulation that is intended to make it easier for veterans to cagotreceive disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder is coming under fire fromCustom hockey jerseys some of the advocates who had pushed for it.

The rule, which takes effect Tuesday, eliminates a requirement that veterans document specific events like firefights or bomb blasts that might have caused their P.T.S.D., whose symptoms include emotional numbness, anxiety, irritability and flashbacks. Such documentation was often difficult or even impossible to find, veterans groups say.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Obama hailed the new rule as a “long-overdue step,” saying, “I don’t think our troops on the battlefield should have to Custom hockey jerseystake notes to keep for a claims application.”

But veterans advocates say that while the rule is a major improvement, it does not go far enough in lowering obstacles to veterans seeking health care or disability compensation for P.T.S.D.

At issue is a provision saying that a final determination on whether a veteran’s disorder is tied to service — instead of, say, a car crash — can be made only by Custom hockey jerseysa physician or psychologist working for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Advocates have urged the department to allow private clinicians to make those determinations as well.