February 25, 2019
Allen Cone | UPI
Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin testing humans for exposure to toxic fluorinated compounds surrounding eight former and current military bases in the United States.
The CDC will work with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to check for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the agencies announced last week.
PFAS are used in firefighting foam on military bases.
February 22, 2019
Patricia Kime | Military.com
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Defense Department's authority to prosecute retired service members for crimes they commit, even after retirement.
The court on Tuesday chose not to hear the case of a retired Marine who was court-martialed for a sexual assault he committed three months after leaving the service in August 2015. By not accepting the case, Larrabee v. the United States, the court upheld the status quo: that military retirees are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
February 22, 2019
Karen Jowers | Military Times
Some disturbing trends related to deployments have emerged from the most recent survey of military spouses, according to military family advocates.
February 21, 2019
Lisa Rapaport | Task & Purpose
(Reuters Health) - Military service members who are at risk for suicide may be less likely to attempt to harm themselves when they receive supportive text messages, a U.S. study suggests.
February 18, 2019
Kathleen Jacob | Fox 17
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A FOX 17 News investigation found a drug treating PTSD in our veterans could be killing them. Prazosin is a blood pressure medication commonly prescribed to treat PTSD nightmares. Only two drugs are approved by the FDA to treat PTSD, and Prazosin is not one of them.
Retired Sgt. Allen Chapman said he takes 10 pills a day to treat depression, PTSD, and all the other side effects that come with working in a war zone overseas.
“I’ve got so many medications, it takes a while to take them all in the morning,” Sgt. Chapman said.
February 13, 2019
Robert Preidt | U.S. News
By itself, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) doesn't raise the risk of heart disease for U.S. veterans, a new study finds.
"Instead, a combination of physical disorders, psychiatric disorders and smoking -- that are more common in patients with PTSD versus without PTSD -- appear to explain the association between PTSD and developing cardiovascular disease," said study author Jeffrey Scherrer. He's research director in the department of family and community medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri.
February 8, 2019
Joshua Axelrod | Military Times
A new report illustrates a troubling trend of veterans committing suicide on VA hospital campuses after receiving inadequate care from individual facilities.
February 6, 2019
Amy Bushatz | Military.com
Absence from home remains the top concern among active-duty troops and their families for the second year running, according to the results of an annual military family survey scheduled for release Wednesday.
The survey, fielded by Blue Star Families and Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), queried more than 10,000 people between April and June of last year.
February 6, 2019
Patricia Kime | Military.com
Military hospitals, clinics and pharmacies will soon share information on prescriptions written for controlled substances with civilian doctors in nine states, part of a growing effort to stem addiction and illegal transfer of medications such as opioids within the military population.
February 5, 2019
Laura Joszt | AJMC
Veterans living with advanced cancer will now have access to comprehensive genomic profiling. Foundation Medicine announced that it has won a nationwide contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs National Precision Oncology Program.
The contract covers all of Foundation Medicine’s tests, including FoundationOne CDx and FoundationOne Liquid for solid tumors and FoundationOne Heme for hematological malignancies.