Iraqi Vet From Carbondale Wins $3.7 Million for PTSD

A Pennsylvania federal judge has awarded $3.7 million to an Iraqi war veteran who said Veterans Affairs doctors failed to properly treat his post-traumatic stress disorder.

U.S. District Judge James Munley issued an order January 16 in favor of Stanley Laskowski III and his wife Marisol.

Laskowski was treated at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Township.

Since October 2001, approximately 1.6 million U.S. troops have been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Evidence suggests that many returning service members suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and traumatic brain injury.

This is from the Times Leader:

Laskowski, of Carbondale, filed suit against the VA in 2010, alleging physicians there were grossly negligent in the care they provided him for PTSD he developed during a tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003.

Laskowski claimed the failure to properly treat him caused his symptoms to worsen to the point he is now 100 percent disabled.

Munley heard testimony in the case over a one-week, non-jury trial in September. He determined the VA was negligent, and that that negligence caused financial and emotional harm to Laskowski.

The award of $3.7 million was broken down as follows:

• $2,144,803 in future lost earnings
• $214,582 in past lost earnings
• $1,200,000 in past and future emotional suffering
• $140,615 to Marisol Laskowski for past, present and future emotional harm.

Signs of PTSD can include depression, sadness, anxiety over reminders of the past, nightmares and flashbacks, difficulty relating to others, emotional isolation, panic, difficulty focusing, trouble holding down a job, and other social, psychological and physical problems.

Source: The Times Leader http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Iraqi-war-vet-awarded-37-million-in-PTSD-case,252385