How Are PTSD Cases Different Under the DBA Law?

PTSD No. 1 Injury Among Contractors in 2017

Hi this is Brian Wiklendt again with Garfinkel Schwartz Defense Base Act law firm. I’m located here in Maitland Florida in our main office. 

I’ve been traveling a lot. Hurricanes dodging them that kind of thing. We’re back up to speed here in Florida. We got lucky this time in central Florida.

PTSD No. 1 Injury Among Contractors in 2017

At any rate what I wanted to do is explain to you that I’ve that gotten some statistics that are somewhat troubling for the overseas contractor community in terms of PTSD. That PTSD No. 1 injury among contractors in 2017.

As of this year, 2017, PTSD is the most prevalent injury that has been reported out of all injuries that occur to overseas contractors mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And the PTSD injuries are covered by the Defense Base Act which is what I specialize in. And I wanted to try to touch base with what to do when you come back and you’re starting not to feel yourself or your family says you’re just not the same person you used to be.

Your personality’s different. What’s going on? It’s a very troubling and very fearful type situation that requires help from a professional. And I understand that a lot of my clients and potential clients have problems and issues dealing with the reality that they might need some help.

Contractor PTSD Not Identified

No Exit Interview

One of the biggest problems that overseas contractors have that I deal with are that you don’t get an exit interview. Once something happens once an incident or something happens that’s horrific warlike military people get briefed they have to be seen by someone they have to be cleared they have to undergo testing and things like that to make sure that they get the help that they need now that PTSD is prevalent and has to be addressed by the VA.

Unfortunately overseas contractors get a plane flight home and that’s it. Or at least they think that all they get is to go to the airport and go home. So there’s really there’s no counseling that happens there’s nothing that happens so people are left out on their own to try to figure out how to deal with this.

Can’t Fight Through PTSD

A lot of my clients say "I’m going to try to fight through this thing I’m going to try to deal with this. I don’t want people to not hire me because I’ve been labeled as a person with PTSD or I don’t want people to take my guns away all kinds of issues that occur that a person just does not want to seek treatment.

Seek Treatment for Your Benefit

But the honesty of the situation is you need to seek treatment for your own benefit. And if it comes or it enters into your mind and you and you can say, “this thing is affecting me to such a degree that I can’t work in certain areas anymore. I can’t deal with crowds. I can’t deal with loud noises. I’m having issues at home with my family. I have angry outbursts,” you just have to go see somebody.

We Advance Medical Evaluations

Our law firm advances the costs to do medical evaluations if you don’t have the means to go do that yourself. We can facilitate that. We can’t pay for medical treatment but we can pay for an evaluation and advance those costs hopefully to recoup them in the future when a claim is filed. And so it’s really tough to say this is tough love but if you have issues and your family is telling you need some help you’ve got to listen to them.

Focus On Treatment Options

And don’t worry about your guns and don’t worry about your future employment. There’s treatment options. There are so many that are popping up every day new treatment option around the world. Very creative treatment options. Treatment options include:

K9s for Warriors programs that have dogs.

There’s equine therapy

There’s all kinds of memory eye movement therapy

There’s Tetris (playing the game Tetris tends to help people with PTSD)

New PTSD Treatments Every Day

There’s just so many different things that are coming out every day that are very helpful to people. There are new PTSD treatments every day. Most people don’t know about them. Most of them should be covered by your insurance company under the Defense Base Act down the road.

PTSD is Prevalent

And like I said this has become a very well-known prevalent problem. It it’s not called shell shock anymore it’s not something to hide from. And the treatment that you can receive will definitely hopefully be to your benefit through clinical trials through counseling through medications all kinds of different options that are out there.

And like I said this is this is a hot button issue this is no longer a taboo type situation. You shouldn’t be afraid of that label because hopefully you’ll get better and with treatment you’ll gradually get better and better and better and then obviously the jobs will be afforded to you in the future and things like that will go your way.

So don’t try to hide from the fact that you’re going to need professional help and try to and get it when you come to the resolution that I need some that I’m going to be limited in some way whether that’s work whether that’s home life I can’t do the things I used to do I I’m I can’t get out of bed in the morning I can’t sleep all those things combined could create a diagnosis of PTSD.

PTSD is From a Traumatic Event

And like I said PTSD is recognized as a disease. It’s not something to handle on your own accord. It wasn’t because of you. It’s something that you experienced a traumatic event and it caused you mental anguish and harm that you need to get taken care of.

So again I don’t want to beat a dead horse but please get treatment. Go to the resources on our website about PTSD and get help if you need it. And call me or call my staff anytime and we’ll help you get the resources that you might need or at least give you the options for you to choose from if you so choose in in the future. Be safe and take care. Thank you.

When Was PTSD Recognized?

This story is part of an ongoing series about PTSD for families of civilian contractors.

Post-traumatic stress disorder has always been part of human experience. We just haven’t called it that until relatively recently. Do we know when PTSD was recognized?

In ancient literature and Biblical accounts of battle, there are mentions of “fright” or “extreme sadness” or mental health problems that today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder.

When Was PTSD Recognized?

The Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War PTSD was not front and center in the news nor in the medical care provided to our nation’s brave and strong veterans. So when was PTSD recognized?

It’s taken a long time for the effects of trauma to be realized for what they are, a mental health disorder brought about by an event, rather than a personal weakness. For generations, symptoms were ignored or people were expected to get over it quickly and return to normal activities. Families often were split apart by or suffered along with the person who had the disorder.

The 1700s Called It Nostalgia

According to an article by Dr. Matthew Friedman of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, there has been medical documentation as far back as the mid-1700s, when doctors wrote about “nostalgia.”

Da Casta’s Syndrome

In the Civil War, a military doctor, Jacob Mendez Da Casta, noted symptoms of anxiety, rapid breathing, and overstimulation of the nervous system in soldiers. The problems were called “Da Casta’s Syndrome.”

The start of the Industrial Revolution resulted in more documented cases, and they were called “railway brain” or “railway spine.” That’s because there were so many horrible train accidents from the brand new machinery and they traumatized surviving victims.

World War I Shell Shock

In World War I, “shell shock” was used to describe reactions to the explosions of artillery shells. Shell shock first was thought to result from damage to the brain from the impact of the explosions but that thinking changed when soldiers who were not near the explosions had similar symptoms. 

World War II Battle Fatigue

During World War II, symptoms were called “battle fatigue” or “war neurosis” or “combat stress reaction.”  At the start of the war, because the causes of the disorder were not understood, the military thought that those with potential psychiatric problems could be screened out before being drafted.

The U.S.  had no provisions for psychiatric treatment until the North African campaign in 1943, according to research published in Dialogues in Clinical Neurosis.

1952 Gross Stress Reaction

The American Psychiatric Association in 1952 produced the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and included “gross stress reaction’ as a diagnosis for people with anxiety, insomnia, and flashbacks. Again, it was assumed that the person’s problems would go away quickly and if they lasted more than six months it was probably due to another illness.

1980 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Official

Finally, in 1980, post-traumatic stress disorder became an official diagnosis in the DSM mostly because of research done on Vietnam veterans, Holocaust survivors and victims of sexual abuse. The links between the trauma of war and continuing symptoms in civilian life were confirmed.

PTSD Today

Civilian contractors who’ve served in war zones have suffered from this disorder. What’s frightening is that unlike veterans, civilian contractors do not undergo exit interviews. Without an exit interview there is no way of verifying that a civilian contractor has PSTD.

Find out if you can get help under the Defense Base Act Law. If you’re being sent into a conflict zone, be aware of the potential for this happening and know what your rights are if you experience post-traumatic stress disorder.

Why I Became a Lawyer

Hi I'm Brian Wiklendt an attorney with Garfinkel Schwartz. I’m here in our Maitland, Florida, office---that’s a suburb of Orlando. It’s July and very, very hot here.

Today Brian Wiklendt is a top DBA lawyer.

We natives consider this season the winter and the reason for that it is it is so hot you can’t even play golf or do anything. So what we do is kind of stay indoors like pretending it was a snowy winter day but it’s just hot summer. So we’re in the middle of winter here and trying to suffer through it. 

Why I Became a Lawyer

I was asked to explain to people why I became a lawyer and I thought about it for a little while and I know the usual answers. I unfortunately don’t have those usual answers. It was kind of a weird story and I’ll explain it.

I Was Going to Be a Doctor

I went to college originally to be a doctor. That was just what people did that were smart and got good grades. And so I hated the classes when I was a freshman but the biology class was the big weed out class. And I had no idea what they were talking about in that class so I was a little disgruntled.

Fraternity Shenanigans Spur Legal Insights  

I pledged a fraternity my second semester of freshman year and there are basically three instances that happened where it just turned into like wow I think I should be a lawyer. 

First Look at the Power of the Law 

The first one was first of all you have to understand that being a pledge in a fraternity a lot of times you have to do stupid things. When you are eighteen years old you tend to do things like that and listen to people like you shouldn’t. But our fraternity kind of specialized in road we’d call them road trips and elder members of the fraternity would like throw you in a car unsuspecting and drop you off somewhere and just leave you there.

And so obviously there was drinking involved and I was not necessarily involved in too many of these things but the first one was we knew that we were going to be road tripped from this particular establishment by our big brothers and we heard through the grapevine was going to happen.

So what we did is we grabbed the guy’s keys and we took his car. Little did we know that he was going to report it stolen.

So we’re on our way from Atlanta to New Orleans and this guy’s car and all of a sudden a police officer stops the car. My friend was driving the car. I was in the backseat. He gets out of the car and starts talking to the police officer instead of the police officer coming to us. And somehow he came back to the car and we got a police escort back to our college and there were no charges or anything filed.

How to Handle a Cop

I asked him. I said what did you say? How did you get out of this? He was like, "well my dad is a lawyer in New Orleans and I know how to get out of these kinds of things. I did my stuff I’m supposed to do. I went to talk to the officer, apologized kept my hands out."

He knew all these things and I just thought that was really interesting as to how he got out of this jam with us getting a police escort home. So that was kind of a story about what I thought about being a lawyer and the law and the power of the law.

The Atlanta Zoo, Women's Stockings and a Quarter

The second one was a little bit more serious. One of my fraternity member friends in my pledge class was sent to the Atlanta Zoo with only women’s stockings on and he was just left there. He had a quarter and women’s stockings and so what happened was when we found out about that and these guys dropped him off there he never showed back up to school for like days.

And everyone was all nervous and everyone was like what happened to him? Something terrible must have happened to him. They’re afraid to report this to anyone and they’re coming to me. I was a freshman in college and these guys were coming to me like Brian what do you think we should do? What’s going on? What do we do? I was like well I don’t know why’re you coming to me?

The Impact of Law Firm Letterhead

But this started to become a pattern that people came to me for advice like this and so I explained. I was like you’re going to really have to kind of fess up to this. And what happened was the guy that was road tripped in the stockings he ended up getting his father to write an official letter on a law firm letterhead to the school explaining that his son was missing and he was going to hold everyone responsible and all this other stuff. And obviously it was a joke and he came back the next day.

Fear in Their Eyes

But the scare and the fear in people’s eyes about that letterhead. I never forgot that big letterhead with all these lawyers’ names on it scaring to death the people that did that road trip. They probably were never the same. I’m sure they’ve never done anything bad in their lives since that time because of that letterhead and so I thought that was kind of part of my progression of wanting to be a lawyer.

It’s kind of funny when you’re talking about things like that and reminiscing. These stories seem funny at the time but they’re not funny when they’re happening. They’re funny now but they weren’t funny at the time really. 

The Great Ping-Pong Escapade

Brian is lead counsel at Garfinkel Schwartz.

My last brush with the law was that we had to do things to other fraternities and things as part of the hazing process. One of the things was to try to steal something of worth and then of course you give it back later. It’s just a prank but two of my fraternity brothers decided to steal a ping pong table from the recreational center which was next door to our fraternity house.

And these ping-pong tables are not regular ping-pong tables. They’re like professional Olympic style super expensive ping-pong tables. Well they steal it because we knew how to get into the place. They steal it. They put it in the back of the truck and they’re taking it off campus and of course they get caught with this big thing in the back of their truck and they find out it is a ping pong table.

Of course they go to the campus police. They first thing to do they call me and I’m still just a freshman in college and they’re calling me asking me what should we do? Can you come here and help us? Blah blah blah. I guess they were business majors or something. So I go there and I explain this is what you have to do apologize. Tell them it was a prank. You meant to bring it back. It was just a prize. Blah blah blah.

Return to the Scene of the Crime 

So it turns out that basically what happened was if they could get it back in the exact same spot without anyone knowing that they stole it from before the opening of the recreational center they’re off the hook and so of course five guys are all trying to help take care of this get back into the place in the middle of the night put it exactly where it was and belonged and then leave and of course we got out of that.

So another thing is simply I just kind of naturally progressed into people asking me their advice on certain things and the power of the law. And what to do and I just felt that that was my calling and what I should do to try to help people in whatever area of law it is.

Now My Road Trips Are to Visit Longshoremen & Contractors 

And now I’m helping overseas contractors and longshoremen who are injured which gives me an even better sense of reward other than helping my stupid fraternity brothers trying to get out of jams. But that’s my story.

It’s not a normal story but that’s the truth of what happened as to why I went from going to biology classes to going to political science and economics classes and prelaw classes and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

So thanks for listening to my story. Again this is Brian Wiklendt with Garfinkel Schwartz. I hope you have a great day.

Many Steps in Every DBA Case

In this area of law, the Defense Base Act, there are many things that must occur before a decision is made on a case.

What this means is, if you’re a client and you have been injured and denied medical care and compensation, you will have to be very patient for a case to proceed.

Complex Cases Take Time

There is literally nothing to do but be understanding that there will be a trial, or a settlement, or a mediation. The end to the case can take several years

But during the entirety of that time, we’re with you. And you may not talk to us every week, but as SOON as there is news on your case, trust me, you’re the first person I will call.

Waiting for us to call can be another step involved in this process and yes, we know you’re waiting by the phone and hoping to hear from us. We call clients after hours, holidays and weekends just as soon as we hear the news of your case.

Why Defense Base Act Cases Take Time

The natural progression of a Defense Base Act law case takes time. It is easier to understand the wait if you understand the process and the steps that must take place:

1. The court must weigh the evidence to determine the credibility of the case.
2. This means the court must analyze each doctor’s testimony. 
3. Then the judges must then analyze my client’s testimony. 
4. Once the judges make a determination, they will write and say - yes, we believe this person to be telling the truth.
5. The case also must appear in the writing of an appeal. 
6. Writing the brief can be tedious. Some firms have law clerks that probably really do the writing but here it is me.
7. If the judge has to ask questions, then you are asked to appear to answer questions on that appeal. 

DBA Appeals Can Be Complicated

An appeal can be 10 pages, or more. Mine are way shorter than the insurance company’s appellate briefs. They try to write it and include everything and I try to be short and concise.

The last order I had was the most complicated one I’ve ever done because there were at least 10 doctors involved. There were broken bones, complications with broken bones and treatment of the broken bones, PTSD, and TBI (traumatic brain injury).

There were a million things going on in that one case. The judge’s order was more than 60+ pages long. And we won, but that was a long case.

Why You Need a DBA Attorney

The Defense Base Law and DBA cases are very complicated. Our doctors basically explain that with the many things that can happen to someone when there’s an IED, or a sudden attack, our clients can have a combination of medical issues going on.

Then, if a client has a traumatic brain injury, the pain receptors in the brain are different than other peoples’ pain receptors. So, for example, every time you move you can be in terrible pain but it doesn’t show up on any testing because it’s in a person’s brain - it’s not in their back, or in their leg.

While You’re Waiting, We’re Working

For clients, it’s very grueling sometimes waiting for all the trial to be over. It’s a long process but we’re right there with them every step of the way.

Then, at the end of a case, in a judgment, the judge may agree with us, and then they’ll throw in a twist, like saying that a client who is having all these issues, could possibly find work. So that means that they’ll get a few hundred fewer dollars per week for the rest of their life. However, that weekly payment for the rest of that person’s life is a positive outcome which is still to be considered a win.

It’s a challenge but we’re here to find a way to help, one family at a time.

DBA Covers Contractors ANYWHERE

I’m Brian Wiklendt and I’m a defense base lawyer, a federal law practice, and I work with clients across the country and around the world for Garfinkel Schwartz, P.A. DBA covers contractors anywhere.

I’m based out of Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Maitland, Florida, but because the Defense Base Act Law is Federal Law, I can work with any client who is a DOD or civilian contractor around the world.

Thailand, Australia, Bosnia, Russia, Libya

You might be in Thailand; maybe you’re in Australia, Bosnia, Russia, Libya, Ghana, Columbia, Mexico, Honduras, it might be really remote, very secure. It could be in a war zone; it could be on a military base, off a military base, in a very dangerous area.

If you are working for the U.S. government, or you’re working for a sub-contractor, meaning you’re working on behalf of the U.S. Government in the middle east, in Africa, South America, Asia, India. You can call 1-800-393-2999 to talk with me. If you don’t have a phone, e-mail me at: Brian@DefenseBaseActLaw.com or you can write to me via mail: Brian Wiklendt, 300 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, FL, 32751. I promise I will get back with you.

24-7 Answering Service

We have a 24-7 answering service because folks, I have to sleep, I travel, BUT I will return your call and I will talk with you personally. I take your problems to heart. I don’t know how you do what you do, but I do know that what you do is very, very difficult and it’s terribly dangerous.

You all risk your lives and hope for the best as you work in very difficult situations. I don’t want you to feel like when you’re injured that there’s no hope, because there is. You have rights. The defense base act protects you.

Contractor or Sub-Contractor of U.S.

If you’re a contractor, a sub-contractor of the U.S. Government, you can be helped when you need medical care to cover your injury from a war zone, an illness due to exposure in a third world country.

Maybe you fought in Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, you could be working in Syria, the Middle East. Are you on a ship working with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea? Are you in the center of conflict in South Korea?

If you’re hurt, if you’re injured, you should know that your healthcare and compensation is covered. You have the right to choose your doctors, to get money while you’re sick.

Longshoremen on U.S. Waters? We Can Help

We also work with Longshoremen on U.S. Waters and military and U.S. waters and seas

As long as you can e-mail me, write to me, call me, there’s a way to work with you. IF you had a family member die while working in Turkey, Libya, Afghanistan, we will walk you through the steps to help you under the DBA.

Our office has the ability to Skype with you, do a Zoom online meeting, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube, Google Plus, we can chat and find each other. We know you’re in very dangerous places. Try to contact us and we will look for your communication.