Dallas VA Medical Center Employee Accused of Harassing Openly Gay Veteran

12/28/2011
Advocate for the Disabled
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Dallas VA Medical Center Employee Accused of Harassing Openly Gay Veteran

An investigation is currently underway at the Dallas VA Medical Center into allegations that a nurse practitioner subjected an openly gay female veteran to an anti-gay lecture when the veteran sought care for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Huffington Post writer Jessica Gerson relays the story of her friend, Esther Garatie, a former Marine (and openly gay veteran) honorably discharged from the military. Gerson says that on October 12, 2011 Esther Garatie encountered a “homophonic VA nurse” at the Dallas VA Medical Center. Garatie says that instead of treatment, she received an extensive lecture from a VA nurse practitioner about homosexuality.

Gerson and other supporters of Garatie submitted a formal complaint to the Dallas VA to which there was no initial response. The group took their complaint to Change.org in the form of an online petition and generated 5,000 signatures and national media attention.

The VA North Texas recently publically responded to the incident, confirming that the nurse practitioner in question had been placed on "administrative detail" while the organization conducted an internal investigation. Administrative detail means that the accused VA employee cannot have contact with patients.

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Category: Veterans' Disability

Labels: depression Gay Veterans Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Veterans disability

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Dallas VA Medical Center Employee Accused of Harassing Openly Gay Veteran

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