An employee with the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas sent an e-mail message to staff members suggesting them to stop diagnosing PTSD in order to save time and money treating veterans.

The message was dated March 20 and titled “Suggestion,” and it was addressed to several staffers including psychologists, social workers and a psychiatrist.

“Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest that we refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, R/O PTSD,” Norma Perez, a PTSD program coordinator and psychologist at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple Texas. (R/O stands for “rule out.”)

“Additionally, we don’t…have time to do extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD,” the e-mail added.

The e-mail was obtained and released publicly on Thursday by VoteVets.org, a veterans group that had criticized the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

In response to Perez’s e-mail, Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake released a statement saying the e-mail was “inappropriate” and does not concord with the VA policy.

“VA’s leadership will strongly remind all medical staff that trust, accuracy and transparency is paramount to maintaining our relationships with our veteran patients,” Peake said, as quoted the Washington Post. He also added that Perez has been “counseled” and is “extremely apologetic.”

PTSD is one of several conditions known as an anxiety disorder. It is caused by a psychologically traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury to oneself or others. Such triggering events are called “stressors.” Symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks and substance abuse.

According to a Rand Corp. report released last month and suggestively titled “Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences and Services to Assist Recovery,” about one in five troops who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan have symptoms of major depression or PTSD.