Op-Ed: International Trade Commission could block vital PTSD treatment

Daryl Joy Walters | Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee

Millions of Americans who serve in our armed services often return home with trauma that goes unnoticed. Louisiana alone is home to about 283,000 veterans, many of who carry unseen scars of combat that remain long after the physical wounds heal. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects millions of veterans every year, while American innovation is creating better ways to treat PTSD, those solutions are under threat from the International Trade Commission, an obscure government agency with far-reaching powers. However, intervention from officials like the Bayou State’s very own U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy can stop this overreach before it does even more harm to those who have given up so much for our country.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, up to 20% of veterans who served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, and it’s estimated that 12% of Gulf War veterans and 30% of Vietnam War veterans experience PTSD after their service. Overall, the risk for suicide among veterans is 52% higher than among nonveterans — a number largely driven by PTSD. Fortunately, breakthrough technologies are helping the millions of servicemen and women who deal with PTSD. NightWare, for example, an FDA-approved software installed on the Apple Watch, uses the watch’s heart-monitoring technology to disrupt PTSD-induced nightmares via pulses on the user’s wrist, which rouses them from nightmares without fully waking them up.

Unfortunately, this technology is being threatened by overreach from the ITC, an agency that was originally founded to protect the American people and U.S. businesses from shady foreign trade practices. In a critical case before the ITC, a tech company called Masimo is suing Apple over wearable pulse oximeter patents used in the Apple Watch. If the ITC rules in Masimo’s favor, the case could result in an exclusion order — a legal tool used by the ITC to block products from being imported into the U.S. — against the Apple Watch, effectively banning the sale of the Apple Watch, a move with serious consequences for our nation’s combat veterans.

By law, the ITC should consider the consequences of issuing an exclusion order before it hands down a final ruling, however, in recent years the Commission has failed to properly account for the public interest — the ITC has only altered its rulings based on public interest a handful of times since 1975. In the case between Apple and Masimo, the implication for veterans is alarming. Veterans in Louisiana and elsewhere who could benefit from NightWare-equipped Apple Watches won’t be able to buy potentially life-saving products because the ITC is being taken advantage of by greedy bad actors.

That’s why we need Cassidy to put a stop to this. Before politics, the senator worked in the medical field as a doctor and surely understands the gravity of denying PTSD patients access to potentially life-saving treatments. Cassidy now sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, which handles oversight of the ITC and could help push for structural reform within the agency to prevent further abuse. What’s more, he also is a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, which gives him a deeper understanding of the issues faced by veterans in the aftermath of war. Louisiana veterans have sacrificed enough, and they shouldn’t have to face a challenge from their own government. Cassidy should help by pushing for meaningful change at the ITC.

Louisiana native Daryl Joy Walters is a member of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee and previously served five years as the Vice President of Communications to the Young Democrats of Louisiana.