VA Confirms 18 Vets Commit Suicide Everyday

Headlined on 4/21/08:

VA Confirms 18 Vets Commit Suicide Everyday!!!


by Jason Leopold Page 1 of 3 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com/

In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans
Health Administration confirmed that the agency\'s
own statistics show that an average of 126
veterans per week -6,552 veterans per
year-commit suicide, according to an internal
email distributed to several VA officials.'dated
Dec. 15, 2007.

Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, the undersecretary for
health at the VA, sent the email inquiry about the accuracy
of a news report published that month claiming the suicide
rate among veterans was 18 per day.

“McClatchy [Newspapers] alleges that 18 veterans kill
themselves everyday and this is confirmed by the VA’s
own statistics,” Kussman wrote.

“Is that true? Sounds awful if one is considering 24 million veterans.”

In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans
Health Administration confirmed that the agency’s own
statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week
—6,552 veterans per year—commit suicide, according to
an internal email distributed to several VA officials.

In an email response to Kussman, Ira Katz, the head of
mental health at the VA, confirmed the statistics and added
the “VA’s own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per
day among those who receive care from us.”

This week, in a federal courthouse in San Francisco, that
email will be cited as evidence that the VA has failed to
properly treat veterans who suffer from PTSD and
veterans who are suicidal.

Those allegations were made in a class-action lawsuit filed
against the VA by two veterans advocacy groups, 'Veterans
for Common Sense' and 'Veterans United for Truth', alleging
a systematic breakdown at the VA has led to an "epidemic
of suicides."

The organizations claim the VA, which has a backlog of 600,000
benefits claims to sort through, is unprepared to deal with
cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among veterans
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and has turned away
veterans who have sought help for depression at
VA hospitals.

Some of those veterans later committed suicide, according
to the lawsuit. The groups want a federal judge to issue a
preliminary injunction to force the VA to immediately treat
veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide. ://

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Our question is: How Many of Those 18 are OEF/OIF Veterans?

Then What is the REAL Death Toll?
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The VA has set up a 24-hour suicide hotline for
around-the-clock access to mental health professionals.
The number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To learn more about PTSD-- visit the
National Center for PTSD website.
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I Can Still Hear Thier Cries, Even In My Sleep...A Journey Into PTSD!