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Editorial: Veterans fail to get care
They die while they wait
STORY TOOLS 
More from OpinionShh," began the e-mail referring to 12,000 veterans who attempt suicide each year while the Department of Veterans Affairs tries to provide for their care. It continued with a question: "Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"
The writer: Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental-health director.
Another e-mail from a VA official in December confirmed that U.S. veterans are committing suicide at the rate of 18 per day.
The reason? The VA has been unable to keep pace with the growing number of veterans who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and returned home in need of mental-health care.
Suing to get care
Both e-mails were revealed Monday in San Francisco during the opening arguments of a class-action suit against the VA, being heard in U.S. District Court. The plaintiffs — Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, D.C., and the Santa Barbara-based Veterans United for Truth — want the judge to order the VA to provide immediate treatment for suicidal veterans and prompt care for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
A Department of Justice attorney, however, argued that the VA provides "world-class" medical care and urged the District Court judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Sorry, the Justice Department attorney misses the point. All indications show veterans are not getting the "world-class" care they deserve and, as a result, are dying as they wait.
The need for swift treatment was underscored by the RAND Corp. in a study released April 17. It indicated that as many as 300,000 troops returning from Afghanistan or Iraq suffer from major depression or PTSD. That represents 18.5 percent of all troops who served in the two war zones.
Having depression or PTSD increases the chances of suicidal tendencies. As the veterans advocates told the District Court, 120 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan commit suicide each week while the government drags its feet in granting mental-health-care benefits.
Trying to keep pace
The Justice Department attorney told the judge the VA has tried to keep up, adding 20 percent more mental-health employees and 25 percent more in claims processing.
That might help, but it is not enough by half. Already, it takes the VA six months to decide a claim, and the backlog of disability claims has reached 650,000, an increase of 200,000 since the 2003 start of the Iraq war. That is too long a wait and too large a backlog.
And what happens if the claim is denied? The veteran who seeks benefits through the VA's grievance system has no right to an attorney or to demand records or to question opposing witnesses.
How utterly contemptible that those who put their lives on the line for this nation and come home in need of urgent care are treated as if they were trying to scam the government. Such petty bureaucratic red tape demeans the valor this nation's veterans have exhibited.
The VA should be pulling out all the stops so veterans, especially those who are suicidal, get immediate help.
Already, some are alleging the e-mail by Dr. Katz suggests the VA mental-health division wanted to cover up this dirty little secret. If so, swift discipline is needed. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called for Dr. Katz's resignation last week.
Government needs to act
Cleaning house is not enough. The very people responsible for putting troops in harm's way — the Bush administration and Congress — need to act. President Bush must ask for and Congress must allocate the funding the VA needs to care for the burgeoning number of veterans returning from battle.
People expect death on the battlefield. And too many young men and women have already died, especially in the government's war of expediency in Iraq. However, we do not expect veterans to die of neglect at home and we must not stand for it.
In nearly seven years of war, five of those in Iraq alone, civilians have been chanting a simple mantra: "Support the troops." They have done just that, including sending troops upgraded body armor the government had been slow to provide.
It is time now for the government to provide returning veterans the care and dignity they deserve.
Posted by CloudyDaze on April 27, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
mmshoot: Thank you for a most informative post. Whether Dem. or Rep. or anything else, we all need to demand that our Government improve its treatment of our veteran heroes.
Posted by keepin_it_real on April 27, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you...I agree with the 2 previous posts. Very well put. We have to take care of our Veterans. After all they put their lives on the line for us.
You would think we would have learned from the Vietnam War--we still have many Veterans out there with serious scars from that war because the issue was not addressed then.
Peace to you too :)
Posted by christafrankmiller on April 27, 2008 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
my husband is active duty and they wont treat him even now- he has knee issues from the military and they keep telling him to come back later... then he fails his prt and gets in trouble for it...makes no sense. yet another reason hes getting out after almost 10 years in!!
Posted by christafrankmiller on April 27, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
oh sorry...its there fitness test...if you fail 3 you get kicked out...
Posted by jeff93024 on April 27, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
mmshoot -- PRT stands for Physical Readiness Test.
Treat these people right, and do it now. Politicians of every stripe should be working together to fix this problem, and anyone found to be opposing or intentionally standing in the way of swiftly and correctly dealing with this mess should be sent to Iraq and/or Afghanistan in the next call-up.
What could even be the reasoning behind allowing any of the returning troops to twist slowly in the wind as is apparently being done?
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 27, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with all the above comments. 18 suicides a day is unreal. We are NOT helping these men and women that put thier lives on the line for us !!!!!!
Posted by lthrnek on April 27, 2008 at 12:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's not mix up the suicide problem with the amount of time it takes for a claim to move through the approval process. One equals a life or death situation while the other is concerned with a check coming in every month.
Bureaucracies work slowly and after being surprised by an inordinate number of claims emanating from Iraq and Afghanistan, it'll take awhile to build up a staff for claims handling. The suicide problem should and is getting immediate attention and action I'm sure, given our experience with PTSD in Vietnam.
The first question I have is the statement that 18 suicides a month is excessive compared to what? What is considered an acceptable rate? What is ordinary given the military population. Does the group they are looking at include still living veterans from all our wars? Numbers can be deceiving if you don't examine the method from which they are derived.
If you want to be up in arms about casualty numbers, just divide the number of people killed in the USA each year in auto accidents. I keep hearing 50,000 which comes out to be about 137 a day, 41 of which are killed in alcohol related accidents.
During an election year, given the hate and discontent being tossed around by some political candidates, every little event or occasion will be used to make the other guy or the incumbent look bad.
While I agree that one suicide is too many, let's not go off the deep end by criticizing and look deeper at the problem. For one, I'm convinced that our military personnel are safer in Iraq and Afghanistan than they would be, buzzing around on our highways.
Posted by Face on April 27, 2008 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wasn't Pelosi supposed to make this one of her first priorities in the first 100 hours of congress? 2 years of house and senate control and no help!! Where is the relief that was campaigned on and promised?
Posted by GuideDog on April 27, 2008 at 5:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ithrnek,
We had an acquaintance whose husband recently committed suicide after returning to the states after two tours in combat in the Middle East.
What number of suicides do you think his family would regard as "acceptable"?
Posted by Tom_Johnston on April 27, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know about the "acceptability" of a suicide rate, or how it compares to any other thing. All that stuff is pretty irrelevant really to the central issue....
America's veterans have earned the right to the care that they need after their service obligations are completed.
This is not an "entitlement", it has been earned by those who serve.
The current Administration has not had a good record on this issue clearly. It is time that this changes.
I don't know what to make of Dr. Katz's e-mail, it does sound bad in a "sound byte", but before we punish some lower level official (and think the job is done), we should move to the head of the class. It is too easy to pick off some flunky, and think the "Mission" is accomplished, when the real problem lies higher up.
The Bush Administration bears full responsibility for the recovery of ALL our returning military after they have, all too often, recklessly put them all in harm's way.
Posted by Face on April 27, 2008 at 6:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Since our congress authorized war, it is our legislature that needs to apportion monies and pass legislation (laws) to help our veterans! They promised to do so in the first 100 hours. Well.. still waiting... Pelosi and Reid need to be taken to task. Where is the help that was promised if they were elected?? WHERE?! People voted for them because of this promise!! They control the legislatures and the committees! Where is the funding? Where is the funding? Where is the funding? Where is the funding? Why are they reneging on their promise? Hello Nancy!! We are still waiting! Turn those machines back on!
Posted by salvaje on April 28, 2008 at 2:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Marine from Nam is still waiting for his claim(s). His youngest son, one of the children he never got the chance to raise, is now in Iraq and will have to wait just as long to get proper care and justice.
I am almost dead, hell, last summer they were going to take my legs, caused by the city of Fayetteville, NC and the VAMC there. I hope and pray my son gets better and timely treatment. I doubt it though.....
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