Thread: Lawsuit: Veterans Affairs Has Failed to Prevent Suicides

Lawsuit: Veterans Affairs Has Failed to Prevent Suicides

Sunday, April 20, 2008 6:00 AM

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn't doing enough to prevent suicide and provide adequate medical care for Americans who have served in the armed forces, a class-action lawsuit that goes to trial this week charges.

The lawsuit, filed in July by two nonprofit groups representing military veterans, accuses the agency of inadequately addressing a "rising tide" of mental health problems, especially post-traumatic stress disorder.

But government lawyers say the VA has been devoting more resources to mental health and making suicide prevention a top priority. They also argue that the courts don't have the authority to tell the department how it should operate.

The trial is set to begin Monday in a San Francisco federal court.

An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

"That failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides," the veterans groups wrote in court papers filed Thursday.

A study released this week by the RAND Corp. estimates that 300,000 U.S. troops _ about 20 percent of those deployed _ are suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We find that the VA has simply not devoted enough resources," said Gordon Erspamer, the lawyer representing the veterans groups. "They don't have enough psychiatrists."

The lawsuit also alleges that the VA takes too long to pay disability claims and that its internal appellate process unconstitutionally denies veterans their right to take their complaints to court.

The groups are asking U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti, a World War II U.S. Army veteran, to order the VA to drastically overhaul its system. Conti is hearing the trial without a jury.

"What I would like to see from the VA is that they actually treat patients with respect," said Bob Handy, head of the Veterans United for Truth, one of the groups suing the agency.

Handy, 76, who retired from the Navy in 1970, said he founded the veterans group in 2004 after hearing myriad complaints from veterans about their treatment at the VA when he was a member of the Veterans Caucus of the state Democratic Party. The department acknowledges in court papers that it takes on average about 180 days to decide whether to approve a disability claim.

"I would just like to see the VA do the honorable thing," said Handy, who is expected to testify during the weeklong trial.

Justice Department spokeswoman Carrie Nelson declined comment Friday.

But government lawyers have filed court papers arguing that the courts have no authority to tell the VA how to operate and no business wading into the everyday management of a sprawling medical network that includes 153 medical centers nationwide.

The veterans are asking the judge "to administer the programs of the second largest Cabinet-level agency, a task for which Congress and the executive branch are better suited," government lawyers wrote in court papers.

If the judge ordered an overhaul, he would be responsible for such things as employees workloads, hours of operations, facility locations, the number of medical professionals employed, and "even the decision whether to offer individual or group therapy to patients with" post-traumatic stress, the papers said.

The VA also said it is besieged with an unprecedented number of claims, which have grown from 675,000 in 2001 to 838,000 in 2007. The rise is prompted not from the current war, but from veterans growing older, government lawyers said.

"The largest component of these new claims is the aging veteran population of the Vietnam and Cold War eras," the government filing stated. "As they age, older veterans may lose employment-related health care, prompting them to seek VA benefits for the first time."

Government lawyers in their filings defended its average claims processing time as "reasonable," given that it has to prove the veterans disability was incurred during service time.

They also noted the VA will spend $3.8 billion for fiscal year 2008 on mental health and announced a policy in June that requires all medical centers to have mental health staff available all the time to provide urgent care. They said that "suicide prevention is a singular priority for the VA."

The VA "has hired over 3,700 new mental health professionals in the last two and a half years, bringing the total number of mental health professionals within VA to just under 17,000. This hiring effort continues," they said.

http://www.newsmax.com/us/veterans_care ... 89425.html

Ya gotta wonder about a country that treats veterans as lepers while giving away welfare, HUD housing, W.I.C. to Illegal Aliens while on average 25 American Citizens die at the hands of Illegal Aliens ... whodathunkit

Veterans are commiting suicide and are homeless in record numbers as our Commander ~n~ Theif plans on attacking Iran..... Pray for our service members America

This is very true . All want to do is peddle their drugs , that how VA makes there money . And don't believe the msm articles bout the cost or budget of VA. They make money . The bad thing is the VA will leave a Vet in the cool , clueless as to the many steps and questions to ask to make there medical service even average at best .
This article reflects the truth of a vet tired of jumping thur the va hoops .
ps: an eye opener for all Patriot . Google "Anthrax and Vets" and look at what THEY did to our troops

one of the reasons I retired is because the Army wanted to vaccinate me with Anthrax (all soldiers for that matter)

I guess I got tired of being a test dummy for a very corrupt government

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

one of the reasons I retired is because the Army wanted to vaccinate me with Anthrax (all soldiers for that matter)

Kudo's on having your S____ together
I believe the 150,000 Gulf war troops are now having very bad problems from the Anthrax vaccinate .
They will end up just like me . Only i was Agent Orange in a class action sueing Monsanto Corp . Which because of Monsanto's corruption took decades to win .With thousands of Vets falling between the cracks . And to Think it's not far off till Monsanto rules the World with their DNA seeds and contracts user's must sign . They own dam near Every seed company in the world. So whats 10's of thousands of lives to them ? Nothing
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4463681887

Originally Posted by tencz57

This is very true . All want to do is peddle their drugs , that how VA makes there money . And don't believe the msm articles bout the cost or budget of VA. They make money . The bad thing is the VA will leave a Vet in the cool , clueless as to the many steps and questions to ask to make there medical service even average at best .
This article reflects the truth of a vet tired of jumping thur the va hoops .
ps: an eye opener for all Patriot . Google "Anthrax and Vets" and look at what THEY did to our troops

Thanks for your service first off !
I had family and friends in Nam and WW11 . But remembered the Nam ones clearly . my cousn is still on drugs and has agent orange . Lots of them have agent orange or something .

I knew a vet who I took back and forth to VA in the early 70s . They just doped him up with a bag FULL of pills, mostly halucigenics and sent him home .

His mother, brother and I tried our best to save him, but he killed himself . He was shot on first tour, volunteered to go back because he felt guilty leaving his fellow soldiers . He got shot twice more . he was 17 when he went to Nam , he killed himself with a 45 at age 32 after many years of misery .

I saw lots of very sad kids in VA hosptial. I will never forgive the anti-war hippy freaks for cursing them .

My son was sent to iraq and recieved amtrax shots .

Originally Posted by NOamNASTY

Originally Posted by tencz57

This is very true . All want to do is peddle their drugs , that how VA makes there money . And don't believe the msm articles bout the cost or budget of VA. They make money . The bad thing is the VA will leave a Vet in the cool , clueless as to the many steps and questions to ask to make there medical service even average at best .
This article reflects the truth of a vet tired of jumping thur the va hoops .
ps: an eye opener for all Patriot . Google "Anthrax and Vets" and look at what THEY did to our troops

Thanks for your service first off !
I had family and friends in Nam and WW11 . But remembered the Nam ones clearly . my cousn is still on drugs and has agent orange . Lots of them have agent orange or something .

I knew a vet who I took back and forth to VA in the early 70s . They just doped him up with a bag FULL of pills, mostly halucigenics and sent him home .

His mother, brother and I tried our best to save him, but he killed himself . He was shot on first tour, volunteered to go back because he felt guilty leaving his fellow soldiers . He got shot twice more . he was 17 when he went to Nam , he killed himself with a 45 at age 32 after many years of misery .

I saw lots of very sad kids in VA hosptial. I will never forgive the anti-war hippy freaks for cursing them .

My son was sent to iraq and recieved amtrax shots .

Your Welcome .
Thank You for your son's Duty in a very tuff situation . SALUTE

a salute to all the Patriots at home as well as to our veterans