Committee chairman accuses VA of criminal negligence

Committee chairman accuses VA of criminal negligence


By KIMBERLY HEFLING
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 6:07 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs' top mental health official said Tuesday he made a poor choice of words when he sent his colleagues an e-mail about suicide data that started out with "Shh!"

Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the e-mail was in poor tone _ even though the body contained "appropriate, healthy dialogue" about the data.

"I deeply regret the subject line," Katz said. "It was an error and I apologize for that."

The e-mail claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment. "Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" the e-mail asks.

The e-mail was among those recently disclosed during a trial in San Francisco that suggested some at the VA might have been attempting to hide the number of attempted suicides by those under the agency's care. Its disclosure prompted two Democratic senators to call for his resignation.

At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said Bush has "full confidence in Secretary Peake and believes that he is handling it appropriately."

"President Bush is very concerned about the mental health of our veterans and has made sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure that American veterans are getting the care that they need," Perino said. "He's also been very troubled by the idea that veterans would feel that they wouldn't be able to express or ask for help if they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression of another sort or any type of mental disorder. Because we have resources to be able to help them and they deserve the very best that we can provide."

The committee's chairman, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., accused Katz of being more concerned about how data was interpreted than the health of veterans. He also said Katz _ as well as others involved _ should be fired. He accused the agency of criminal negligence in the handling of data about the number of veterans who have committed suicide, and of having a history of cover-ups.

"I want to know if you're really going to take your role seriously," Filner said to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake, who started in December.

The toll free Veterans Affairs Department suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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We cannot believe a single word they say. "President Bush cares,,,," blah, blah, blah. How many times are we going to hear that coming out of the White House and still never see any sign of it being the truth? Had it not been for the law suit started by Veterans For Common Sense, no one would have found out exactly how serious this crisis for veterans has been. Think about that. It took a law suit to find out that our veterans were so despondent by the neglect of this government that over 12,000 a year tried to kill themselves instead of waiting for their wounds to be taken care of. What would you be thinking right now if the death count in Iraq was even close to what the veterans who have succeeded in committing suicide were as high? What would you be thinking if you knew the true number of wounded coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan who will have to live with PTSD and TBI for the rest of their lives? I bet as a person with a conscience you would be very, very ashamed.