Better VA care sought for suicidal vets

Better VA care sought for suicidal vets

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 3, 2010 14:32:00 EST

An Iraq war veteran whose life fell apart after several friends died in combat and others — including his brother — killed themselves told a Senate committee that the Veterans Affairs Department’s suicide prevention programs were “not beneficial at all to me.”

Testifying Wednesday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Daniel Hanson, who deployed to Iraq in 2004 with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, said he sought VA help after his brother Travis, who had been undergoing treatment at a VA medical center, hung himself in 2007.

Crying as he spoke, Hanson said he sought help because “I really went off the deep end,” doing drugs and drinking every day as his marriage crumbled.

Hanson said he finished an outpatient program at the VA Medical Center in Saint Cloud, Minn., but attempted suicide about a month later, waking up from an overdose of prescription drugs to find himself in a psychiatric ward at the hospital on a 72-hour hold.

After his discharge, “there was almost no follow-up,” he told the committee. He quickly returned to using drugs and alcohol and feeling like he wanted to die.
read more here
Better VA care sought for suicidal vets