Veterans for Common Sense Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC

VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC
Written by Dan Noyes
Saturday, 12 February 2011 10:44

Two Part KGO News Investigation Reveals VA Turned Away Suicidal Veteran in California in 2010

Part One: Veteran's suicide reveals problems in VA system
February 8, 2011, San Francisco, California (KGO ABC 7 News) - Three hundred thousand of the military veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a recent study. But many are not getting the care they need and the results can be tragic.

New data shows that veterans are more than twice as likely as other Californians to commit suicide.

William Hamilton enlisted in the Army at 19 and served two tours in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. His mother Diane says he loved the discipline and camaraderie.

"Every time he came back the commander said he did such a wonderful job," she said. Hamilton was guarding a rooftop in Mosul in 2005 with his best friend Christopher Pusateri when insurgents attacked.

"His best friend was killed, his very best friend, and I remember the day he called me, and he said, 'Mom,' it was his second tour and he says, 'Mom, I've never been in battle without him,'" Diane Hamilton said.


Back at Fort Bragg, Hamilton was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He got a general discharge from the Army, but his problems got worse. He developed an eating disorder and started taking drugs.

"He was tormented by it; when he first came home he didn't sleep, I could hear him crying at night," Diane Hamilton said.

Doctors at the VA hospital diagnosed Hamilton with schizoaffective disorder and he was hospitalized nine times at the Palo Alto VA's psychiatric ward, often for weeks at a time.

That is what his parents thought was going to happen last May when his father called local sheriff's to take Hamilton in on a 51-50 involuntary psychiatric hold. Staff at the Calaveras County hospital, where Hamilton was taken, wrote that he was "delusional" having "hallucinations...speaking of demon women and flashes of light." They attempted to contact the Palo Alto VA, but were told "they do not start transfers this late in the day."

Veterans' rights advocate Amy Fairweather says that is not acceptable.

"If a vet is in that kind of need of care 24-7, we've got to get it to them," Fairweather said. "The idea that after 4:20 in the afternoon you will not accept transfers of our soldiers who have been deployed repeatedly is absurd. It's absolutely absurd."

Hospital staff attempted admits at three VA hospitals before they finally found Hamilton a bed at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. His parents say they asked the hospital to extend Hamilton's stay to two weeks, as the Palo Alto VA had done at least four times before. But the hospital discharged Hamilton after just three days.

"That's the last time I saw him," Diane Hamilton said.

That night, Hamilton stepped in front of a train in Salida. The coroner's report says he died instantly.
read more here
VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO ABC