VA appeals ruling on behalf of veterans?

You'd think that since the VA is supposed to be about taking care of veterans, they'd be all too willing to get it right, but in this case, they are fighting against being forced to.

VCS / VUFT Lawsuit in New York Times
Written by NYTimes
Sunday, 21 August 2011 22:46

More Excuses and Delays From the V.A.
August 21, 2011 (New York Times Editorial Board) - It has been more than three months since a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accused the Department of Veterans Affairs of “unchecked incompetence” and unconscionable delays in caring for veterans with mental health problems.

Instead of working with the plaintiffs to address the court’s concerns, the V.A. is appealing the ruling.

The 2-to-1 decision in a lawsuit brought by two nonprofit groups, Veterans United for Truth and Veterans for Common Sense, found that the V.A. bureaucracy was so extremely slow and unresponsive that veterans were being denied their constitutional right to mental health care and to the timely adjudication of disability claims. It cited as evidence the high veteran suicide rate — an estimated 18 a day among the nation’s 25 million veterans, and four to five a day among those being served by the V.A.

The judges pointedly noted that the agency had no suicide prevention officers at any of its outpatient clinics and that 70 percent of its health facilities had no systems to track potentially suicidal patients. The court agreed with the plaintiffs that “systemwide” changes were needed at the V.A., especially given the rising flood of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It ordered the case back to the district court so a plan could be devised.
read more here

Just amazing! If you take anything away from this article, let it be these two facts.

"the agency had no suicide prevention officers at any of its outpatient clinics"

"70 percent of its health facilities had no systems to track potentially suicidal patients"