Iraq Veteran Cameron Anestis Went to VA for Help Sent Away Twice

We tell them to get past the stigma of PTSD because there is nothing to be ashamed of. We tell them to go for help to heal after surviving war. We tell their families to be supportive and encourage them to ask for help.

Cameron Anestis was just 21 years old, already a combat veteran needing help in Kentucky. He did what he needed to do in Iraq and then did what he needed to do back home. The problem is, he was turned away from two different VA hospitals. He committed suicide. He's gone yet the assurances from the DOD and the VA keep coming while they keep filling graves.

Judge: VA botched handling of suicidal Marine
Associated Press
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE
October 2, 2014

"For whatever reason, they violated their own policy, it's never explained why."

Cameron Anestis, United States Marine Corps, served in Iraq.

LOUISVILLE, KY. — A Veterans Affairs hospital botched the treatment of a suicidal Marine by sending him to another medical facility even though he had an emergency condition, a federal judge said.

The Marine, Cameron Anestis, 21, of Georgetown, killed himself after he was turned away from a second facility in Lexington because he did not have a form showing he was a combat veteran. The VA had a duty to help Anestis, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled Wednesday.

"It must treat those who suffer from an emergency condition," Bunn said.

Anestis, a lance corporal in the Marine reserves, went to a Lexington VA medical center on Aug. 16, 2009, but was turned away after being told treatment wasn't available there. Anestis went to a second VA center in Lexington the next day and again was rejected.

Unable to find the form he needed, Anestis became frustrated and violent, attacking his wife, who called 911 from another room. While Tiffany Anestis was on the phone, she heard a gunshot and found that her husband had committed suicide.
read more here