Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000

Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000
The family of a veteran whose suicide at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill in 2006 helped expose unsafe conditions in the facility's psychiatric ward has settled a lawsuit against the government for $700,000, according to court documents and the family's attorney.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

The family of a veteran whose suicide at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill in 2006 helped expose unsafe conditions in the facility's psychiatric ward has settled a lawsuit against the government for $700,000, according to court documents and the family's attorney.

Gordon Whitcomb, of Federal Way, had a history of psychiatric disorders when he admitted himself to the VA hospital in November 2006 because he was hearing voices and was paranoid and delusional, according to the lawsuit.

The 49-year-old veteran had been discharged from the military in 1987, had a 100 percent service-connected disability for chronic psychiatric problems, and had been treated at the hospital before, according to the family's attorney, John Greaney, of Kent.

For two days, according to the lawsuit, staff in the psychiatric ward documented that Whitcomb was delusional, paranoid and at serious risk for suicide. He was hearing voices and said his neighbors were plotting to kill him. Twice on Nov. 9, the lawsuit said, nurses put notes in his file saying that Whitcomb was suicidal and delusional.

Yet, the staff never took away his belt. Just hours after the last note was written, he hanged himself with the belt on a non-breakaway shower bar in a bathroom, Greaney said.
read more here
Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000

VCS Appeals Court Ruling Because No Veteran Gets Left Behind

Keep one thing in mind as you read this. If the government had lived up to the thoughts we the people have as being grateful, no one would have to take them to court to make sure they finally do it.

VCS Appeals Court Ruling Because No Veteran Gets Left Behind
On Jun 25, 2008, U.S. Federal District Court Senior Judge Samuel Conti issued a detailed 82-page ruling where he concluded that VA is mired in crisis and that he is "troubled" by lengthy delays veterans face trying to obtain healthcare and benefits from VA. Sounds like the veterans won, right?

Unfortunately, Judge Conti said the Court lacks jurisdiction. We are deeply disappointed that he wants VA and Congress to fix VA's enormous problems.

VCS plans to press forward so our veterans receive prompt and high-quality VA healthcare as well as fast, complete, and accurate VA claims decisions. Either we repair VA now, or we face another generation of hundreds of thousands of veterans with broken homes, lost jobs, drug and alcohol problems, homelessness, and suicide.

That's why VCS will appeal the Court’s decision primarily on the Constitutional grounds that if the Judicial Branch does not enforce the law, then Legislative Branch actions become meaningless in the face of massive Executive Branch failures.

VCS needs your help to launch our lengthy and time-consuming appeal. Please click here to make a contribution to VCS today and support our work to overhaul VA for our veterans and their families.

Here are three important items about the Court's ruling:
1. The Army Times provides the best newspaper coverage about the facts.
2. CBS News / KPIX TV broadcast a thorough review of the verdict.
3. You can read the Court's decision and see VCS and Veterans United for Truth did the right thing to file suit.

VCS needs your help. In the past year we gathered veterans' stories, we obtained hundreds of pages of VA documents under the Freedom of Information Act, we worked closely for hundreds of hours with our attorneys at Morrison & Foerster and Disability Rights Advocates, and we flew to San Francisco for the two week trial.

Please consider setting up a monthly or quarterly contribution to VCS today so we can fight for our veterans.

Here is a sample of e-mails showing the broad public and veteran support of our lawsuit:
• "Your efforts will make life better for . . . veterans."

• "Thanks for all the hard work."

• "It was a great effort. The fact you were able to get the VA attitude out in the public, presented as evidence in a federal court, was of critical importance…. KEEP IT UP!"

• "I think you did a terrific job of exposing the tragedy of the veterans with the law suit."

• "All of you working on this should be proud of yourselves."

• "You have accomplished a great deal and there still things to do. This is only the beginning of the fight; end of round one."

There is a lot more work ahead as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars continue. As of April 2008, VA medical centers have treated 325,000 recent combat veterans, including 133,000 with a mental health condition, 75,000 of whom are diagnosed with PTSD.

Although we have a temporary setback, our landmark lawsuit with VUFT achieved several important goals for veterans:
• VA opened a suicide hotline, received tens of thousands of calls from highly distraught veterans, and "rescued" hundreds.

• VA hired thousands of new mental health professionals, including hundreds of suicide prevention coordinators at their hospitals and clinics.

• A trove of VA e-mails confirmed the suicide epidemic of 1,000 VA patient attempts per month. In addition, death statistics reveal that younger veterans are 3 to 4 times more likely to kill themselves than non-veterans of the same age group.

Read more of the facts uncovered by our lawsuit - facts Judge Conti agreed with.

• Congress held several oversight hearings on VA's crisis where VCS testified. Now several critical pieces of legislation inspired by our lawsuit should become law by the end of 2008. VA was also forced to explain why they concealed the suicide epidemic and why some VA staff fought against proper healthcare and disability benefits for PTSD.

• Several major media outlets now have full- or part-time journalists dedicated to investigating the human consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Please give to VCS today so we can win our appeal on behalf of all our veterans!
Thank You,
Paul Sullivan

Executive Director

Veterans for Common Sense
VCS provides advocacy and publicity for issues related to veterans, national security, and civil liberties. VCS is registered with the IRS as a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity, and donations are tax deductible.

Judge let down veterans across the country-after government did

Do you think this judge could have figured out he had no power to do anything before he took the case?

Judge dismisses suit charging VA with shoddy mental health care
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

(06-25) 11:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a nationwide lawsuit by veterans groups today that sought major changes in the Department of Veterans Affairs' mental health system because of long waits for treatment and benefits.

Veterans' advocates accused the VA of making mental health care virtually unavailable to thousands of discharged soldiers through perfunctory exams, delays in referrals and treatment, and a prolonged and complex system of awarding medical benefits.

They cited internal department e-mails, released in response to the suit, that reported 18 suicides a day among all veterans and 1,000 suicide attempts a month among those under VA care. About 30 percent of the nation's 24 million veterans receive medical care from the department, which is required to provide care for five years after a veteran is discharged from active duty.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/25/BAB111EUFF.DTL&tsp=1

It really would have been great if he figured that part out before he let all this time go by and then left the veterans out in the cold still. What's the answer? Who has the power to make sure the veterans are taken care of if the Bush Administration won't, Congress has limited itself on what it is willing to do and the rest of the American people have not taken enough interest in them to fight for them?

Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense, should be proud of the effort he put into this law suit and so should everyone else on the veteran's side. That's really all I have to say on this right now because this whole thing is really sickening. Do we care about our veterans or not? Then when are we going to prove it?

Veterans suicides in the newspapers

Six Newspaper Editorials Denouncing VA’s Mishandling of Veteran Suicide Epidemic

May 10, 2008

Veterans for Common Sense sued VA after hearing of suicidal veterans being turned away from facilities when looking for help. At the trial, it was revealed that Dr. Ira Katz, head of Mental Health Services at VA, orchestrated a cover-up of true statistics about suicide attempts among veterans. The true numbers are devastating, with 120 veterans attempting suicide every week. Below, editorial columnists around the nation react.

go here to read them

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10077

I'm beginning to wonder if people read the newspapers anymore. Over the last month or so, I've been talking to people who should know about this law suit but they don't. If they know about it, they do not know enough about it. While the print media seems to be paying attention, the broadcast media seem to be so consumed with reporting on the election that they have paid hardly no attention to this at all. It really is a shame that they care more about reporting on trivial things involving the candidates who seek to be in charge, than they do what is happening because of the one we already have in charge.

Returning Vets: Shh! Don't worry

Returning Vets: Shh! Don't worry
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

It looks as though the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to keep Ira Katz on as mental health director. Katz tried to keep the alarming rate of veteran suicides quiet with a "Shh!" e-mail sent to staff.

Sen. Patty Murray is among the group of lawmakers outraged at Katz's conduct. In April, Murray asked for Katz to resign after hearing how he handled news that 12,000 vets attempt suicide per year while under VA treatment. According to CBS, Katz describes his e-mail as "unfortunate." On behalf of all the vets who died at their own hands or are suffering the sort of mental anguish that continues to lead so many of them down the dark path of suicide, we find his e-mail unacceptable.

How can department head James Peake justify keeping Katz on, especially given that Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, has already sounded the alarm that post-war suicides might exceed the number of combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Bloomberg.com reported that Insel's claims "echoed a Rand Corp. study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment." The story estimates that based on the fact that about 1.6 million troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, we might well be looking at an avalanche of people suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, developing substance abuse problems.

Do we really want to gamble on how many of those vets will try to kill themselves? If so, are we to remain satisfied with a VA that just tries to sweep the whole tragic situation under the rug?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/362145_suicideed.html

Oh well, pretty much that's exactly what they have been saying since the beginning. Over and over again, report after report and it's been "we support you" but it boiled down to as long as you go quietly where we send you and then don't bother us when you come home.

Deplorable? Doesn't even begin to cover all of this.

Veterans for Common Sense shows problems with National Guard claims

I can just hear them now. Praying for a return to the days when the net did not exist and they could claim whatever they wanted. How would anyone know unless some reporter was chasing after every claim they made?

Read this.

Here are our latest monthly Veterans for Common Sense Fact Sheets – one for the military, and one for VA – describing the impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.



The bottom line: DoD reports more than 75,000 battlefield casualties and VA reports nearly 300,000 patients from the two wars.



One interesting note: There is a huge discrepancy in VA disability claim activity and outcomes for Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans:



Guard / Reserve veterans (23%) are about half as likely to file a VA disability claim against VA than Active Duty veterans (41%).
However, Guard / Reserve veterans (11%) are more than twice as likely to have their VA disability claim denied by VA than Active Duty veterans (4%).


If you would like to see the original source documents obtained by VCS using FOIA, then please send us a note and we’ll gladly send the information.

Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org

Since the time we learned how to email and surf the web, the days of secrets ended. Unfortunately it also appears that the days of reporters chasing down leads and proving lies has also come. Very few remain now. Yet in this case, some reporters were not only doing their jobs, they were joined by a real patriot in Paul Sullivan willing to take them on. Imagine that! A man and a group of people so dedicated to taking care of our veterans that would move a mountain out of their way to get them the help they need.

You may ask what's in it for them. After all they are not seeking money. They are only seeking change. They are trying to do whatever they can for the sake of the veterans. In other words, the right thing being done is their only goal. They are magnificent! Please support their work with sending them some money if you can or if not, then shoot Paul an email and let him know how much you appreciate what he's doing. This will help veterans from all generations to come and will show the older veterans they do matter to all of us as well.

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).
click post title for more

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.

Closing Arguments in Suit on Veterans’ Mental Care

Asked on the stand whether he was playing down the traumatic stress issue, Dr. Kussman said, “It is unfair and inappropriate to stigmatize people with a mental health diagnosis when they are having what most people believe are normal reactions to an abnormal situation.”

Gordon P. Erspamer, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the answer indicated that the V.A. had failed to recognize the problem. “That is 19th-century thinking about PTSD and mental health issues,” he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, a combat trauma.

Closing Arguments in Suit on Veterans’ Mental Care

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: May 1, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO — The issue of whether veterans with mental health problems are neglected or whether their sheer numbers are overwhelming the system divided closing arguments on Wednesday in a class-action lawsuit in federal court here.

Arturo J. Gonzalez, the lawyer arguing on behalf of the Veterans for Common Sense and the Veterans United for Truth, the two groups who brought the lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that the agency had failed to fully put into effect an action plan it developed four years ago.

The fact that it takes more than 180 days to process a veteran’s claim for benefits represents a “pattern of neglect,” Mr. Gonzalez said, adding that anyone who enters an appeal has to wait four and a half years for a resolution.

“I don’t know how any veteran can stand it and stick with it and get to the end of this process,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

He also emphasized the high rate of suicide attempts, 1,000 a month, among the 5.6 million veterans that the V.A. treats, as a sign that mental health issues need far greater attention.

Daniel Bensing, who made the closing arguments for the V.A., noted that 838,000 claims were filed last year, an increase of 25 percent, because of the jump in veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and a surge from aging Vietnam veterans. While acknowledging the delays were lengthy, he said that the increase in claims for help was one of four factors causing problems.

go here for more

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/us/01vets.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

There you have it. If PTSD is a normal reaction to an abnormal event,,,as posted here many, many, too many times, then why are they going to treat it for what it is? Why didn't they get ready for any of this instead of behaving so deplorably that it took a law suit to get some honest answers? What is it going to take to get the VA and the Bush Administration to stop torturing veterans and start to take care of all of them? Do they even come close to understanding what it's like to be wounded serving your country and then told you have to wait for the income to pay your bills for this long, or in most cases even longer? Do they know what stress like this does to a veteran or their families especially when they are dealing with a stress wound like PTSD? Unbelievable!!!

Senator: Focus on mental-health costs of war

Senator: Focus on mental-health costs of war

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 30, 2008 17:16:39 EDT

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is calling on President Bush to issue a directive making it clear that veterans’ mental-health issues will be fully addressed.

“The buck stops at the president’s desk. The president needs to issue a directive that the costs of the war, particularly of mental health, is an issue we’re all going to deal with,” Murray said following an April 30 press conference at which senators called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to be honest and forthcoming with their data, and to start an extensive outreach program to encourage veterans to get help.

Murray and Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said they’re concerned that VA is withholding information about rates of suicide and attempted suicide among veterans, which they said hinders lawmakers’ efforts to give VA the funding needed to help those with mental health issues.

Murray called this one more sign of “a lot of downward pressure from the administration to downplay the costs of the war.”

At a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing April 23, where senators learned that 17 veterans a month commit suicide while under VA care, Murray and other senators demanded the removal of VA’s mental-health chief, Dr. Ira Katz.

Earlier that week, a lawsuit against VA brought to light a series of e-mails from Katz about high suicide numbers.

Murray quoted one Katz e-mail in that hearing: “Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans in our medical facilities.”

VA officials declined to comment on Katz’s status, citing the ongoing court case and upcoming congressional hearings.

But spokesman Phil Budahn noted that the number of mental-health care professionals in VA has risen to 9,000 in the past three years, a 50 percent increase.

Mental-health services are provided at all 150 VA medical centers and at most of the 720 outpatient clinics, he said.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_mentalhealth_vasuicides_043008w/

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides

Veterans For Common Sense would not have to sue the VA if the VA did what they should have done under Nicholson. The veterans have been paying the price for his loyalty to the administration instead of them.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides
Monday, March 03, 2008 9:18 PM
By Vic Lee

There is pressure on the Veterans Administration to do more to prevent suicides. The number of vets returning from Iraq and taking their own lives is reaching an epidemic level. That's what veterans groups claim and they are taking the VA to court to force it to do more.

This is the first salvo of a major class action lawsuit filed by veterans groups, challenging what they call "the failure of the VA to properly treat returning veterans."

They say there are long waiting lists for veterans who need mental health care and a huge backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims. In the meantime, veterans are said to be committing suicide in unprecedented numbers.

Former Marine Guido Gualco fought in the late 80's in Operation Desert Storm. VA doctors failed to diagnose his PTSD until 2005 -- 14 years after he was discharged. It got so bad, he begged his friend to kill him.

"I was questioning God, 'why was I alive?' I didn't want to live," says Gualco.

Army specialist Tim Chapman was a Humvee gunner in the Middle East. He was discharged after he fell into a deep depression in 2006.

"I was sitting in Roseville with my gas on the pedal and I was going to drive my car off this cliff at a truck stop," says Chapman.

Paul Sullivan heads Veterans for Common Sense. He says the VA has failed to deal with the growing problem of veteran suicides.

"There are cases around the country of veterans who said they were suicidal in front of VA employees and they were placed on waiting lists and otherwise turned away," says Sullivan.
go here for the rest
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5996940

In 2004, there were already complaints about Bush's VA budget.

In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

With two occupations producing more wounded, the VA, under Nicholson, called for a reduction in staff at the VA instead of wanting to increase them.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24665-2004Mar2

What we saw was the GOP taking sides with Bush on this.

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would need more than the $30.7 billion for medical care in Mr. Bush's budget just "to maintain current levels of service" in 2006.

Mr. Craig said at a committee hearing that the White House was seeking an increase of less than one-half of 1 percent in the appropriation for veterans' medical care. He also noted that the administration wanted to save $606 million by restricting eligibility for nursing home care.

Yet at the end of the report Craig came out with this.

Mr. Craig said he detected "unanimous concern on the part of this committee that the budget has some inadequacies." The need to provide care to veterans is increasing, he said, because improvements in military medicine are saving the lives of many service members whose injuries would have proved fatal in previous wars.

Congressman Steve Buyer

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, indicated he was open to the ideas. Laura J. Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Buyer, said he saw the proposals as a way to "bring balance, fairness and equity into the system."

The president's budget would save $293 million by reducing federal payments for state-run homes that provide veterans with long-term care. It would also save more than $100 million with a one-year hiatus in federal spending for construction and renovation of such homes.

They were looking to save money instead of looking at the best way to care for our wounded veterans.

Again looking at cutting employees instead of adding them.

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care.

Nicholson was showing what he thought about the veterans he was supposed to be taking care of.

Mr. Nicholson said the budget showed a strong commitment to veterans, but he added: "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

And then we have this from the VFW

Dennis M. Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told Congress that the federal programs for state veterans' homes dated to the Civil War.

"These cuts, at a time when demand for V.A. long-term care services is on the rise with a rapidly aging veteran population, are unconscionable and reprehensible," Mr. Cullinan said.

It was Senator Akaka and Senator Patty Murray taking the side of the veterans against the GOP in charge of the budgets.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, the senior Democrat on the committee, said a goal of the proposed fees and co-payments was to make it "prohibitively expensive" for some people to use V.A. clinics and hospitals, which are widely respected for quality of care. The new charges, Mr. Akaka said, would lead more than 192,000 people to drop out of the veterans health care system.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said, "Serving veterans is part of the cost of war, but there's not one dime for veterans" in the $81.9 billion request that Mr. Bush sent Congress on Monday to cover the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for the rest of this section
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/politics/16vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What is more tellling about the attitude is that in 2001 the APA had already called for increases in mental health care in the VA. Keep in mind this warning came a month before 9-11. Before the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq.

Psychiatric News August 3, 2001
Volume 36 Number 15
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association
APA Wants VA Budget Increased To Meet Mental Health Needs
Christine Lehmann
APA and other mental health groups are recommending that a congressional oversight committee designate funds to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric research and a continuum of outpatient services.

APA urged a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs to allocate more funds than President George W. Bush proposed in his Fiscal 2002 budget for mental health research and services.

APA recommended that an additional $50 million of the president’s proposed $51 billion VA budget be spent on establishing two new Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs). APA also advocated that $100 million be designated annually in Fiscal 2002 to 2004 for veterans with serious mental illness.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee heard testimony in June from mental health and veterans advocacy groups on the VA’s mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness programs. APA submitted a written statement.

The goal of the hearing was to ensure that the VA is complying with several mandates contained in a sweeping VA reform law enacted in 1996 (PL 106-262).
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/15/4

The lack of attention on the needs of our veterans at a time when there are two combat operations creating more wounded is "unconscionable and reprehensible" because the cuts kept coming in staff. During a time when more was needed it turned out there were less doctors and nurses in the VA, less claims reps, than there was after the Gulf War. Think how many lives could have been saved had the VA been provided with all they needed to really take care of all the wounded.

The next time you hear the words "support the troops" consider who has really been supporting them and those who have not taken care of them. Consider who has been harming them and treating them as if they should be grateful to us instead of the other way around.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Veterans For Common Sense not giving up PTSD fight

Feb. 5 Lawsuit Update: VA Fights Against Brand New Law Designed to Assist Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans

A deeply troubling newspaper article from this morning’s San Francisco Chronicle describes how President George W. Bush's Department of Justice is fighting against a brand new law that requires VA to provide medical care for five years for our wounded, injured, and ill veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Clearly, VA’s troubling court filings are an admission by the Administration that VA lacks the funds to provide care for our newest war veterans, including those who are suicidal.

This Thursday, Feb. 7, VCS will be testifying before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and expressing our outrage that VA would rather fight against veterans than ask for more money to treat our veterans.

In related news, while President Bush highlighted $3 billion in new spending for VA, his new budget hits veterans with $5 billion in new fees, and that means a net VA budget cut of $2 billion for 2009.

VCS was interviewed by the prestigious magazine Proceedings, published by the U.S. Naval Institute, about the broken 'transition' process from DoD to VA.

Your generous donation to VCS is tax deductible, and we use your donations to hire more staff and win more victories for our issues.
Thank you,
Paul Sullivan

Executive DirectorVeterans for Common Sense

VCS provides advocacy and publicity for issues related to veterans, national security, and civil liberties. VCS is registered with the IRS as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and donations to VCS are tax deductible. VCS does not provide direct services to veterans.