GovernmentExecutive.com

Top officials of the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments faced harsh questioning from the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday about recently leaked e-mails written by the VA's head of mental health revealing that nearly 1,000 U.S. soldiers per month have attempted suicide after returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I am very angry and upset that we find out this week [about] several internal VA e-mails that were made public not because you wanted them to, but because a lawsuit that was occurring showed that the VA downplayed vastly the number of suicides and suicide attempts by veterans in the last several years," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

On Monday, groups representing veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco charging in part that the VA's head of mental health, Dr. Ira Katz, covered up an "epidemic of suicides." Last November, Katz told CBS News that 790 soldiers attempted suicide in 2007. But in an internal e-mail he later said "our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities."

"Inside the VA, everyone knew it was higher" than Katz's original estimate, said Murray to VA Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield at the hearing. "How do we trust what you are saying when every time we turn around we find out that what you're saying publicly is different than what you know privately?"

"Sen. Murray, I apologize for the fact that I have to apologize again," said Mansfield. "I think it's unfortunate, and I agree that the characterization, the way that e-mail was written does not bode well and sends the wrong message."

Last week, the RAND Corp. reported that up to 300,000 returning U.S. soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and 320,000 have suffered traumatic brain injury. Only half of returning veterans have sought treatment and only a quarter "received treatment that could be classified as even minimally adequate," said Murray.

"I know what happens to our soldiers," added Murray, who said she worked on a psychiatric ward during the Vietnam War. "And I know that if we as a country deny that something has happened to them, they are walking time bombs for decades."

Citing a recent Associated Press article, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., asked why suicides among National Guard members were higher than in the active-duty military. Mansfield suggested that active-duty soldiers likely had the ongoing help of support groups while guardsmen did not after being released from active status.

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, pressed Defense and VA witnesses to provide an accurate suicide rate for military service members. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said that the Army's suicide rate was higher than other military services before passing the question to Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S. C. Chu.

"I think the good news is that on an age-adjusted basis, department suicide rates as a whole tend to be a bit below the national norm," said Chu. "And even with the Army's increase it puts it at approximately the national level."

"Are we facing a suicide epidemic?" asked Akaka.

"I'm not the expert on numbers or on the medical or mental health care," said Mansfield. "But looking at the numbers that [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] reports, suicide happens to be the second- or third-largest cause of death in the population in [people] 15 to 24 years old, many of whom are the ones we recruit in the armed forces. So there is an issue in that area, but I don't know if I'd call it an epidemic."

COMMENTS

• After 30 years of living a very dysfunctional life I went to the VA for help. I was diagnosed with chronic PTSD, combat related and given a prescription for Celexa and forgotten. A year later I went back to the VA and demanded to see a psychiatrist. I was fortunate enough to see a a good hard working dedicated employee who interviewed me and assigned me to a caseworker named Bill who is classified as a recovery therapist. He had spent his tour in Vietnam and I spent a little over three years seeing him on a weekly basis. I still have major issues; however, I am much better because of the help I received by the psychiatric staff. This is all good; however, this same VA office is not only hopelessly swamped with people needing help, but has a management that obviously doesn't give a rats a** about the veterans but rather shoots for big bonuses based on how many vets they can cram into anykind of program, i.e. counseling sessions are being reduced from 1 hr to 45 mins, not much time for therapy. The first Dr I saw obviously didn't care, he listed me as "dangerous to self and others" just wrote a script and called next. I was very fortunate to see the second Dr who really cared, she set VA normal procedures aside and got me the help I needed. Unfortunately she will probably never get a bonus because she puts the patients first, this is the sad part. John W Posted April 28, 2008 7:45 PM
• Anyone in the VA involved in this should be removed from their current positions. Do the figures surprise me...no. Let's look at the number of suicides in SWA and then tell me this is not a recurring problem. I remember one such service member committing suicide due to the high rate (90) of soldiers under his authority dying while outside the wire attributed to ambushes and IEDs. It's past time to take more precautionary measures when dealing with soldiers returning from duty in SWA...particularly if they exhibit any of the seven signs of suicide. Apparently, VAs health officials are not as savvy as they claim to be and it’s past time to pull their heads out of the clouds. CAE Posted April 28, 2008 11:01 AM
• The VA is already run by former GI's JIm Nicholson was a Westpoint Graduate and had served in Vietnam The current Secretaryy of Veterans Affairs is a ex General from the Army and was wounded in Vietnam then becam e a Doctor then was Surgeon General of the Army just retired a about three years ago and is now the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The head of the Mental Health division was a Admiral in the Navy the Head of Adjudication division was a ex-admiral and all these senior officers from the military are very conservative and want to look good for there terms of office on paperby saving the government money at the cost of the men that do all the dirty work when in the field as a soldier, sailor, airman or marine. They do all the dirty jobs when we are at war the only officers that are exposed are usually the grunts and the senior officers juswt give the orders expecting the grunt will not question him and do what ever he is told. Just look at those involved in the prison scandal in Iraq. Do ou really believe thast thos sgts, cpl, and privates did those things and totrtured those presioners without orders from the Generals on down? Or the CIA directing them to torture those prisoners on there won? I don't because I had 8 years in the Navy and was a 1st Class Petty Officer and everything I know goes through the chain of Command so unless one lives on an island without any communications to the outside world one does not m ake there own decisions in matters such as this. The same holds true on most branches of the Government No one I know just gives an order and expects it to be carried out if you are used to operating through a chain of command. Craig Close Posted April 26, 2008 10:21 PM