Lawsuit: V.A. Failed To Prevent Suicides

Veterans Groups Taking Agency To Court Over Medical Care, PTSD Among Troops Returning From Wars

(CBS/AP)  An epidemic of suicides within the U.S. military was first reported last November in an investigative report by CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian. Now a class-action lawsuit that goes to trial this week charges that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn't doing enough to prevent those suicides and provide adequate medical care for Americans who have served in the armed forces.

The lawsuit, filed in July by two nonprofit groups representing military veterans, accuses the agency of inadequately addressing a "rising tide" of mental health problems, especially post-traumatic stress disorder.

But government lawyers say the VA has been devoting more resources to mental health and making suicide prevention a top priority. They also argue that the courts don't have the authority to tell the department how it should operate.

The trial is set to begin Monday in a San Francisco federal court.

An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

"That failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides," the veterans groups wrote in court papers filed Thursday.

A study released this week by the RAND Corp. estimates that 300,000 U.S. troops - about 20 percent of those deployed - are suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We find that the VA has simply not devoted enough resources," said Gordon Erspamer, the lawyer representing the veterans groups. "They don't have enough psychiatrists."

The lawsuit also alleges that the VA takes too long to pay disability claims and that its internal appellate process unconstitutionally denies veterans their right to take their complaints to court.

The groups are asking U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti, a World War II U.S. Army veteran, to order the VA to drastically overhaul its system. Conti is hearing the trial without a jury.

"What I would like to see from the VA is that they actually treat patients with respect," said Bob Handy, head of the Veterans United for Truth, one of the groups suing the agency. (Veterans For Common Sense is the other.)

Handy, 76, who retired from the Navy in 1970, said he founded the veterans group in 2004 after hearing myriad complaints from veterans about their treatment at the VA when he was a member of the Veterans Caucus of the state Democratic Party. The department acknowledges in court papers that it takes on average about 180 days to decide whether to approve a disability claim.

"I would just like to see the VA do the honorable thing," said Handy, who is expected to testify during the weeklong trial.

Justice Department spokeswoman Carrie Nelson declined comment Friday.

But government lawyers have filed court papers arguing that the courts have no authority to tell the VA how to operate and no business wading into the everyday management of a sprawling medical network that includes 153 medical centers nationwide.

The veterans are asking the judge "to administer the programs of the second largest Cabinet-level agency, a task for which Congress and the executive branch are better suited," government lawyers wrote in court papers.

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Read more on the original CBS News investigative report on military suicides.

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If the judge ordered an overhaul, he would be responsible for such things as employees workloads, hours of operations, facility locations, the number of medical professionals employed, and "even the decision whether to offer individual or group therapy to patients with" post-traumatic stress, the papers said.

The VA also said it is besieged with an unprecedented number of claims, which have grown from 675,000 in 2001 to 838,000 in 2007. The rise is prompted not from the current war, but from veterans growing older, government lawyers said.

"The largest component of these new claims is the aging veteran population of the Vietnam and Cold War eras," the government filing stated. "As they age, older veterans may lose employment-related health care, prompting them to seek VA benefits for the first time."

Government lawyers in their filings defended its average claims processing time as "reasonable," given that it has to prove the veterans disability was incurred during service time.

They also noted the VA will spend $3.8 billion for fiscal year 2008 on mental health and announced a policy in June that requires all medical centers to have mental health staff available all the time to provide urgent care. They said that "suicide prevention is a singular priority for the VA."

The VA "has hired over 3,700 new mental health professionals in the last two and a half years, bringing the total number of mental health professionals within VA to just under 17,000. This hiring effort continues," they said.

[usbrit-2009]

Posted by CarlyLaine

Whoa Carly - it all started with Raygun when the genius shut down all the hospices for the mentally ill and put them out on the streets. He promised money to the states to set up state run facilities and then reneged on the deal. This brought thousands of disabled vets back into the VA system, overwhelming it. All the Bush''s have done is add and ignore the problem.

[usbrit-2009]

You can''''t sue the VA unless it allows itself to be sued. That''''s a fact.

The suit is a non-starter & will be dismissed. That''''s all.

Posted by republican7

Thanks for your support. Maybe you can persuade Odessa (you know the SS''s money machine after WWII) to cough up some of their excess profits to aid some of these guys for whom you and your ilk are directly responsible.

[frankbowers]

I can see "mjvw2" never served in any thing except the soup lines and the welfare ones.
As a military person of 8 years we were told medical assistance was a live time ordeal when discharged in when I enlisted in 1955.
*** for the ignorance of some such as "carlylain" Yoyu are blowing smoke with nothing but oil on the drive way, Our presidentsd Roosevelt and Truman both came to the aid Eisenhower did a little. The highways yo travel on today were build due to Truman and Eisenhower they both respected the military men when they came home the 3 o them got the the GI Bill for college and high school.
As for out last great president President Bill Clinton he never started a needless war and killed 4000+ yong men and owmen nor did he sell our country to china for money to fight a war. You and your kids are now owned by China and a few other countries such as Russia, Japan, and Germany who our country is so deep in debt to they could call their money and we would have to roll over to them the national interest and the flag for which I fought for.
So many neo consevative republican idiots speak just like gw bush with lies and distorted information such as carlylaine its a wonder we even have a flag left to salute. Frank Bowers RA 18 for 8 long yeqars where were the two of them.

[frankbowers]

I have tried for the last 25 years to get aid through the VA about disability and have been turned down 2 times it tool about 10 or so years both times the last time was about 3 years ago. I know they drag it out in hope one dies. This is a disgrace, I know what I was told each time and it is I should re apply, now at the age of 70 I have totally dropped it both times I had two witness who new the information and sent notarize letters too me to send in with the letter of request both time it did not one bit of good they need to see the blood on my head the hole in my side and the nail marks in the hands and feet. I could not provide them with such as they kept the records when I got my discharges yes 3 of them and that is of no good. I guess one needs to desert so as to become president to do anything about the army and then laugh at the women and men I send off as fodder for my cannons. ([e-mail]) if you wish to talk.
SP 4 Frank A. Bowers, US Army 1955-63.

[mjvw2]

and many of you want government health care

[carlylaine]

So let''s blame Bush..It''s all his fault.

No president before him did much for the Vets...let''s be equal and not so obvious, huh? Where were you BUSH-HATIN''-IDIOTS when BillieboyBUBBA was president? Were you ******** about him? Hell, no...you''re prejudices are showing and it''s showing you as ugly little trolls. Every president, every administration ignors the VETs. If Bush jumped up and gave everything to the VETs you''d be griping that it is too much. I know you simpletons---all too well.

[vndisabled]

As a disabled Vietnam vet, I can''t believe people''s incredibly poor memories. Doesn''t anyone remember the VA PTSD denial that lasted well over a decade? I sure do I was in the middle of it, and sent over 10 years being malracticed on by the VA because they wouldn''t acknowledge the existence of PTSD. Guys were committing suicide after they returned to the US, and I for was was given thorazine and stelazine (antisychotic meds) because PTSD didn''t exist as far as the VA was concerned. The VA medical system as it is needs to be dumped not "upgraded." It stinks, and the suicide rate is just part of a long list of problems it will not AND CANNOT solve, because it is a deeply flawed system with too much negligent behavior by people who are experts at working it rather than exerts at properly caring for anyone, priorities
serve retired officers by rank first, then other retirees, and LAST of all, disabled enlisted veterans. It is, and always has been since I entered it, a rigged system jammed with favoritism and retaliation towards any disabled veteran who dislikes it and says an word about it. In my opinion, after over 30 years of VA "care," I think the wisest thing to do is eliminate it under a national health care system where the folks coming back from war can be seen like everyone else, rather than stuffed away in VA clinics and hospitals. People need to SEE what their backing of warmongers is really like for the injured.

[vndisabled]

As a disabled Vietnam vet, I can''t believe people''s incredibly poor memories. Doesn''t anyone remember the VA PTSD denial that lasted well over a decade? I sure do I was in the middle of it, and sent over 10 years being malracticed on by the VA because they wouldn''t acknowledge the existence of PTSD. Guys were committing suicide after they returned to the US, and I for was was given thorazine and stelazine (antisychotic meds) because PTSD didn''t exist as far as the VA was concerned. The VA medical system as it is needs to be dumped not "upgraded." It stinks, and the suicide rate is just part of a long list of problems it will not AND CANNOT solve, because it is a deeply flawed system with too much negligent behavior by people who are experts at working it rather than exerts at properly caring for anyone, priorities
serve retired officers by rank first, then other retirees, and LAST of all, disabled enlisted veterans. It is, and always has been since I entered it, a rigged system jammed with favoritism and retaliation towards any disabled veteran who dislikes it and says an word about it. In my opinion, after over 30 years of VA "care," I think the wisest thing to do is eliminate it under a national health care system where the folks coming back from war can be seen like everyone else, rather than stuffed away in VA clinics and hospitals. People need to SEE what their backing of warmongers is really like for the injured.

[djneylon]

As a 14 year veterant of the US Navy and a six year employee of the VA, I find the comments more disturbing than the article. There is a demand for "immediate" resolution of every issue; then after "resolution" when the fraud is found, there is the demand that everyone involved be punished. Government agencies are damned if they do and damned if they don''t. VA needs more funding, that''s what pays for care and benefits. The micromanagers in Concress are more interested in putting up new buildings and building bridges to nowwhere to fund day-to-day expenses. These is no mileage in going back to you district and saying I got more clinical staff at the VA or adminsitrative help at the regional office. But when you can point to the pretty new interchange, why, you''re hot stuff. If all the Democrats who claim to support the troops accurately voted to do just that, it would be a miracle.

[timothyone-2009]

The VA and the Dept of Defense are too closely tied. The VA should be redesigned to serve only the Veteran, where they now serve the government and the military first.

I was discharged with PTSD in the 1970''s and VA doctors still don''t want to discuss making the diagnosis for me. It''s ALL about money. The poor dummies like me who wind up serving in the military rather than loafing around in daddy''s business, like Bush, also wind up suffering without benefits for the very same reasons: no money and no influence. Same as always! And they have nerve enough to call it Democracy! Ha! I''ll do everything in my power to keep mine from serving this ingrate nation.