Furious Seasons

April 23, 2008

VA Tried To Cover Up Suicide Attempts By Vets

I am often confused by the inanity of some governmental bureaucrats and attempts by the head of the VA's mental health system to cover up the true number of suicides and suicide attempts among veterans leave me shaking my head. Ira Katz, the man in charge, knew full well that there are about 1,000 suicide attempts among vets each month, but told CBS News last fall--which has done a great job of covering this issue--that there were only 790 suicide attempts among vets for an entire year.

I don't even understand how lying about such an obvious problem would benefit the agency. Lying about it certainly misinforms the public and Congress about a serious problem in our culture that demands attention.

Like John Grohol at Psych Central, I think Katz needs to resign. He might want to do so soon, as Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is on his case also, and she's the ranking member on the Senate's Veteran Affairs Committee.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at April 23, 2008 09:20 AM

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Comments

1000 suicide attempts a month!!!! This is appalling. And I suppose the VA has Torrey's purported data arguing that these guys are schizophrenic because they were exposed to cat litter (remember that VA study last month). Those poor kids. The obvious reason they're covering this up is that they're desperate for folks to join the military. Scary stuff indeed.

Posted by: Sally at April 23, 2008 12:55 PM

I would like to know how many of them are on antidepressant SSRIs.
I would also would like to compare the treatment of Vietnam veterans and Iraq's.
Just a suspicion based on news that soldiers with "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" are treated with antidepressant+benzodiazepine+mood-stabilizer.
The Depleted Uranium Syndrome is also being covered-up:

http://www.gulfwarvets.com/du.htm

Posted by: Ana Lima at April 24, 2008 02:15 PM

I can think of lots of reasons the VA might lie: to cover up their malignant neglect, and that of the armed forces, of soldiers in serious psychological distress. And to cover up the ever more brutal and irrational character of the war as experienced by "our troops" every day.

Psych meds may play a role in some of this. Google the memorable phraze "Zoloft and a Rifle" and find the Hartford Courant's excellent series from last year about the military's practice of sending soldiers with PTSD back into combat with a bottle of SSRI's. Even shrinks who consider these pills useful for folks with PTSD once they're back in civilian life will tell you there is NO basis for thinking they'll enable people to go back into combat unscathed.

Posted by: Johanna at April 27, 2008 08:27 AM