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VA TURNS OVER VETERAN'S SUICIDE PROBE TO
INSPECTOR
GENERAL -- "All of this is so we can prevent
such a tragedy from happening again."
Jonathan Schulze
Background with backlinks on Jonathan
Schulze here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfFEB07/nf020607-6.htm
Story here...
http://www.mercurynews.com/
mld/mercurynews/news/special
_packages/iraq/16708497.htm
Story below:
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VA turns over veteran's suicide probe to
inspector general
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - The inspector general of the Department of Veterans
Affairs will look further into allegations that Marine veteran Jonathan
Schulze was turned away from two VA hospitals in Minnesota before
committing suicide.
U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said Thursday that VA Secretary Jim
Nicholson told him the VA medical inspector and a clinical psychologist
who conducted the initial investigation could not determine what
happened.
"It's not that they found something. It's that they didn't answer the
question (of what happened) so somebody else will have to look at it,"
Kline told The Associated Press.
"This is a significant step, it's a step up. The IG is very powerful,
has a great deal of access. I'm very glad that they're taking this
step," Kline said.
Kline said he was told by Nicholson that the deeper probe will probably
take a little longer than the initial investigation, which took about
two weeks, but said it will be a matter of weeks, not months.
"It's important that we not drag this out. He assures me that it will
not (be dragged out)," Kline said. "All of this is so we can prevent
such a tragedy from happening again."
Schulze, 25, of New Prague, killed himself Jan. 16. He left the Marines
in late 2005, but his family said he continued to have aching memories
of combat. His family has said he sought help at the VA Medical Center
in Minneapolis, and later at the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud, but was
not admitted.
His father and stepmother, Jim and Marianne Schulze, have said they
heard their son tell hospital staff members on two occasions that he was
suicidal. However, VA records don't indicate that the veteran talked of
suicide. The parents say those records are inaccurate.
Jim and Marianne Schulze said their son committed suicide four days
after a counselor at the St. Cloud VA hospital told him by phone that he
was No. 26 on a waiting list for a bed.
"We know there are people in the VA system who have suffered post
traumatic stress syndrome and are under care and under treatment," Kline
said. "Anybody who is in that system and commits suicide, we need to get
to the bottom of how that happened."
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Larry Scott --
