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VA DELIBERATELY CONCEALED SUICIDE NUMBERS
AND RISK, INTERNAL E-MAILS SHOW -- E-mails from
Dr. Ira Katz, VA's mental health chief, show 18
vets a day
commit suicide and four to five of them are in VA
care.
Dr. Ira Katz, VA's mental health chief.
Earlier today, The New York Times had a BIG story
about the VA's suicide prevention hotline. I wondered: Why
this story and why now? That story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf042208-1.htm
One reason, is the ongoing class-action lawsuit
against the VA. The VA wanted some "good press." The latest on the
lawsuit is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf042108-1.htm
But, the real reason is that CBS News got the
goods on the VA about veterans and suicide. Basically, the VA lied
about veteran suicide numbers. And, the VA knew that CBS was going
to release the story and "planted" the story in The Times.
Here are links to the incriminating e-mails...
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/VA_email_021308.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/VA_email_121507.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/katzresponse.pdf
For more about CBS News reports on veterans and
suicide, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=cbs+suicide&op=and
Video of this story is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf042208-7.htm
Today's story here...
http://www.cbsnews.co
m/stories/2008/04/21/cbsnews_investigates/main4032921.shtml
Story below:
-------------------------
VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show
CBS/AP) The Department of Veterans Affairs came
under fire again Monday, this time in California federal court where its
facing a national lawsuit by veterans rights groups accusing the agency of
not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. As
part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails raise questions as to whether top
officials deliberately deceived the American public about the number of
veterans attempting and committing suicide. CBS News chief investigative
correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.
In San Francisco federal court Monday, attorneys for veterans' rights
groups accused the VA of nothing less than a cover-up - deliberately
concealing the real risk of suicide among veterans.
"The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial," said
Veterans Rights Attorney Gordon Erspamer.
The charges were backed by internal emails written by Dr. Ira Katz, the
VA's head of Mental Health.
In the past, Katz has repeatedly insisted while the risk of suicide among
veterans is serious, it's not outside the norm.
"There is no epidemic in suicide in VA," Katz told Keteyian in November.
But in this e-mail to his top media advisor,
written two months ago, Katz appears to be saying something very
different, stating: "Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying
about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our
metical facilities."
Katz's email was written shortly after the VA provided CBS News data
showing there were only 790 attempted suicides in all 2007 - a fraction of
Katz's estimate.
"This 12,000 attempted suicides per year shows clearly, without a doubt,
that there is an epidemic of suicide among veterans," said Paul Sullivan
of Veterans for Common Sense.
And it appears that Katz went out of his way to conceal these numbers.
First, he titled his e-mail: "Not for the CBS News Interview Request."
He opened it with "Shh!" - as in keep it quiet - before ending with
"Is this something we should (carefully) address … before someone stumbles
on it?"
Today we showed the e-mail to Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who chairs the
House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
"This is disgraceful. This is a crime against our nation, our nation's
veterans," Filner told CBS News. "They do not want to come to grips with
the reality, with the truth."
And that's not all.
Last November when CBS News exposed an epidemic of more than 6,200
suicides in 2005 among those who had served in the military, Katz attacked
our report.
"Their number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the rate," he
said last November.
But it turns out they were, as Katz admitted in this e-mail, just three
days later.
He wrote: there "are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million
veterans."
That works out to about 6,570 per year, which Katz admits in the same
e-mail, "is supported by the CBS numbers."
In an e-mail late Monday to CBS News, Katz wrote that the reason the
numbers were not released was due to questions about the consistency and
reliability of the findings - and that there was no public cover-up
involved.
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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