WASHINGTON – With veterans now accounting for one of every five
suicides in the nation, the Department of Veterans Affairs is under
pressure from both the courts and Congress to fix its mental-health
services in an attempt to curb the death toll.
“The suicide rate
is out of control – it’s epidemic proportions right now,” said Paul
Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America. “There are very few programs that are effective, and there’s a
serious lack of national awareness.”
While the government keeps no
official tally of veteran suicides, the VA last year said that veterans
account for roughly 20 percent of the estimated 30,000 suicides
annually in the United States.
The latest attack on the VA came
two weeks ago from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco, which ordered a major overhaul of the agency. The court said
that with an average of 18 veterans killing themselves each day, “the
VA’s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough; no more veterans
should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to
perform its obligations.” On Capitol Hill, when the Senate Veterans’
Affairs Committee took up the issue Wednesday, senators made clear that
they expect the VA to improve its performance.
“We do not need the courts to tell us that much more can and should
be done to relieve the invisible wounds of war,” said Democratic Sen.
Patty Murray of Washington, the chairwoman of the committee. “Although
some steps have been taken, the stigma against mental-health issues
continues within the military, and VA care is still often too difficult
to access. This has had a tragic impact.”
In at least 13 cases,
Murray said, veterans committed suicide or died from drug overdoses
while waiting to receive help from the VA. Murray, who called the
hearing, said that service members and veterans alike “continue to take
their own lives at an alarming rate.” She noted that in April, the VA’s
suicide hot line fielded more than 14,000 calls, or more than 400 a day,
the most ever for a single month.
Antonette Zeiss, acting deputy
chief officer mental health services with the VA’s Office of Patient
Care Services, said the department’s call center has received more than
400,000 calls since it began nearly four years ago. Of those, she said,
more than 55,000 were referred to local VA suicide prevention
coordinators for same-day or next-day service.
George Taylor,
deputy assistant secretary of defense for force health protection and
readiness, told the panel that “maintaining and enhancing the
psychological health” of service members is a top priority for the
Defense Department. And he said the department is “very concerned” about
the number of suicides in the military over the past 10 years.
“While
the overwhelming majority of service members effectively cope with the
stress of serving in a military at war, there are those who have
difficulty adapting to the stress and strain that an increased
operational tempo often places on them and their families,” he said.
“The loss of even one life to suicide is heartbreaking — it degrades the
readiness of the force and has a profound impact on both the unit and
the family members left behind.”
Taylor said the department has succeeded in slowing the steady increases in suicides that began in 2006.
– The News Tribune
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