VA Lying About Number Of Veteran Suicides, Senator Charges

The Veterans Administration has lied about the number of veterans who have attempted suicide, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday, citing internal e-mails that put the number at 12,000 a year while the department was publicly saying it was fewer than 800.

"The suicide rate is a red alarm bell to all of us," the Washington Democrat said, adding that the VA's mental health programs are being overwhelmed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans even as the department seeks to downplay the situation. "We are not your enemy, we are your support team, and unless we get accurate information we can't be there to do our jobs."

Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon Mansfield apologized during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, telling Murray and other senators he did not think there was any deliberate attempt to mislead Congress or the public.

But Murray remained skeptical, saying the VA has shown a pattern of misleading Congress when it comes to the increasing number of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan seeking help and putting a strain on DOD and VA facilities and programs.

Keep reading here.

Read HuffPost's Rachel Sklar on the "hidden epidemic" of military suicides.

Comments

[MNmommy]

Why isn't this the top story?

[peskyliberal]

Yet no real investigation. No one held accountable. Congress left spineless again.

And the Beat Goes On.

[itolduso]

This is a national disgrace. Last year I was shocked to read that one in four homeless in the U.S. is a military veteran-but after stepping up my volunteer work with the soup kitchen, I fear those numbers are false too-the percentage of military veterans living on our streets and standing in line at soup kitchens is much higher- over 50 percent of the adult homeless population served in the armed forces. What a way to repay them for their sacrifice.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

You Think, they have been undercounting casualties all along. Why aren"t Flag draped coffins appearing on your TV screens? Senator Joe Biden was infuriated when he was denied access to an air force base, to be with the families of solders from Delaware killed in combat. My Marine friend who has been to Iraq twice, told me that the guys in his unit were ticked off, when the Pentagon tried to make Jessica Lynch into a cute blond haired Rambo. He was also annoyed that soldiers were put at risk to create the phony PR video of her rescue.

In all fairness to Ms Lynch she was badly injured when the Hummer she was riding in, smashed into the truck in front of it. Ms Lynch should be honored for her honesty when she appeared in front of Congress and told the truth about her ordeal. My friend changed his mind about her. Good for him.

This Administration learned well from Vietnam, even though not one of these chicken shits participated in it. No draft and control the message, to buy time while burning out the volunteer military and the National Guard in the process, hoping that support for a war of choice will continue. Well support is falling apart, except for the wrong reasons. Not because of the messy details of this occupation, like killing and maiming for corporate interest or misguided neo-conservative geo-political free market ideology, but the price of a gallon of gas, pathetic.

[PatCroft]

Standard USofA protocol is to lie just about everything while putting a positive spin on the statistics. As a recipient of VA services their medical staff are doing some outstanding service while the bureaucratic side sucks. I was drafted nearly 35 years ago (should have gone to Canada) and am still looking for my gainful employment niche. This is quite a problem coming out of service and back into society. The travesty is that there are still a lot of Vietnam Vets still waiting in line for some sort of justification. Mean governments produce mean and broken and lost and dead people. It is criminal.

[landmine]

Mansfield is another political crony who is protecting the ass of "Our Dear Leader"....instead of the people.

[elbzee]

I think at this point, we can safely assume that nothing coming from this admistration contains truth. Over the past 7 years I've developed a tendency to switch a few words, "do not = certainly do" "slowed economy = recession, "mission accomplished" = you are totally f***ed. Works for me!

[rollingdivision]

There is one successful suicide for every 25 attempted suicides. "The number of veterans who have ATTEMPTED suicide, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday, citing internal e-mails that put the number at 12,000 a year." So 12,000 attempts indicates 12000 divided by 25 or 480 successful suicides. But, since males are much more successful at suicide than females and the veteran population is much more male the 800 per year number is believable for 12,000 attempts. Is the claim that 12,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans a year are attempting suicide? Data from US CDC

[PierreLeClerke]

Another day, another crime reviled. What will it take America, for you to get off your lazy, self indulgent asses and do your Constitutional duty, ABOLISH this criminal government?

[1differentdrummer]

What? Repeated tours in this cauldron and Stop Loss cause PTSD and depression? How can that be? 100 years would be okay, according to McBush. Might that not cause more and more and more of the same?

[syllepsis]

It is good to hear a Senator call a Bush Administration official a liar, in plain language even Republicans can understand. Now, when will all the LIES add up to impeachment? This VA official for instance, I believe, can be impeached, and should be.

[hopein]

Sen Murray is used to dealing with liars. She is a superdelegate for Hillary.

[1differentdrummer]

And this is on-topic, how?

[ramal]

Of course they lied. It's a government agency and the VA is one of the worst.

[RanTheMan]

Gordon Mansfield apologizes claiming that there was no intent to mislead???
12,000 actual versus 800 reported???

Another vile stunt by the Bush administration to paint a rosier picture thnt the truth would reveal.

These people are disgusting.

[marbiol]

the va lying?

duh.... if someone in combat commits suicide, do you REALLY think his/her parents want to know?

one of my dad's tentmates put a 45 to his head--this was a USAAF groundcrew stationed in Italy in WW2--not on the front line. Why'd he do it? who really knows--but his family received death benefits...which they presumably used to care for his seriously ill sister!

[JDJase]

in case you didnt notice, this article is about VETERANS, not people IN COMBAT

It's a reference to postpartum depression that many veterans suffer

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Its worse than that. The penatgon is covering up how many of these soldiers died on the autopsies. They have forced the surgeons who did the medical examinations to change cause of death on many of the soldiers autopsies to lower the number killed. As for the suicide count, again, you are talkiing massive cover ups. I know of one congressman in MO who is trying to force the pentagon to do a tell all in an international tribunal so all can see and hear what and how our military, and others have been killed. Its amazing to me how few senators give a shit, how few congressmen want this to come out. The public must demand the truth. If we don't our soldiers are not getting the full respect, support of the American people. We owe this to them. Bush belongs in federal prison for tampering with death cirtificates. That is a federal crime. Treason in fact.

[helonias]

VA Lying About Number Of Veteran Suicides Of Those From The Bush/Cheney/Romeny Gene Pool, Senator Charges

[jethrock]

Here is an interactive disgusting fact.

Go to Google Trends... http://www.google.com/trends?q=iraq+war%2C+lindsay+lohan

And look at Google searches of the Iraq War vs. Lindsay Lohan

It should be a testament to our desperate need for education in the US, and the media's focus on s**t

[dr4Will]

bush liars exist in every department of our country including the military--gas at 4$ and commodities being rationed,soldiers dying overseas and all our stupid president and his wife do a photo-op on American idol--the idiots on Idol

[macjon]

.
If the bushies were actually taking proper care of vets there would be absolutely no reason for non-governmental organizations to have to collect funds to take care of VETS..
.

[TreeOfTruth]

Brave and independent, they and their families will simply try to "man up" and help themselves while the V.A. delays and minimizes and in every other way fails to deliver the prolonged medical and psychological support these soldier will need to live full lives. Perhaps they will feel shame or cultural pressure to not even use the meager resources offered to them. The stigma against mental health care that persist in the US as a while is even stronger within the military.

Depression, a natural - expected medical consequence of not sleeping, prolonged stress, brain trauma and other severe injuries will go untreated and more soldiers will be lost. Just look at the suicide rates of Vietnam veterans and you will be stunned how many came home... and then died.

Their loved ones, utterly untrained in dealing with psychological and physical trauma will fight to understand and support them, but they will be confused, stressed and suffer as well. Without support for the whole family it is inevitable that behind closed doors, in varying degrees domestic violence, (physical, verbal ad psychological) will be come a way of life for many soldiers and their families.

[TreeOfTruth]

God help us... as a survivor of domestic violence and PTSD from those years I read these reports and wonder how much more destruction will flow exponentially from the war for years to come.

Today we "fight'em over there so so we don't have to fight'em here". This statement is not just idiocy, it is deadly idiocy. These soldiers, men and women alike will come home and never meaning to bring the war home with them.

Without help they literally won't be able to recognize all the ways that PTSD (and compounding Traumatic Brain Injuries) have made them less functional and how life in war, life in a whole different reality has impacted them. They wont be able to see how not sleeping well, high blood pressure, jumping at sounds, avoiding crowds, frustration, an inability to think clearly while over reacting to minor stimulus will drain their daily lives. They'll know it is irrational to feel so wrong, but try to ignore it while they deal with the immediate problem of re-adjusting to the cultural and economic realities of civilian life.

[TreeOfTruth]

---apologies for confusion , i posted my entries in reverse order.

Ending:

It is not inevitable. We know how to treat Traumatic Brain Injury. We know how to treat PTSD. We know how to treat Depression. We know how to educate families of soldiers to help their loved one. We know how to watch for and assist in situations where domestic violence is taking hold. We have the power to prevent all of it... if we know it is happening. We do. We can see it coming as clear as day

This war will reverberate through our homes and communities for a decade to come but it is an opportunity for all of us to give, and learn to create a peace: one mind at a time.

[geobushono]

well your final post is a dream, or a lie
We don't have a clue to effectively treating these traumas.
We are a warrior society with no moral direction except lust for goods.
The Soldiers are simply disposable chaff.

Obama 08
Stop the madness
The new Army can stop killing people and rebuild our infrastructure.