Senators Want VA Official Out For Suicide Cover Up

[maddezmom]

Source: CBS

Senators Want VA Official Out For Suicide Cover Up

NEW YORK (CBS News) ― In the wake of a CBS News report that revealed the Department of Veterans Affairs deliberately withheld critical information about the true suicide risk among veterans, Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, today both called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's top official for mental health.

Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, says "Dr. Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans and it is time for him to go." She continues, "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."

Akaka, the Chairman of the Committee, sent a letter to the VA's Under Secretary for Health, Michael Kussman, expressing similar concerns about Dr. Katz.

For months, CBS News has been trying to obtain veteran suicide and attempted suicide data from the VA. Earlier this year, the agency provided CBS News with data that showed there were a total of 790 suicide attempts in all of 2007 by veterans who were under the VA's care.



Read more: http://cbs2.com/national/veterans.affairs.suicide.2.706452.html

[fed-up]

1. how many days til Katz "resigns"??? and soon another one bites the dust :) nt

[gratuitous]

2. More like this, please

You know, you start holding people accountable for doing their jobs in small ways, you get practiced at it, and you can start holding people accountable for doing their jobs in larger ways. Enforcing the idea that it's the job of an agency director to attend to his duties rather than working to make the Half-Assed Bush administration look okay is a very good place to start.

Next thing you know, Congress might just start taking its own job as a co-equal branch of government seriously. Who knows where that could lead?

[barbtries]

3. check out the ensuing paragraphs!

omigawd.

On February 13, however, Katz sent an e-mail indicating the total number of attempts was much higher. The e-mail was addressed to his top media advisor Everett Chasen and entitled, "Not for the CBS News Interview Request."

Katz wrote: "Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilitates." He then asked "is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"

In another e-mail message, Katz told the VA's Under Secretary for Health, Michael Kussman, that there are "about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans." This is a figure that the VA has never made public.

this is so much worse than the OP reveals. i urge all to click on the link.

[alittlelark]

4. You should post that excerpt in GD w/ the link... it's Damning.

[tavalon]

7. Way to go, Katzie!

[InkAddict]

5. 790 and how many more Vets that barely qualified for care by

their civilian GOP-loving primary care, specialist, or psychologist/therapist "non"-providers who won't treat w/o insurance or a large cash OV fee and won't investigate and participate in programs of assistance?

[barbtries]

6. read the article

it's way more than 790