Congressman accuses VA of criminal negligence

[unhappycamper]

Congressman accuses VA of criminal negligence
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 7, 2008 6:14:08 EDT

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs’ top mental health official said Tuesday he made a poor choice of words when he sent his colleagues an e-mail about suicide data that started out with “Shh!”

Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health director, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the e-mail was in poor tone — even though the body contained “appropriate, healthy dialogue” about the data.

“I deeply regret the subject line,” Katz said. “It was an error and I apologize for that.”

The e-mail claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment. “Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail asks.

The e-mail was among those recently disclosed during a trial in San Francisco that suggested some at the VA might have been attempting to hide the number of attempted suicides by those under the agency’s care. Its disclosure prompted two Democratic senators to call for his resignation.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_va_suicide_050608/

[fed-up]

1. we're still waiting for Katz's resignation-just one more of those "bad apples" nt