Va Suicide Stat Cover Up

[Berta]

from:http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/080424-rutherford-columnsveteransuicide.html

this is one of many provocative takes on this news story-

that continues to be discussed in news :

"Specifically, Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s head of mental health, insisted in a CBS interview, “there is no epidemic of suicide.”

The VA and Katz provided the network showing 790 attempted suicides in 2007.

Yet two days afterwards, Katz told a media adviser in an e-mail labeled: “Shhh --- not for the CBS News Interview Request” that “our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.

CBS reported an epidemic of 6,200 veteran suicides in 2005. Katz attacked the report, yet in an email said , “there are about 18 suicides per day among America’s 25 million veterans.” That would be 6,570 per year.

Interestingly, these stats do not include reports about suicide and suicide attempts among soldiers still on active duty. "

Men and women- when I got a copy of the VA Shh email I thought I would go ballistic-

I feel that my husband and I were truly recepients of unheard Shhhs when the VA was deliberately concealing his true medical condition from us.How many times have they done that to other veterans?

One sole VA doctor wanted to take steps to properly diagnose my husband in 1992-but the test he wanted done was never performed.

This doctor made a statement that Dr. Bash used with his permission-in one of my 2 IMOS.

Either the VA is still maintaining their Shhh position over my husband's true medical etiology of his demise (my claim filed in 2003)or my POA made sure that

VA would never see these IMos and my additional medical evidence.

I have had to get together lots of VA stuff for the CUE lawyer and it has taken weeks to do that-

I realised I had about 7 denials of my FTCA and Section 1151 claims before I succeeded.The most critical evidence had continually not been considered.

If my POA deliberately prevented the VARO from seeing my IMOs and all other medical evidence (which is possible)- the OGC will take care of that-

but if the VARO has them and continues to ignore them-I sent them to Deputy Sec Mansfield and he will have to answer to that.

I wonder what the VA is saying Shh about right this minute-

I only won my past claims by fighting a battle.

The evidence for those claims as well as the evidence I have now-clearly supported them.

I never dreamed that this additional AO claim would again become a battle but it did.

After I got tough in 1997 my claims were awarded.

I guess this is what it takes for some of us.

I could sit here for more months or years and think that the VARO will finally read my evidence.

Then again they cannot read what they dont have.

When the VA told me in 2006 that-even after my remand-the IMOs-in less then 3 months - were gone again from my C file-all I have is an email from my POA that said they checked themselves and the IMOs were still there.

The same POA rep who said he presented the initial one in 2005 to the DRO-which the SSOC states never happened at all.

I can continue to sit here thinking months down the road my IMos and other evidence will finally be addressed by the VA.

But after reliving the last battle I had via all this paperwork I had to send to a lawyer--that probably would mean I am suffering from an illusion.

I have decided instead to get tough.

If you have sent the VA medical evidence that they continue to ignore year after year-

and you also have IMOs from respected Drs like Dr. Bash (who Mansfield knows full well provides detailed medical opinions with full rationale to the VA)then I suggest that you get tough too.

There is simply no good reason for amply documented claims,supported by medical evidence, to be in the backlog year after year.

If Dr. Katz can say Shhh so easily in email-over the suicide rates of veterans , I think someone is saying shhhh over the entire claims process and the stats over the true amount of claims in the backlog-838,000 -I believe the VA stated in the testimony for the SF DC lawsuit-

and even if this amount is accurate-it is absolutely disgraceful- when you read remands from the BVA that account for a re-do.

[Pete53]

I believe that the VA has many secrets that if not kept secret could help thousands of Veterans and their families have a much better life if they did not remain a secret.

The VA is silent about many things that could help Veterans but chooses to keep quiet to save money. In many cases its a false economy as it could help Veterans lead a healthier life and cut down on expensive Medical consequences and for what?