ptsd Feds To Look Into

[Berta]

From Col. Dan:

Tell Rep Kline, John (MN)(R-2nd) that veterans will not stand for this, NO

white wash,

We want results, and better budget. Each of you call and/or email him

Washington, D.C. Office:

1429 Longworth HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Main: 202-225-2271

Fax: 202-225-2595

His Chief of Staff: Steven.Sutton@mail.house.gov,

His Budget Staffer; Jean.Hinz@mail.house.gov,

http://www.startribune.com/462/v-print/story/972840.html

Last update: January 31, 2007 - 11:26 PM

VA actions in Marine's case to be investigated

Federal investigators will look into whether VA staff turned away an Iraq

veteran days before he committed suicide.

By Kevin Giles, Star Tribune

A team of federal investigators will arrive today at VA medical centers in

Minneapolis and St. Cloud to look into family claims that Marine veteran

Jonathan J. Schulze was denied a bed for psychiatric care days before he

committed suicide last month.

The Office of the Medical Inspector at the Veterans Affairs central office

in Washington will conduct the investigation, said Joan Vincent, public

affairs officer at the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud.

Schulze hanged himself in New Prague, Minn., on Jan. 16. His father and

stepmother, Jim and Marianne Schulze, said that days earlier, the veteran

twice told VA staff workers -- at the St. Cloud VA hospital on Jan. 11, and

over the phone on Jan. 12 -- that he felt like killing himself. VA

officials, citing privacy laws, have neither confirmed nor denied that

account.

"We'd be breaking the law if we released any information about that,"

Vincent said Wednesday.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said Wednesday that VA officials in Minneapolis,

St. Cloud and Washington, D.C., told him they dispute that Schulze presented

himself to hospital staff as suicidal. Just what happened in the exchange

between Schulze and VA staff should be clearer next week when the

investigation ends, Kline said.

"It's just unconscionable that you have a man that's identified by the

system, yet he gets to the point where he commits suicide," said Kline, a

Marine veteran who represents the district where Schulze lived.

Kline said that he talked with the family this week to express "my great

disappointment and concern about what happened."

Schulze had been seeing a psychiatrist at the Minneapolis VA hospital, but

his father took him to St. Cloud in hopes of getting him admitted more

quickly for psychiatric care. Jim Schulze said his son had been told that he

couldn't be admitted to the Minneapolis VA hospital until March.

Empty beds

Ten of 25 beds in the Minneapolis VA's locked psychiatric unit are occupied

this week, spokesman Steve Moynihan said Wednesday. He said that unit

doesn't have a waiting list.

Schulze, a machine gunner and a corporal, had fought in Iraq in battles

where Marine casualties were high. He had told his family that he felt

guilty that he had lived and close friends had died. He left the Marines in

late 2005 after four years of service.

Schulze's stepmother said that she witnessed Jonathan telling VA staff

workers in St. Cloud that he felt like killing himself. She said she also

heard him tell a VA counselor over the phone the next day that he was

suicidal. After that conversation he told his stepmother that he learned

that he was No. 26 on a waiting list for admittance to the St. Cloud

psychiatric unit.

The St. Cloud VA has no waiting list for its locked, acute psychiatric unit

-- where suicidal or homicidal veterans would be taken -- and never has,

Vincent said this week. "We've never had a wait list for our beds in the

acute psychiatric unit, where we would likely take people if we thought they

were suicidal," she said.

A separate mental-health unit with beds had a waiting list of 21 veterans on

Monday, Vincent said. That unit, known as residential treatment, is more for

ongoing cases involving mental health and substance abuse, she said.

Although the residential treatment unit also handles post-traumatic stress

disorder (PTSD) cases, she said that any veteran who talked about suicide

would go to the acute psychiatric unit right away.

Vincent said it's VA policy to even call local police to check on a veteran

who, over the telephone, says that he's suicidal. The veteran first might be

encouraged to visit the nearest emergency room at any hospital, she said.

She said she didn't know if Minnesota's two VA hospitals had sent suicidal

patients to community hospitals in the past because of a shortage of beds in

locked units.

Two other members of Minnesota's congressional delegation expressed concern

about the VA's ability to cope with a growing wave of troops returning from

Iraq. Many of those veterans are expected to need counseling because of

combat stress, lengthy separation from families, financial problems and

other worries.

"The hidden costs of this war are not being addressed," said Rep. Tim Walz,

D-Minn., a member of the U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Committee and a

veteran. "I've been deeply concerned. I think there's been almost nothing

done to prepare for this."

VA unprepared?

Schulze's death, Walz said, points to a looming problem as more veterans

return to Minnesota from Iraq. "I'm anguished over this," he said of

Schulze's death. "What's heartbreaking is that Jonathan had the foresight to

reach out."

Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., said he's written a letter to R. James Nicholson,

who heads the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, asking what it would take

financially to meet the needs of returning Iraq veterans.

"None of our brave troops who are suffering from mental illness should be

placed on a waiting list for treatment," Ramstad said. "It's unfortunate

that it takes a tragedy like this to focus congressional attention."

Walz said that VA hospitals in Minnesota are "taxed to their limit" and that

families of Iraq veterans are "totally lost" in the struggle to provide care

to mounting numbers of men and women who have served overseas.

"I don't think we've seen anything like it," he said.

Vincent said that the St. Cloud VA began an internal review as a result of

the Schulze case, and that such reviews are standard "whenever there is an

adverse event." Results will remain private, she said.

The investigation by federal officials might be the first of its kind at the

VA's hospitals in Minnesota, and it is separate from the internal review,

Vincent said.

Kevin Giles . 612-673-7707 . kgiles@startribune.com

C2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

-----Original Message-----

From: Langlie [mailto:slanglie@usfamily.net]

Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 9:46 AM

To: Colonel Dan Cedusky

Subject: VA actions in Marine's case to be investigated

Colonel Dan:

Here is today's update on the tragic, unnecessary suicide of ex-Marine

Schulze, in Minnesota. Some of the sordid tales of incompetence in the VA

and in the federal government are now coming to light, courtesy of the

Minneapolis StarTribune.

I would hope that you post this article for the enlightenment of other

veterans. I, personally, am disappointed that Rep. John Kline, a retired

Marine Corps officer, himself, is mouthing the VA excuses for this tragedy.

It is indeed, a clear failure of our federal government.

Sincerely,

Stephen L. Langlie

http://www.startribune.com/462/v-print/story/972840.html

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"Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/