1,000 veterans per month attempt suicide, far more than Veterans Administration admitted.
April 27th, 2008 by Erich ViethAccording to McClatchy, the Veterans Administration withheld inconvenient information regarding the number of veterans who have attempted suicide:
The Veterans Administration has lied about the number of veterans who’ve attempted suicide, a senator charged Wednesday, citing internal e-mails that put the number at 12,000 a year when the department was publicly saying it was fewer than 800.
“The suicide rate is a red-alarm bell to all of us,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Murray also said that the VA’s mental health programs are being overwhelmed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, even as the department tries to downplay the situation.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
From Bloomberg:
The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a2_71Klo2vig&refer=home