http://www.cbsnews.comSuicide Information - April, 2008 - forwarded to AFGE3197 website by Tim Strako, President, Local AFGE3197
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Senators Call For VA Official To Quit NEW YORK, April 22, 2008
(CBS) CBS News producer Pia Malbran wrote this story for CBSNews.com.
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.
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
Yesterday,
Katz told CBS News that the reason the
numbers mentioned in his e-mails had not been made public was because the
“results were available for only one or two months, and there were and still are
questions about how consistent or reliable the findings would be.”
In other development today, Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Russ Feingold, D-Wisc.,
introduced legislation this afternoon requiring the VA to track veteran
suicides. Harkin told CBS News that the e-mail controversy is what parked
the legislation. He said “anyone at the VA who is involved in this cover up
should be removed immediately.”
Timothy Strako
President
AFGE 3197
206 764 2737
fax 206 764 2343