Veterans Have A Suicide Rate of Eighteen Per Day
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A Department of Veterans Affairs official accepts the statistics that veterans are dying from self imposed injuries, at the rate of eighteen per day. There is a lawsuit addressing the care of returning military personnel:
“More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge Monday in San Francisco.”
link: VA stalling on care, judge told at S.F. trial
These data may be an under-estimation. The figures may not account for fatal accidents that are not classified as self inflicted fatal injuries.
It is abhorrent that those citizens who serve and stand in harm’s way do not receive adequate medical and psychological care. Extending adequate care should be the moral responsibility of a grateful nation and not because of pressure from litigation.
While the court case is being heard, more suicides happen. And for a year, that is more than six and a half thousand more veterans lost. It is a tragedy and an obscenity.
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/
Tags: department of veterans affairs, lawsuit, military personnel, suicide, statistics
4 Comments
Horus Hinds
April 23rd, 2008
at 4:50pm
Of course the VA and DND don’t want to admit these horrendous stats. In the actual war situation and time they are “Non Life threatening”
Cram Grebsivlas
April 29th, 2008
at 9:11pm
Might try looking at the supporting link - it’s got a correction. You should correct your article, too.
Also - far be it for me to be somewhat skeptical, but, from what I read, the suicide rate was about .2 per day between 2001 and 2005 and now, the death by suicide is about 18 per day?
Higher than active duty Iraq and Afghanistan personnel?
Come on - don’t people do their own research (reading)?
My neighbor just had to show me your “120″ people a week article - and I just had to look it up, myself.
Sit down and think.
Best regards -
CG
forsythe
April 29th, 2008
at 9:33pm
Yes, Cram - it would be a good idea if you “sit down and think”. Here are a couple of recent links for you:
link: Saying one thing, doing another to veterans (editorial)
“The groups say the department is partly to blame for a steadily rising suicide rate - 18 suicides a day for veterans of all wars, according to a VA official, and a rate between three and seven times that of the general population, according to a suicide expert who testified Tuesday.”
link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/25/BAS010BH7F.DTL
Catherine Forsythe
M. Lafitte
May 6th, 2008
at 10:13am
All men/women are not born to fight, yet every country must have military.
Each being was human upon entering the training tactics in preparation for a war. But, many many come home as what? A “hero” without a leg?
Arm? The insecureity that they are now worth nothing, not to the military, family, friends, employers, the government who gave them a “pat” on the back. What do YOU do? How would YOU feel? Can YOU mentally understand the depression that a person can drown in?
Defination for - Depression - anger turned inward. And the thought ” I wasn’t good enough”. USA sent OUR human beings OUT, USA duty is to open arms when they come back, in whatever shape, form or fashion they had the guts to live through. This is, after all, the VETERANS country, too.