WASHINGTON – Two Democratic senators have called for the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.
Sens. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Patty Murray of Washington state said Tuesday that Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health director, withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans.
“Dr. Katz’s irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go,” said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “The No. 1 priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth.” A number of Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco starts with “Shh!” and claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment.
“Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail asks. Another e-mail said an average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day — and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide.
Shh! Don’t tell anyone but, if its in an email, its not secure………..
Words are not sufficient to register my contempt for those that lie about facts when telling the truth “with an interpretation” would do.
Whether governmental, religious, private, military, or blog==liars should be whipped.
from
this copy of the story
“In one email message titled “Not for the CBS News…,”
Just because they wanted to keep it from CBS does not mean they were keeping it from Federal officials, or trying to cover it up. It just means they were trying not to make the plight of these soldiers into a public spectacle.
Show me where they were trying to keep it from Congress then you will have my outrage.
BTW: .pdf of the email in question is here
Senator Patty Murray is not a large person – she’s petite and about 5 feet tall. However, when it comes to Veterans, Senator Murray is ten feet tall with 300 pounds of pure muscle. We in Washington are very proud of Senator Murray. She is a friend to the Veterans of America.
If only other states’ senators had the guts to stand up for the people as Washington state’s does. Anyway… Not only are these bureaucrat doctors more worried about the war’s fallout and PR image, than the care of the soldiers. They’re also too damn lazy to walk down the hall to discuss their concerns in private. So they resort to casual emails. Apparently their is a “secret” classification at the VA, when it comes to this vital info reaching the american public. It certainly can’t be of any use to the “enemy”. Unless the VA and DOD considers the US taxpayer/voter their enemy. And yet there also apparently isn’t any properly established protocols for discussing this info that’s so secret. No “Loose emails, sinks careers” posters for the walls.
Looks like Dr. Katz is now due for a promotion. And a Presidential Medal of Freedom.