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Senator demands exact numbers on vet suicides

After several hearings spent trying to learn the exact numbers of suicides among veterans, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee has formally requested exact data.

In a letter, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the committee, asked the Veterans Affairs Department for the total number of vets who have committed suicide or attempted it, the number of vets who were under VA care when they committed or attempted suicide, what VA is doing to improve outreach and care for veterans ages 30 to 64, and all VA’s health care quality assurance reviews relating to suicide over the past three years.

“We will not know the true cost of war until we know the true rate of suicide among veterans,” Akaka said in a prepared statement. “Until the VA mental health care system meets the needs of those who have served, we will continue to see the tragic consequence of veteran suicides.”

The issue came to a head recently when an e-mail written by VA’s top mental health doctor came to light. The e-mail read: “Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before somebody stumbles on it?”

Dr. Ira Katz, author of the letter, later told Congress his words were “unfortunate” but noted that he had already testified about the numbers in a previous hearing.

VA Secretary James Peake told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee earlier this month that the numbers may actually be much higher but also said there may be no way to track the number of veterans who attempt suicide if they are not under VA care.