(Photo of Dr. Ira Katz)Back in 2005, CBS News did an investigation of suicides in the U.S. military. They discovered that, on average, "120 people each week who had served in the military committed suicide. That's an average twice that of non-veterans."
There is no question that the number of military suicides has risen since 2005.
In December, 2007, Congress held a hearing to clarify and deal with the problem. There was bitter, emotional testimony by persons affected by these suicides. The Veteran's Administration was accused of failing to meet the mental health needs of our military men and women.
Much of the criticism was directed toward Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said the VA failed to collect the proper data: "You don't track this stuff. You simply don't track; you don't want to know about it."
Dr. Katz disputed the findings of CBS News. The numbers were wrong he said, the implication being that CBS had somehow come up with inflated numbers.
"Their number is not, in fact, an accurate reflection of the data," said Katz.
Well, the crony Katz is back on the hot seat. Yesterday he was defending himself before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Seems that Dr. Katz sent an email concerning military suicide data. Dr. Katz started the email by writing "Shh!"
Then he went on to report that 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while being treated by the VA. Obviously, that's not good data. So Dr. Katz asked "Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"
"Shh!" Someone might find out how screwed up we are in the Veteran's mental health department.
"Shh!" We don't want anybody to know how many suicides we've got on our hands and how badly we're failing those in need of mental treatment.
"Shh!" Someone might "stumble" onto this information. We don't want to get our sorry asses in trouble.
So, the sorry Dr. Katz told the House VA Committee, he was sorry. "I deeply regret the subject line. It was an error and I apologize for that."
The good doctor, even with an MD and who knows what other educational degrees, just doesn't get it! This isn't about a minor error in verbiage. This is about what that error points to - an uncaring disregard for those persons for whom Katz and the VA is responsible, and a mentality that is more concerned about perception than fact. That's why Katz lied to Congress back in December.
The fact is all sorts of people are dying while under the VA's watch because they are not getting the help they need.
Katz may not be responsible for all of them, but it would seem to me that he ought to give a damn!
"Shh!" indeed!
2 comments:
I think the veterans deserve much better than they get and have been getting since WW2. I have been in the system since 1946 in six states, and although the staff has always been dedicated, the leaders have not been able to get Congress to properly fund the VA for years. I do fault the large Veteran’s Organizations for not being the watchdogs they should have been. They knew when the system bogged down; how long it took for an appeal to be heard; when funding delays became critical; when veterans were given short the short end of the stick with little or no recourse. Ask any disabled veteran how the system could have been improved and what is still needed. Congress does not know or it doesn’t care enough.
Bob Poris
I know Dr. Katz and he is not a bad soul, though extremely autocratic. He is qualified for the post as an MD, PhD. The basic problem is twofold: 1) Dr. Katz is inept at playing the political games that drive the DVA. He spends a great deal of time trying to survive and has little effort left over to deal with actual veterans and their needs. and 2) the DVA itself is a disfunctional bureaucracy. There is extreme waste and politics in every facet of research. MD's (who have little to no training in research methods) run most of the research and are just in it for a paycheck.
Vets are in extreme need and the VA is not providing the solutions. The entire system needs to be shut down and reconstituted from scratch. This is a sacred vow between the citizens of this country and their soldiers. The citizens have broken that vow by relying on the VA
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