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VA REPORT SAYS VETERAN WASN'T DENIED PSYCHIATRIC

CARE -- Report says no evidence exists that

Jonathan Schulze twice told staff at the VA

hospital in St. Cloud that he was suicidal.

 

Jonathan Schulze

 

Background with backlinks here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfFEB07/nf021807-3.htm

Story here... http://www.startribune.com/
462/story/1105264.html

Story below:

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VA report says veteran wasn't denied psychiatric care

By Kevin Giles, Star Tribune

An internal investigation by the Veterans Administration into the suicide of Marine veteran Jonathan Schulze found that the VA record is "diametrically opposed" to his family's contentions that he was denied psychiatric care just days before he killed himself.

The report, from the VA's Office of the Medical Inspector, said no evidence exists that Schulze twice told staff at the VA hospital in St. Cloud that he was suicidal.

But the report, released Friday, also reveals that doctors at the VA hospital in Minneapolis, where Schulze made at least 40 medical visits, had diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of combat in Iraq.

Five mental health workers interviewed at the St. Cloud hospital told investigators that had Schulze mentioned suicide they were certain that "appropriate actions would have been taken.

All staff, including the janitors, knows to take the mention of suicide very seriously."

That conclusion contradicts statements by Jim and Marianne Schulze, Schulze's father and stepmother, who told VA investigators that they witnessed their son telling the nurse he was suicidal.

Schulze hanged himself in New Prague, Minn., on Jan. 16.

His suicide has drawn the attention of national veterans groups and members of Congress, who question whether the VA is prepared to handle the mental health needs of the growing number of Iraq war veterans.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said Schulze's case "may indicate systemic problems in VA's capacity to identify, monitor, and treat veterans who are suicidal."

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Larry Scott  --