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VA RECORDS DISPUTED IN VETERAN'S SUICIDE --
Family wonders why VA records don't mention
dead son's suicidal intent.
Jonathan Schulze
Background on suicide here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfJAN07/nf012707-8.htm
VA says they have enough room for mental
health patients...here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfFEB07/nf020207-13.htm
Senator Akaka wants
investigation...here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/scva07/scva013107-1.htm
Today's story here...
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.
com/news/nation/story/35
46184p-12758310c.html
Story below:
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VA records disputed in vet's suicide
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The family of an Iraq war veteran who killed himself
is disputing Veterans Affairs records that indicate he failed to tell
hospital officials he was thinking of suicide.
Jonathan Schulze's father and stepmother, Jim and Marianne Schulze, said
they heard their 25-year-old son tell staff members at a VA hospital
that he was suicidal. He killed himself Jan. 16.
"The most disturbing part for me is their denial of Jon's suicidal
condition," said Jim Schulze, who has read nearly 400 pages of records,
mostly from counseling his son received at the Minneapolis Veterans
Medical Center in St. Cloud after he returned from Iraq in 2004.
Veterans Affairs officials in Minnesota wouldn't comment on the records
or on any dealings with Jonathan Schulze, said Joan Vincent, the VA's
public affairs officer in St. Cloud.
"We need to maintain the privacy of this veteran," she said Friday.
The case is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs. Matt Burns, an agency spokesman in Washington, said the
findings will be shared with Congress. The probe was requested by Sen.
Daniel Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat and chairman of the Veterans Affairs
Committee.
The records obtained by the Schulzes include two conversations Jonathan
Schulze had with staff at the St. Cloud hospital. A Jan. 11 document
shows Schulze came to St. Cloud to ask for screening for chemical
dependency treatment and was referred to a clinical social worker.
The Schulzes said the records don't mention that Jonathan Schulze told a
staff member he was suicidal and asked to be admitted even though a
document from Jan. 12 indicated Jonathan spoke with a counselor over the
phone and was asked about suicide.
Under the category, "Having/had suicidal ideation/attempts," the
counselor wrote: "no/no." Ideation is a clinical term referring to
thoughts or inclinations.
Marianne Schulze said she heard Jonathan tell the counselor he felt
suicidal. She said Jonathan hung up the phone and told her that he was
No. 26 on a waiting list.
However, officials at both Minnesota hospitals said their acute
psychiatric care units do not have waiting lists. In addition, VA policy
says local police would be contacted to check on any veteran who talks
about suicide.
A separate mental-health unit with beds at the St. Cloud veterans
hospital had a waiting list of 21 veterans on Jan. 29, the Vincents
said. That unit, known as residential treatment, is more for ongoing
cases, not for acute care.
The records from St. Cloud show that Schulze told the counselor
questioning him over the phone that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder.
"My life has been falling apart since I returned from Iraq," Schulze
said in the record.
Jonathan Schulze told counselors he heard "intrusive military-related
sounds" and had flashbacks of combat images.
Jim Schulze, who served in Vietnam, said he wanted to help other
veterans and shared the records with the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
"The physical wounds will heal the best they can," he said. "The
psychological wounds never will."
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Larry Scott --
