From Bob Geiger is a sickening story of neglect of an American serviceman. A young Marine, Jonathan Schulze, returns from the horrors of Iraq with Post Tramatic Stress Disorder. He is feeling suicidal. After a year of suffering, with the support of his family, Jonathan goes to the Veterans Administration for help in December, 2006. He sees a VA psychiatrist who tells him they won't be able to help him until March.
A month later, Jonathan's parents bring him to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota because he is considering killing himself. The VA hospital turns him away. The next day, Jonathan calls the VA, still suicidal, and they assure him he is only 26th on the waiting list.
Four days later, on January 16, 2007, Jonathan Schulze calls his parents and tells them he has decided to end it. They call the police who rush to Jonathan's home, break in the door, and find the young Marine has hanged himself. I have nothing to add except that, in a just world, the heads of the Veterans Administration should face charges of negligent homicide.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune article.
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2 comments:
Thank you for posting this story of a young man who was betrayed.
Since most of the money is for war (and profiteering), not for taking care of injured & maimed soldiers, the fault lies further up the chain of command and in Congress.
I think the VA is probably doing the best then can with what they have to work with.
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