Senate Panel Urges VA to Do More to Prevent Vet Suicides

With suicide rates among veterans increasing, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee members last week urged the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to do more to prevent veterans from taking their own lives. The VA reported that veterans accounted for roughly 20 percent of the 30,000 individuals who committed suicide in the United States last year. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the panel, said that in at least 13 cases veterans completed suicide or died from drug overdoses while waiting to receive help from the VA. She noted that in April the VA's suicide hotline fielded more than 14,000 calls, or more than 450 a day, the most ever for a single month. (Miami Herald, 5/25/11)