VA Needs Scrutiny To End Psychiatric and Pain Killer Drug Abuses

[From article]

An astonishing 22 veterans commit suicide every day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. A disturbing and growing number are younger vets, many haunted by their experiences and poorly reintegrated into civilian life. In a 2014 survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, half said they knew another veteran who had attempted suicide.
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A video from his [James O'Keefe's] group Project Veritas asks why an increasing number of military graveyards are being filled with people who died at their own hands rather than in combat.
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DR. MAUREEN MCCARTHY: You know, it’s not you know what people think of as sick patients, so much. It’s people that have drug problems, some of which are caused by us and our prescribing. . . . We also look at the combination of patients on opiates, like morphine and benzodiazepine, like Ativan and Klonopin. PROJECT VERITAS: Is that the anxiety . . . ? MCCARTHY: Yes. That combination in particular is like candy for some people. It’s like they want it, they want it, they want it.

[. . .]

O’Keefe tells the story of David Cranmer, a Marine who fought in Iraq and returned home with a severe back injury. Cranmer’s father, Bob, says: “It took him over a year to be seen. He was diagnosed that he would require surgery to have his discs repaired. But they never scheduled the surgery, they just gave him, gave him painkillers. And that went on for a number of years. The primary drug that he was given was OxyContin.” He finally entered a drug-addiction treatment center after he became an addict. The VA finally called Cranmer in and after an hour with a psychologist at a local hospital diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was given the anti-depressant Zoloft and two mood stabilizers. But Zoloft has been proven to increase suicidal thoughts or actions. His father believes that ultimately the drugs did far more harm than good. A month after he was diagnosed, David Cranmer used a ladder to hang himself. He left behind a wife and a five-year-old daughter.

[. . .]
JOE SALOMON: I think that, I’ll be honest with you. I think, you know, you’re a resident for six months and you’re a resident for six months and you’re a resident, and so you put on the pills. And you review it the next six months and you think, you know, this other pill may help. Then you do it, and you think, ahh, this other pill might help. PROJECT VERITAS: They don’t even know what the pills are actually doing though and they are giving pills. JOE SALOMON: I do think that happens.

[. . .]

Tom Coburn, a medical doctor who has treated suicidal patients, says the VA needs a “top-to-bottom review and reorganization.” He says the bill passed by Congress that is designed to prevent veteran suicides “throws money at the problem while not demanding true reform” 

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419284/why-are-graveyards-american-soldiers-filling-suicides-john-fund

Why Are Graveyards of American Soldiers Filling up with Suicides?
by JOHN FUND @JOHNFUND 

June 4, 2015 8:00 AM

Published on Jun 4, 2015
Hidden Camera: Senior Veterans Administration official and staff members say VA turning veterans into drug addicts. Doctors, nurses, contract workers, and volunteers speak about the pill pushing practices and over-prescription epidemic that plague the VA and affects millions of veterans.