[infantrywhooah]

It's impossible to prevent all suicides but 17 a month, 204 a year, is way out of line. We owe it to our veterans returning from a combat zone, to provide better treatment than this.

[SF Republican]

After learning that more than 17 veterans per month commit suicide / She said a study showed 6,250 veterans killed themselves in 2005 - what am I not understanding, these appear to be two drastically different numbers.

[pissant]

The rate is lower than society at large. I wouldn’t put too much stock in what Patty Murray says, ever.

[PAR35]

but 17 a month, 204 a year, is way out of line.

Is it? What are the historical numbers? What are the numbers compared to the general population?

[South40]

It’s John Kerry’s fault.

[TheLion]

I’ve said years ago that the VA should be shut down and soldiers given care in regular hospitals. Not only would the soldiers fare better, we would also save a ton of money.

[PISANO]

The most worthless Senator in history is Daniel Akaka.

I will wait for more information to come out about this claim. I believe nothing I hear from Democrats concerning the military.

[Eagles6]

"Murray told the witnesses. “We are not your enemy."

Uhh...yeah, Ms Murray, the dems are the enemy.

That said, this story gives no context. I assume that this is all Vets, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, up to the present. They want you to believe that it is only Vets from "Bush's War". The only use that dems have for Vets is to scorn them and use them to hurt the war effort.

[kcm.org]

Well then lets close down the VA hospitals and let we disabled war vets get better and less expensive treatment elsewhere...

[Chode]

isn't she the same silly cow that said Osama built schools for GIRLS???

i'd take anything she says with a cow-lick of salt.

[shrinkermd]

There is a general problem with statistics. There are over 26 million veterans. Of these 5.7 million are under VA care. Of this figure, a significant number are being seen for mental health issues.

In 2002 or 2003 the American Journal of Public Health showed veterans suffering depression are seven to eight times more likely to commit suicide than the general population. At least 800,000 veterans are under VA care for depression at any given time.

The figures used to be 90/100,000 vets suicided while comparable figures for males in general population is about 17-18/100,000.

The biggest problem with these statistics is what is not tabulated--age and also percentage of suicides associated with alcoholism either primary or secondary. Especially, in older males, those suffering from alcoholism are especially prone to suicide.

A more specific problem is the assumption that a skilled clinician can accurately predict who is going to suicide and who is not. It is possible to come up with a laundry list of factors--presence of alcoholism, depression, lack of support system and so forth; however, there is a problem with the statistics of rare events.

For example, suicidal thoughts are very common in depressed people. So much so that it is noted that there may be up to 100 or more times suicidal thoughts whereas the number of resultant suicides is very small. It becomes almost an art form and luck, then, to prevent suicides since you cannot confine (hospitalize) everyone with suicidal thoughts, depression, alcoholism and so forth.

I cannot imagine the VA hiding there statistics. They have been reporting these for some time and have requested funds, etc.

I suspect that the RATS are trying to make the VA look callous and unhelpful for political reasons. Other than this motivation there is no real explanation for their claims.

[Griddlee]

Does the 17 a month rate include old veterans of Nam, Korea and WWII?