VA problems run deeper than the leadership

When evidence surfaced this week that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been misrepresenting the frequency of suicide attempts among veterans, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray immediately called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz as the VA’s director of mental health.

Asked if she felt the same, Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement she is “committed to working with Senator Murray and the VA to ensure our veterans receive the care they have earned.” But she believes personnel decisions are up to the VA.

Murray is a prominent Democrat and McMorris Rodgers a Republican. Katz, of course, is part of a Republican administration, which might lead some to think of Murray’s indignation as so much partisan theater.

But even VA Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield was chagrined enough in an appearance before Murray and the Veterans Affairs Committee to apologize – for at least the second time – for problems in getting accurate information to Congress. Further, he acknowledged that a revealing e-mail sent by Katz does not “bode well” for the agency’s record on openness.

Still, Mansfield wasn’t ready to agree that Katz’s e-mail, which came out during a group of veterans’ class-action lawsuit against the agency, exposed any attempt to withhold information.

You read it and decide:

“Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about a thousand suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should carefully address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?”

Last fall, when asked about an analysis that showed 6,250 veterans commited suicide in 2005 (more than 17 a day), VA insisted the numbers were much lower.

Yet Katz’s e-mail referred to 12,000 suicide attempts a year among vets who are under VA care. Overall, it turns out, 18 veterans a day commit suicide.

Since shortly after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, there has been debate over how earnestly the U.S. government is looking out for those doing the fighting. Are there enough of them? Do they get proper vehicles and protective gear? Are they being sent back too often? And, significantly, is sufficient attention paid to the emotional consequences that destroy returning veterans’ lives without leaving outward scars?

To its credit, the VA has responded to such concerns by stepping up its attention to suicide risks.

But that only underscores the inconsistency of what Murray termed a “hunker-down attitude” at VA. Assuring that those doing the fighting get the treatment they deserve will be impossible if problems are hidden.

Regardless of whether the administration removes Katz, the more important question is whether VA will replace the present culture with one that encourages cooperation with Congress and honesty with the American people.

Shh, indeed.