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January 17, 2010
VA says suicide rate among young, male veterans up 26%.
The AP (1/12, Hefling) reports, "The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who've left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday.
The rate for these veterans went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department," whose officials "said they assume that most of the veterans in this age group served in Iraq or Afghanistan." The AP adds, "At a suicide prevention conference on Monday in Washington," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "said he'd...like to see more stringent protocol put into place at VA facilities about how to handle a potentially suicidal veteran."
Related Links:
- Young male veterans, home from war, are taking their own lives more frequently, the VA finds," Kimberly Hefling, Star Tribune, January 12, 2010.
Posted by admin at January 17, 2010 04:47 PM