Date: 11/7/2008
Feds pay suicidal Air Force veteran’s family
HONOLULU (AP) _ The federal government has paid $800,000 to the family of a suicidal Air Force veteran who jumped to his death from Tripler Army Medical Center after his pleas to be admitted went unheeded.
Family members alleged staff at Tripler Army Medical Center failed to acknowledge the seriousness of his condition. Attorney Rick Fried said retired Master Sgt. Robert C. Roth, 50, was not hospitalized when he made requests to be admitted.
He suffered from bipolar disorder, had a long history of depression, and committed suicide last year by jumping off the 10th floor of the hospital on the morning of Jan. 2. A month earlier, Fried said, he had suffered severe depression and expressed to the staff that he was suicidal.
The family sued the U.S. government, alleging that Tripler was careless and negligent in its care of Roth.
The settlement means a trial scheduled for next month will not be held.
Roth worked as a clerk in the records section of the hospital.
Tripler’s commander, in a statement, extended the hospital’s sympathy to the Roth family.
“Our command and well-trained staff are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure an incident similar to this never happens again,” said Army Brig. Gen. Steve Jones.
If Tripler had admitted Roth on either of two instances in December 2006 when he went to the hospital emergency room seeking help, he would have been hospitalized for a short period, said Rick Fried, the family’s attorney.
He would have had his antidepressant medication adjusted and would have been OK, Fried said.
Instead, Roth, frustrated after waiting about three hours without being seen by a psychologist on the second visit, told hospital personnel that he planned to commit suicide by jumping from the top floor of Tripler, according to Army records and Fried. Several days later he did precisely that.
On his first visit, Roth waited more than five hours and never saw a psychiatrist, only a physician training to be one, records show. He told medical personnel he planned to jump off a Makapuu cliff, but his request to be admitted was ignored, Fried said.
Fried said Roth’s depression started to worsen in late 2006, his antidepressant medication was improperly adjusted by his Tripler physician and twice he showed up at the ER wanting to be admitted. Both times he packed an overnight bag thinking he would be.
The second time he left the ER angry — and against the advice of medical personnel — because he wasn’t being treated and had been told patients more sick were being seen before him, according to his family and Fried.
Fried said Tripler did not have a written policy for dealing with suicidal patients.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Army general to investigate recruiter suicides
Date: 11/7/2008
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer
SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ The Army has agreed to investigate a disproportionate cluster of suicides among recruiters in an East Texas battalion, as well as allegations by other soldiers and family members that they were pressured to cover up serious problems in the battalion, Army Secretary Pete Geren said.
Seventeen Army recruiters have committed suicide nationwide since 2001, but four of them were from the Houston Recruiting Battalion, which recruits soldiers from East Texas. A fifth Houston-area soldier killed himself, but he was assigned to the Army’s Future Soldier Training Program.
There are 38 recruiting battalions nationwide with 8,400 recruiters.
The Army’s suicide rate has been climbing as the war in Iraq has forced multiple and longer deployments.
Last year, the Army’s suicide rate was 18.1 per 100,000, the highest since the service started keeping records in 1980. That’s still lower than the U.S. civilian rate of 19.5 per 100,000.
The investigation was sought by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who heard from soldiers and family members after the Houston Chronicle reported the cluster of suicides earlier this year.
Brig. Gen. Frank Turner has been assigned to investigate the recruiter suicides and the cover-up allegations, Geren told Cornyn in a letter dated Monday.
A chaplain, psychologist and equal employment officer talked to members of the Houston battalion in mid-October, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Their report is not yet complete, but Smith said Friday he doesn’t know of any obstruction.
Cornyn noted in an interview Friday that the all-volunteer service is under heavy pressure to sign recruits and retain soldiers during two wars.
Many recruiters are soldiers with recent combat experience who may be suffering from stress and now must persuade high school students and other young people to join an Army at war.
The hours can be long and many work in offices in shopping malls or elsewhere far from Army posts. Cornyn said those conditions isolate soldiers, particularly ones who have recently returned from combat, and may make many of the Army’s support services out of reach.
Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, complained to Geren in a letter that current recruiters and family members felt some battalion leaders were “working to cover up serious problems that evidence a toxic command climate and poor unit morale.”
Cornyn told The Associated Press on Friday that he’s concerned about the Houston battalion but noted “it also has implications militarywide.”
Cornyn has questioned the policy that places recruiting commanders without combat experience over hardened combat veterans.
Geren acknowledged in a letter dated Nov. 3 that some recruiting commanders don’t have combat experience, but he said Army officials don’t believe the lack of experience makes them ill-equipped to mentor and supervise combat veterans assigned to the recruiting command.
Geren said he directed Army officials to ensure recruiters have full access to the Army’s mental health services.
Cornyn had hoped for an independent investigation rather than one directed by the Army, but he said he is willing to give commanders a chance to handle it themselves.
“I’m hopeful they’ll take the matter seriously,” he said. “We’ll see whether the product is something that’s credible and demonstrates that they’ve taken it seriously.”
The senator said he also plans to seek a Senate hearing on the issue.
___
On the Net:
Houston Recruiting Battalion: http://www.usarec.army.mil/5thbde/4ebn/
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer
SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ The Army has agreed to investigate a disproportionate cluster of suicides among recruiters in an East Texas battalion, as well as allegations by other soldiers and family members that they were pressured to cover up serious problems in the battalion, Army Secretary Pete Geren said.
Seventeen Army recruiters have committed suicide nationwide since 2001, but four of them were from the Houston Recruiting Battalion, which recruits soldiers from East Texas. A fifth Houston-area soldier killed himself, but he was assigned to the Army’s Future Soldier Training Program.
There are 38 recruiting battalions nationwide with 8,400 recruiters.
The Army’s suicide rate has been climbing as the war in Iraq has forced multiple and longer deployments.
Last year, the Army’s suicide rate was 18.1 per 100,000, the highest since the service started keeping records in 1980. That’s still lower than the U.S. civilian rate of 19.5 per 100,000.
The investigation was sought by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who heard from soldiers and family members after the Houston Chronicle reported the cluster of suicides earlier this year.
Brig. Gen. Frank Turner has been assigned to investigate the recruiter suicides and the cover-up allegations, Geren told Cornyn in a letter dated Monday.
A chaplain, psychologist and equal employment officer talked to members of the Houston battalion in mid-October, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Their report is not yet complete, but Smith said Friday he doesn’t know of any obstruction.
Cornyn noted in an interview Friday that the all-volunteer service is under heavy pressure to sign recruits and retain soldiers during two wars.
Many recruiters are soldiers with recent combat experience who may be suffering from stress and now must persuade high school students and other young people to join an Army at war.
The hours can be long and many work in offices in shopping malls or elsewhere far from Army posts. Cornyn said those conditions isolate soldiers, particularly ones who have recently returned from combat, and may make many of the Army’s support services out of reach.
Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, complained to Geren in a letter that current recruiters and family members felt some battalion leaders were “working to cover up serious problems that evidence a toxic command climate and poor unit morale.”
Cornyn told The Associated Press on Friday that he’s concerned about the Houston battalion but noted “it also has implications militarywide.”
Cornyn has questioned the policy that places recruiting commanders without combat experience over hardened combat veterans.
Geren acknowledged in a letter dated Nov. 3 that some recruiting commanders don’t have combat experience, but he said Army officials don’t believe the lack of experience makes them ill-equipped to mentor and supervise combat veterans assigned to the recruiting command.
Geren said he directed Army officials to ensure recruiters have full access to the Army’s mental health services.
Cornyn had hoped for an independent investigation rather than one directed by the Army, but he said he is willing to give commanders a chance to handle it themselves.
“I’m hopeful they’ll take the matter seriously,” he said. “We’ll see whether the product is something that’s credible and demonstrates that they’ve taken it seriously.”
The senator said he also plans to seek a Senate hearing on the issue.
___
On the Net:
Houston Recruiting Battalion: http://www.usarec.army.mil/5thbde/4ebn/
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
