Court blasts VA mental-health system

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Noting that an average of 18 veterans a day commit suicide, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to dramatically overhaul its mental-health- care system.

In the strongly worded ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it takes the department an average of four years to fully provide the mental-health benefits owed veterans.

The court also said it often takes weeks for a suicidal vet to get a first appointment.

The “unchecked incompetence” in handling the flood of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health claims is unconstitutional, the court said.

“No more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform its obligations,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the three-judge panel. “Having chosen to honor and provide for our veterans by guaranteeing them the mental-health care and other critical benefits to which they are entitled, the government may not deprive them of that support through unchallengeable and interminable delays.”

The VA could ask the appeals court to reconsider its decision with a special 11-judge panel, ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case or abide by the ruling.

VA spokesman Josh Taylor declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The court said one of every three soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan was treated by the VA for mental-health issues, including post-traumatic stress syndrome.