EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Nick D'Amico, a deeply troubled Army veteran, had been seeing a counselor every other week. But he found it next to impossible to get a follow-up appointment at the El Paso VA with a psychiatrist who could adjust his medication, according to his mother.
The best the system could offer, she says, was a half-year wait for a teleconference with a Veterans Affairs psychiatrist in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That appointment was still two months away when D'Amico, 45, left his wallet, phone, watch and Desert Storm hat at home and committed suicide by driving off a cliff outside El Paso last September."It's shameful. It's disgusting. It's got to stop," says his mother, Bonnie D'Amico.
For years, veterans have complained about maddening waits for mental health services at VA medical centers, and for years federal officials have responded by hiring more clinicians and expanding programs. This week, a devastating internal investigation that looked at wait times for all sorts of care across the VA system showed that the agency hasn't solved the problem.
It found, for example, that new mental health patients were routinely forced to wait a month or more to start treatment. Not one of the 141 medical systems examined was able to meet the department's goal of getting all new mental health patients an appointment within 14 days. At 30 facilities, the average wait topped 40 days.
For D'Amico and other patients, the delays have had real-world consequences, according to family members, vets and experts.
Read more:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/long-waits-va-mental-health-care
If I wrote my feelings, I'd get a time out. :nometalk:
