Iraq Vet Turned Away From VA Hospital, Dies In Woods Five Days Later
By Robert Gehl, March 21, 2015.
This is the VA System that Obama can not seem to fix:
A troubled Iraq war veteran begged the Des Moines VA hospital for help. He was turned away and five days later was found dead in the woods.
CNN is reporting that Richard Miles entered the hospital on Feb. 15. He told the staff “I need help.” He had previously told his friends he was going to check himself into the hospital. He had already been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and insomnia. But the hospital turned him away.
Five days later, Miles, 40, who has a young daughter and son, was found dead in the woods. He had taken a lethal dose of sleeping pills and died from exposure.
“That was his cry for help and it was not taken seriously or received the way it should have been received,” said Katie Hopper, his ex-girlfriend and mother to their daughter Emmalynn.
Miles was one of the premiere presenters at the Science Center of Iowa, a beloved employee popular with the staff and guests.
“He was passionate and knowledgeable about science himself and it went beyond that. His passion extended to sharing that knowledge with others,” said Science Center of Iowa President and CEO Curt Simmons. Miles’ image was featured prominently in YouTube videos and advertisements for the museum; a large photograph bearing his image stands outside the center.
What this popular Iraq war veteran did not share with most, is that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
“He knew the date, and where he was when he had shot and killed people in the war,” says Hopper. “He was very, very aware of what he was doing, that he was ending people’s lives, even if it was for the greater good.” The memory of an interrogation incident with a frail, old Iraqi man upset him quite a bit, she recalled.
After his return from Iraq in 2004, CNN is reporting he made several suicide attempts and suffered from extreme depression. He was having graphic dreams about death and violence.
On February 15, Miles left several of his belongings with Hopper and went to the hospital. It was a familiar place to the veteran whose medical records show a long history of suicidal acts and thoughts.
He’d been hospitalized at the Iowa VA hospital four times for PTSD between 2008 and 2009, after he “made 2 attempts to hang himself,” according to records. At one point he had brought a gun into a different hospital ward planning to kill himself.
Records show friends called the VA to look for him and later filed a missing persons report with local law enforcement.
Files from that day show Miles told the hospital attendant he needed help. When the attending doctor asked him whether he was a danger to himself, Miles responded, “No, I won’t harm myself, but I do need some medicine so I can just rest,” according to the notes.
“He came home about three hours later,” said Hopper, who was surprised at the quick return. “I thought you were going to be days or weeks even,” she recalled saying to him.
“He said, ‘Yeah, me too, but they just gave me medication and sent me home, said my psychiatrist would follow up with me this week to set up an appointment,'” she said.
Miles did not make it that long. A few days later, after giving Emmalynn a big hug goodbye, he instead walked into the woods — where he and Hopper used to go — and never came back.
The toxicology report shows Miles had ingested a toxic but not fatal number number of lorazepam sleeping pills, which he had been prescribed just a few days before at the VA, and froze to death.
His was found with no jacket, no shoes, and most infuriatingly, no clear reason why his life had to end like this.
“The VA failed him. They failed him,” said Hopper.
http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/iraq-vet-turned-away-from-va-hospital-dies-in-woods-five-days-later
