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Veterans Affairs failing veterans in despair

Nathan Murzyn, 2, looks at a picture of his father Marine veteran Russell Murzyn, who died by suicide.
(Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)
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The problems are well documented in the Department of Veterans Affairs: Delayed care. Backlogged disability claims. Chronic veteran homelessness. Executives accused of wrongdoing — and an appeals board that, as of Monday, voided disciplinary actions in three straight high-profile cases.

Amid these issues, a special report by Union-Tribune reporter Jeanette Steele shed light on the worst failure of all. She reported that at least 27 San Diego County veterans under age 45 died by suicide between 2014 and the first half of 2015, most suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in a combat zone since Sept. 11, 2001. Their stories are heartbreaking, their families’ lingering pain and questions even more so.

Their loved ones say the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and other health institutions, are failing veterans in despair. That’s clear.

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The question of what to do is complex, but we believe calls to tear down the VA, the nation’s second-largest federal bureaucracy, would lead to more lives lost or drifting. Let’s focus on what needs to be done, not which other agency or agencies or part of the private sector should do it. Let’s have the difficult discussions about whether antidepressants are being overprescribed to young military men and women and whether patient privacy measures prevent family members from helping. Let’s agree that these veterans should be “walking into one building,” as an Army veteran and policy analyst at the nonprofit advocacy group Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco put it so precisely.

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Last year Congress responded to problems with new legislation and funding for the VA. This year, let’s increase accountability. A new president will nominate a new VA secretary to his or her cabinet. Let’s have it be a turnaround expert, for the agency and for veterans. But let’s not wait to make changes.

We put people in harm’s way overseas. We should lead those men and women out of it back home now.

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