Vets' growing suicide rate worries officials

Vets' growing suicide rate worries officials
John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, May 12, 2008


(05-11) 19:26 PDT -- Tim Chapman hit bottom on a trip to Reno.

He had been a soldier and served in the Middle East. But after his discharge for mental health problems, he returned to his home in Manteca and started a rapid descent. He joined a gang, sold and used drugs. His wife left him.

He wanted to commit suicide. And almost did.

The number of veterans who commit suicide is growing, and it is causing major concern among veterans groups and lawmakers. A recent report by CBS News, now supported by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, indicates that an average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day nationwide.

[See PDF tables for veteran and non-veteran suicides for 2005 and 2006.]

In California in 2006, 666 veterans committed suicide - 21 percent of the 3,198 suicides that year, according to the California Department of Public Health. Yet that year, the 2.1 million veterans in the state represented only 6 percent of the state's 37.1 million residents.

The suicide figures among veterans have caught congressional attention. Two senators have demanded the resignation of Ira Katz, the VA official who wrote "Shh" at the top of the e-mail dealing with suicide attempts and disputed the statistics in public testimony while confirming them in internal documents. A House committee has scheduled a hearing on veterans' suicides this week.
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