Veterans Affairs says no proof delays caused deaths at hospital
CBS/AP
August 25, 2014
WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs says investigators have found no proof that delays in care caused any deaths at a VA hospital in Phoenix, deflating an explosive allegation that helped expose a troubled health care system in which veterans waited months for appointments while employees falsified records to cover up the delays.
Revelations that as many as 40 veterans died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA hospital rocked the agency last spring, bringing to light scheduling problems and allegations of misconduct at other hospitals as well. The scandal led to the resignation of former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. In July, Congress approved spending an additional $16 billion to help shore up the system.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Marine gave life with poem he carried, it has been stolen
Poem found on fallen Marine's body stolen
Memento given to family stolen from truck
WCVB News
Heather Unruh
Aug 25, 2014
FAIRHAVEN, Mass. —He was only 19, when Lance Cpl. Matthew Rodriguez of Fairhaven died in action in Afghanistan last December.
Now, as his family struggles to cope with his death, a theft of something very precious to the Marine. He carried it with him the day he died.
His family hopes it will be recovered.
The Marine and his high school sweetheart Julia Tapper were engaged just a year before Rodriguez was killed on the battlefield last December.
"We would have talks about what might happen to him and he would always tell me not to be sad or crying," said Tapper, Rodriguez's fiance.
"He was always smiling, must a big goofy kid," said the soldier's mother, Lisa Rodriguez.
Holding on to memories is all the family has.
Then on Sunday a precious part of those memories was stolen.
Matthew's truck was broken into in a New Bedford parking lot. Julia's purse was taken.
Inside the purse was Matthew's iPhone and a poem she shared with her lost Marine.
Rodriguez had cut it out, laminated it, and never parted with it. It was found in his helmet the day he died.
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Memento given to family stolen from truck
WCVB News
Heather Unruh
Aug 25, 2014
FAIRHAVEN, Mass. —He was only 19, when Lance Cpl. Matthew Rodriguez of Fairhaven died in action in Afghanistan last December.
Now, as his family struggles to cope with his death, a theft of something very precious to the Marine. He carried it with him the day he died.
His family hopes it will be recovered.
The Marine and his high school sweetheart Julia Tapper were engaged just a year before Rodriguez was killed on the battlefield last December.
"We would have talks about what might happen to him and he would always tell me not to be sad or crying," said Tapper, Rodriguez's fiance.
"He was always smiling, must a big goofy kid," said the soldier's mother, Lisa Rodriguez.
Holding on to memories is all the family has.
Then on Sunday a precious part of those memories was stolen.
Matthew's truck was broken into in a New Bedford parking lot. Julia's purse was taken.
Inside the purse was Matthew's iPhone and a poem she shared with her lost Marine.
Rodriguez had cut it out, laminated it, and never parted with it. It was found in his helmet the day he died.
read more here
Marine Iraq Veteran Beaten Over Michael Brown?
Marine, war veteran beaten in possible hate crime
WMCAction
News5.com Staff
Posted: Aug 26, 2014
West Point, Miss.
(WMC) - A 32-year-old Marine and Iraq war veteran attacked and beaten in what might be a hate crime.
Investigators say several men jumped Ralph Weems in a parking lot in West Point, Mississippi.
One man is in custody, but West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley says there were more attackers. His department is developing a list and trying to bring them in for questioning.
The Associated Press reports that Weems' friend and fellow veteran David Knighten says the beating was racially charged.
Knighten says someone outside a Waffle House told him politely that it was not a safe place for whites to be at the moment, because people inside were upset over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
read more here
WMCAction
News5.com Staff
Posted: Aug 26, 2014
West Point, Miss.
(WMC) - A 32-year-old Marine and Iraq war veteran attacked and beaten in what might be a hate crime.
Investigators say several men jumped Ralph Weems in a parking lot in West Point, Mississippi.
One man is in custody, but West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley says there were more attackers. His department is developing a list and trying to bring them in for questioning.
The Associated Press reports that Weems' friend and fellow veteran David Knighten says the beating was racially charged.
Knighten says someone outside a Waffle House told him politely that it was not a safe place for whites to be at the moment, because people inside were upset over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
read more here
Latest Fort Lee Suicide Part of Many
Fort Lee has history of soldier killings, suicides
Times Dispatch
Mark Bowes
Richmond Times Dispatch
August 25, 2014
Fort Lee has seen at least four other soldiers commit suicide in the past three years, with two of them collectively killing five other people before fatally shooting themselves.
The soldiers who killed had served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at least one of them was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from his last deployment.
Three years ago today, Fort Lee Army Capt. Leonard J. Egland, 37, committed one of the worst multiple slayings in Chesterfield in a decade. Police said he fatally shot his estranged wife, Carrie P. Egland, 36; her new boyfriend, Scott T. Allred, 40; and Allred’s 7-year-old son, Morgan, in the Chester home the Eglands had shared before they separated about a year earlier and Egland moved out.
Police said Egland, an 18-year Army veteran who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, then traveled to Pennsylvania, where he fatally shot his estranged wife’s mother, Barbara Reuhl, 66, before dropping off his daughter unharmed at a hospital. Egland then fatally shot himself in Jamison, Pa., after firing at police who tried to stop him.
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Fort Lee Suicide
Times Dispatch
Mark Bowes
Richmond Times Dispatch
August 25, 2014
Fort Lee has seen at least four other soldiers commit suicide in the past three years, with two of them collectively killing five other people before fatally shooting themselves.
The soldiers who killed had served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at least one of them was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from his last deployment.
Three years ago today, Fort Lee Army Capt. Leonard J. Egland, 37, committed one of the worst multiple slayings in Chesterfield in a decade. Police said he fatally shot his estranged wife, Carrie P. Egland, 36; her new boyfriend, Scott T. Allred, 40; and Allred’s 7-year-old son, Morgan, in the Chester home the Eglands had shared before they separated about a year earlier and Egland moved out.
Police said Egland, an 18-year Army veteran who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, then traveled to Pennsylvania, where he fatally shot his estranged wife’s mother, Barbara Reuhl, 66, before dropping off his daughter unharmed at a hospital. Egland then fatally shot himself in Jamison, Pa., after firing at police who tried to stop him.
read more here
Fort Lee Suicide
Tulsa researchers attempt to end nightmares of PTSD
Local Researchers Take New Approach to Treating PTSD
NPR
Matt Trotter
August 25, 2014
Nearly 8 million Americans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychologists at a local institute believe they’ve found a better way to treat it, and they have backing from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the form of a six-figure grant.
The typical course of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder involves nine to 12 sessions with a therapist.
"And there’s no medications involved. It is an approach that focuses on the way that trauma impacts the way that you think, the way that you behave and the way that you feel," said Joanne Davis, codirector of the Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Injustice, and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa.
She’s launching a study of a two-sided treatment approach for PTSD because traditional therapy helps with functional issues "but nightmares and sleep problems are considered to be the hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder," Davis said.
"And they’re really looked-at important factors that not only help in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder but also in maintaining it over the long term."
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NPR
Matt Trotter
August 25, 2014
These nightmares tend to stick around a long time. Think of the worst night’s sleep you’ve ever had, then multiply it. By a lot.
"In our clinical trials, the noncombat trials that we’ve done, it’s an average of 16 to 18 years that people have suffered from nightmares multiple times per week," Davis said. "And in our combat study that we did a couple years ago, it was an average of 40 years."
Nearly 8 million Americans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychologists at a local institute believe they’ve found a better way to treat it, and they have backing from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the form of a six-figure grant.
The typical course of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder involves nine to 12 sessions with a therapist.
"And there’s no medications involved. It is an approach that focuses on the way that trauma impacts the way that you think, the way that you behave and the way that you feel," said Joanne Davis, codirector of the Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Injustice, and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa.
She’s launching a study of a two-sided treatment approach for PTSD because traditional therapy helps with functional issues "but nightmares and sleep problems are considered to be the hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder," Davis said.
"And they’re really looked-at important factors that not only help in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder but also in maintaining it over the long term."
read more here
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