VA Pays $200 Million for Nearly 1,000 veterans’ Wrongful Deaths
Since 9/11 almost 1,000 veterans have died due to negligence in the Veterans healthcare system. After lengthy legal battles the VA is finally making payments to their families.
An Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and a history of drug dependency is found dead on the floor of his room at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in West Los Angeles after doctors give him a 30-day supply of the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam and a 15-day supply of methadone.
In Shreveport, La., a veteran overdoses on morphine while housed in a locked VA psychiatric unit. In a Minnesota VA psych ward, a veteran shoots himself in the head. In Portland, Ore., a delusional veteran jumps off the roof of the VA hospital.
These are some of the deaths that resulted in more than $200 million in wrongful death payments by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the decade after 9/11, according to VA data obtained by The Center for Investigative Reporting.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/03/va-pays-200-million-for-nearly-1-000-veterans-wrongful-deaths.html