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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVeteran Kills Himself in Parking Lot of V.A. Hospital on Long Island
A 76-year-old veteran committed suicide on Sunday in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island, where he had been a patient, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Peter A. Kaisen, of Islip, was pronounced dead after he shot himself outside Building 92, the nursing home at the medical center.
The hospital is part of the Veterans Affairs medical system, the nations largest integrated health care organization, which has been under scrutiny since 2014, when the department confirmed that numerous patients had died awaiting treatment at a V.A. hospital in Phoenix. Officials there had tried to cover up long waiting times for 1,700 veterans seeking medical care. A study released by the Government Accountability Office in April indicated that the system had yet to fix its scheduling problems.
Why Mr. Kaisen decided to end his life was not immediately known, but two people connected to the hospital who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his death said that he had been frustrated that he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health. He went to the E.R. and was denied service, one of the people, who currently works at the hospital, said. And then he went to his car and shot himself.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/nyregion/veteran-kills-himself-in-parking-lot-of-va-hospital-on-long-island.html?_r=1
Make7
(8,543 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)The most appaling incidient was during the Depression, when WWI veterans formed an encapment near the White House, seeking to be paid the money Congress had promised them. They were called The Bonus Army.
President Herbert Hoover then ordered the Army to clear the veterans' campsite.
Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks
. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.
2 veterans died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
Only one military man supported the vetersns...Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time.
But MacArthur led the charge on the veterans.
I do wish those eager to join our military were familiar with our history of how shamefully our gov. treats returning vets.