[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 37 (Monday, March 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2568-S2570]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             VA HEALTH CARE

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, this morning in the Washington Post 
newspaper, there is a story that is headlined:

       It Is Just Not Walter Reed. Soldiers Share Trouble Stories 
     of Military Health Care Across the U.S.

  I read that story and have read the previous stories in the 
Washington Post about the issue of outpatient health care at Walter 
Reed. I have visited Walter Reed many times, and I have visited 
Bethesda many times, and I have visited with wounded soldiers. I have 
spoken to doctors and nurses, health care professionals, people who 
work at Walter Reed and Bethesda. I

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have to tell my colleagues that I come away from those experiences 
thinking how unbelievably dedicated the people who are working in those 
hospitals are to save lives. There are a lot of them. I hope the 
efforts and the work they do tirelessly 24 hours a day are not in any 
way diminished by these stories.
  The stories the Post has published are accurate. The stories about 
the outpatient buildings at Walter Reed needing repair and not being 
repaired are accurate. The stories about the system well beyond 
Washington, DC, are accurate stories. But I would say there are a lot 
of dedicated people working in that system who are trying to do the 
best they can to work as hard as they can work to save lives and help 
our veterans. Their role needs to be understood and applauded as well.
  Even as I say that, let me describe something else. As the headline 
says: ``It Is Just Not Walter Reed.'' It was over a month ago I was on 
the floor of the Senate, and what brought me to the floor of the Senate 
to talk about these issues was this story in the Minneapolis Star 
Tribune. The story says in the headline:

       This Marine's Death Came After He Served in Iraq. When 
     Jonathan Schulze came home from Iraq, he tried to live a 
     normal life, but the war kept that from happening.

  The story talks about this young man who went to Iraq when America 
asked him to go fight for his country, was engaged in some bitter, 
difficult fighting, and when he came back from Iraq, he had very 
serious problems; very significant, serious difficulties, and he 
couldn't deal with them. As they buried this young man who committed 
suicide, on his casket was recognition of his two Purple Hearts earned 
from his service in Iraq. He was a real soldier in some of the 
bloodiest battles of Iraq. I have spoken to his family and they told me 
of this young man seeing the head of one of his best friends being 
blown off, some of the most unbelievable things a person can see in 
battle. He came back from Iraq with very serious problems. He tried 
very hard to get those problems resolved. He was in and out of the VA 
system. This story describes his circumstances.
  I happened to be in Minneapolis the day this story was published in 
the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It was on a Saturday. When I came back to 
Washington, DC, the following week, I came to the floor of the Senate 
and said I was going to write the inspector general with a request: 
Would you investigate what has happened here? This is a man, according 
to this story and according to his family with whom I have spoken, who 
went to the VA system and said: I am suicidal. I have been thinking 
about committing suicide. I need help.
  In fact, the second time he went to the VA system asking to be 
admitted to the hospital, he had packed his bags and brought them with 
him, hoping to be admitted. His family, standing behind him during the 
interview at the hospital, heard him tell them he was suicidal. They 
said: We can't do a prescreening for you today. You will have to come 
back. The family had driven some 70, 75 miles to get there that day. 
The next day he called and was told he is No. 26 on the list to be 
admitted. Three days later he hung himself.
  This young man fought for his country, came back seeking help, and he 
didn't get the help. So they had a funeral for this young man, Jonathan 
Schulze, who cried out for help and didn't get it. At the funeral was a 
picture of this young marine with his two Purple Hearts, a proud young 
man who served his country with great valor and great distinction. But 
his country didn't serve him very well when he came back with very 
serious problems.
  I came to the floor of the Senate and said I was sending the 
inspector general a request that he investigate what has happened here. 
What happened when this young man goes to a hospital and says: I am 
thinking of committing suicide, I need to be admitted to your hospital, 
and is turned away? How does that happen? Is it an isolated instance?
  Last week a mother called me. She told me her son had come back from 
Iraq and he had very serious problems. They went to the VA hospital. 
This is a young man coming back from soldiering in Iraq with very 
serious emotional problems, a substance abuse addiction, he couldn't 
sleep, and at night would pull the covers over his head and scream, 
wake up from nightmares. So they went to the VA system and his mother 
said: We really didn't get much help. They had very limited capability 
to help; not enough staff. So she said: We worked through the private 
sector with some psychiatrists and others for a year, and my son 
finally improved and got much, much better, after a long year. She 
called me last week because she said her son had received an alert 
notice that his unit was to be activated in June, likely to go back to 
Iraq. That is why that mother was calling me. But her message was in 
many ways about the issue of care in the VA system. Let me say again, I 
have great admiration for a lot of men and women who work in that 
system. I think there are a lot of soldiers who get some good help. But 
I do think the VA is understaffed. I don't think there is much question 
about that. I think very significant mistakes are made when there are 
not the resources to help.

  When this young man comes back from Iraq, Jonathan Schulze, who earns 
two Purple Hearts and cries out for help and this country doesn't help 
because somehow he falls through the cracks--he goes to the hospital 
and says: I need to be admitted, I am thinking of committing suicide--
and they send him home, there is something dreadfully wrong. Yes, the 
Washington Post was right this morning; this is not just about Iraq; 
this is not just about Walter Reed. This is also about the VA system, 
and whether this President is asking for enough funding for that 
system.
  I was reading the transcript this morning of a hearing that Senator 
Akaka, who just spoke, recently chaired. He asked about the President's 
budget that proposes a cut to inpatient care for mental health in the 
VA system. That is exactly the wrong thing to do. It is precisely the 
wrong direction to go.
  I received a letter from the inspector general 3 days after I had 
written to him, on February 9. He writes this:

       In response to your letter, my office has opened an inquiry 
     and will provide you with the results upon completion.

  So the inspector general is now investigating.
  Let me also say I worry about the leadership there. I don't know what 
causes this, but here is what the head of the VA said at the Veterans' 
Affairs Committee hearing on February 13. He says:

       There is no veteran who is in need of, as I say, emergent 
     or emergency care that doesn't get it immediately.

  Let me say that again. This is a quote from Mr. Nicholson, who runs 
the VA system:

       There is no veteran who is in need of, as I say, emergent 
     or emergency care that doesn't get it immediately.

  Well, Jonathan Schulze didn't get it. He showed up with his bags 
packed and told the VA he was thinking of committing suicide and needed 
to be admitted, and he was sent home. He didn't get the help. That was 
emergency help that was needed. I don't understand how the Secretary 
can say this. Clearly there are soldiers around the country who are 
released from inpatient care at Walter Reed and Bethesda, who transfer 
out of the active-duty system and become a veteran, and all of a sudden 
the standard of care, the standard of rehabilitation is different. That 
is quite clear. That is not in dispute. That shouldn't be the case. We 
spend hundreds of billions of dollars going to war. There is no 
difference between a soldier on active duty and a wounded soldier who 
comes back home and leaves the acute care facility of Walter Reed or 
Bethesda. There is no difference, and they ought not be treated 
differently. Their standard of care ought to be identical. I don't 
understand a circumstance where the head of the VA says:

       There is no one in need of, as I say, emergent or emergency 
     care that doesn't get it immediately.

  That is clearly not accurate. He is the Secretary and should know it 
is not accurate. I do not understand it. As I have indicated, I asked 
the inspector general to investigate the Jonathan Schulze situation, 
this young man who committed suicide, took his life when he showed up 
with his bags packed, asking to be admitted to the hospital. I hope 
what has happened recently will persuade the President, the Secretary, 
the Congress to get this right. We owe

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it to those young men and women. The number of people coming back--
24,900 American servicemen have been wounded, 11,200 seriously. 
Virtually all of us here have seen those soldiers lying seriously 
wounded. Does anyone think they don't have the highest claim on this 
country's resources to reach out and help them with everything that is 
available to us? Does anyone believe there is something more important 
than that? If so, I want to know what it is. I hope very much, whether 
it is the Jonathan Schulze case or any of the other cases, this 
investigation is thorough, complete, urgent, and is completed in a way 
that says to this President: You can't seriously continue to consider 
cutting inpatient care for mental health in the VA system.

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