During the first day of the trial of a national lawsuit in San Francisco on Tuesday, two Democratic senators called for the chief mental health official of the VA to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides, CBS News reported.
The CBS website showed internal e-mails written by Ira Katz, the VA's head of mental health, that estimated about 1,000 suicide attempts a month among veterans seen in VA facilities.
A national lawsuit by veterans rights groups in California court is accusing the agency of not taking any measures regarding a mental health crisis among veterans. Veterans rights attorney Gordon Erspamer told CBS news, "The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial."
As part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails written by Katz have been used as a proof. In the e-mails, Katz repeatedly suggested that though the risk of suicide among veterans "is serious, it's not outside the norm."
Sens. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and Patty Murray of Washington state asked for the resignation of Katz for withholding the suicide risk among veterans.
Katz wrote an e-mail Monday to CBS News admitting the numbers were not released because of questions about the consistency and reliability of the findings.
