By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 14, 2007 11:47:56 EST
The father of a veteran who committed suicide teed off on the Department of Veterans Affairs at a congressional hearing Thursday, calling the VA’s mental health system "broken."
"The VA mental health system is broken in function, and understaffed in operation," Mike Bowman told the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. "There are many cases of soldiers coming to the VA for help and being turned away or misdiagnosed for [post-traumatic stress disorder] and then losing their battle with their demons."
His son, Spc. Timothy Noble Bowman, killed himself on Thanksgiving Day, 2005, eight months after returning from Iraq with his Illinois National Guard unit. He was 23.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_mentalhealth_071214w/
