Suicide prevention will get a vote, Reid promises

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised Wednesday that he would bring to a vote a suicide prevention bill to help veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that has been stalled since spring.

In an emotional dialogue with the bill's author, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa , on the Senate floor, Reid vowed to bring up the bill sponsored by Harkin and Iowa Democrat ic Rep. Leonard L. Boswell.

Reid, whose father committed suicide, made the promise after learning about the death of 19-year-old Travis Virgadamo, who is thought to be the first Nevadan to die of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Iraq war.

The Senate learned that the suicide rate for veterans is 35 percent higher than for the general population. The Army's suicide rate is the highest in 28 years.

Virgadamo turned 19 on Aug. 17 and died of a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound on Aug. 30 in Taji, Iraq.

In the Senate on Wednesday, Reid said:

"A 19-year-old soldier from Las Vegas came back to Las Vegas. He told his parents and everybody else he didn't want to go back. It's said they gave him some medicine, Prozac or whatever it was they gave him. Sent him back. In a matter of a few days he kills himself.

"Suicide is a devastating PR problem. It's a problem in the civilian population - 31,000 people kill themselves every year. We don't understand the issue at all. We haven't studied enough. And it's - what's going on in the civilian side is a mere shadow of what's going on in the military.

"With emotional and mental problems that our troops are having coming back, we have to get to the bottom of this and see what we can do to prevent further deaths."

The bill, known as the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, would require that all Veterans Affairs patients be screened for suicide risk factors at VA medical facilities. The bill gets its name from a 22-year-old Iowa soldier who committed suicide in 2005.

The legislation would place at least one suicide prevention counselor at every VA medical center. The bill would also require 24-hour availability of mental health care for veterans and create a mental health hot line.

The bill has been held up by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. for several reasons.

Coburn said he feared that the legislation might prevent troubled vets from purchasing handguns. He said he was concerned that Veterans Affairs , in tracking vets with mental health issues, might share the health data with other federal agencies. He also objected to the bill because he said it had not undergone hearings.

Harkin said three hearings have been held on the legislation. The parents of Omvig were among those who testified in favor of the legislation.