Clay Hunt's Suicide Prevention

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help veterans integrate with civilians (Singh, et al., 2014). Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention from American Veterans (SAV) Act of 2014 was enacted in response to the perceived neglect of the veteran care especially PSTD. The bill derives its name from Clay Hunt, who took his life while battling postwar depression and trauma, and how his frequent trips to VA facilities did little to alter his mental conditions. Unfortunately, he was unable to bear the trauma and decided to commit suicide (Singh, et al., 2014). Before Clay Hunt’s death, his mother notes that he had voiced constant concerns over challenges he had trying to book an appointment with the doctors, and concerns about the quality of treatment. Michael Pearson (2014) attributes the low …show more content…

In a 2015 documentary on Chris Kyle’s life after leaving the military, National Geographic explains how poorly the State neglects its veterans (Singh, et al., 2010). After four years serving as a sniper in Iraq, Chris witnessed the deaths of thousands of American soldiers to the insurgents. Four years later, he left the battlefield and returned home to his wife and children. He retired from the military having won two silvers and five bronze stars (Singh, et al., 2010). However, he received no psychological counseling, as he was seemingly fine having no injuries and was in an upright mental condition. He started to find it difficult to live a civilian life, which resulted in excessive drinking and staying indoors most of the time. Chris situation best shows a national hero on the verge of living a self-destructive life despite serving our country. If the state has more concern for its veterans, it should extend some psychological counseling to veterans before releasing them to the general population, so that they do not have to result in heavy drinking, or other substance abuse issues due to after war trauma. (Singh, et al., 2010). Luckily, Chris had the determination of changing his life. He later started a company where he helped former service men deal with battle-related stress and integrate into civilian life. However, his life would come to an unfortunate …show more content…

In January 2014, CNN reported the death of nineteen veterans at a VA hospital due to delayed diagnosis and treatment (Singh, et al., 2010). On April 23, 2013, forty veterans died waiting to see a doctor at Phoenix VA health care system (Singh, et al., 2010). According to the CNN reporter, the patients were on a secret list meant to keep VA officials at Washington in the dark as a recently retired VA doctor disclosed. The Phoenix case is a representation of the trouble that the majority of veterans face while attempting to access medical services from VA hospitals. Since 1923, scandals have dominated the VA hospitals (Singh, et al., 2010). However, the state has done little to apprehend the culprits leading to a rotten culture of mismanagement and malpractices in the system (Singh, et al., 2010). Unfortunately, the government seems to overlook such misdoings, as they appear to recur one after the

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