Family Members Blame Dallas' VA Hospital for the Suicides of Two Veterans

After hours of frantic searching, Ahrens and other family members found the 50-year-old. He had pulled his truck into their shared storage facility, Dawn Ahrens says, and had then ingested enough pills to kill himself. When he was found, he still had a pulse, but he was dead within minutes.

Ahrens says that on several occasions the VA sent her ex-husband home with only a bag of medications and a plan for follow-up visits. When she would try to reschedule, she says, they would tell her there weren't any openings for six months.

Citing patient confidentiality laws, Poff says she could not comment on the specifics of either case. But according to the hospital's policy, veterans deemed a suicide risk are admitted immediately. "All other veterans can be seen on the same day of their request for an appointment or will be given an appointment within 30 days if that is preferred by the veteran," Poff said in a statement. Patients who are "at an immediate risk of suicide, aggression or dangerous withdrawal" are not released from the facility, the statement reads.

In 2005, an inspector general's report for the Department of Veterans Affairs ranked the North Texas Health Care System, of which the Dallas VA is a part, last among all veterans facilities in the country. Inspectors found floors and walls "had buildups of grime and the rooms had foul odors, suggesting they had not been thoroughly cleaned over a significant period." They also found "dried residue suggestive of body fluids" on stretchers. The Dallas Morning News later reported that a paraplegic with bone cancer who required turning over every two hours had once summoned hospital staff for eight hours without a response. Finally, he used his bedside phone to call police, who arrived within minutes.

"In the time since, we've had a complete change in leadership," Poff says. "All of our senior management positions have completely changed. There is a new emphasis on performance and safety. Things are different now."

Dawn Ahrens wonders if much has changed at all. She says when her husband was discharged from the VA, he was never given anything other than a bag of medications.

"There were no instructions on what to do, when we should bring him back, nothing on what to do in case of an emergency. It was just a big bag of medicine and see you later," she says. "It's too bad, because now he's gone."