Servicemembers, Veterans Take Their Own Lives at Higher Rates
WASHINGTON—In recent decades, suicide rates have soared in the United States, increasing 25% from 1999 to 2016.
The issue has been especially acute among military servicemembers and veterans.
“The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so.”—Gore Vidal (1925-2012)
I wrote an editorial in U.S. Medicine on June 10, 2018, entitled “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
WASHINGTON—Oversight agencies are sounding the alarm that VA is plagued with large staffing shortages in critical areas, including physicians, registered nurses, physician assistants, psychologists and physical therapists, as well as human resource specialists.
SAN DIEGO—During his first deployment as part of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Dana Covey, MD, noticed a gap between the injuries that were occurring on the battlefield and the ones that forward surgical teams were most equipped to handle.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO — Continuing concerns are being raised about the gastrointestinal safety of sodium polystyrene sulfonate, which is commonly prescribed for the treatment of hyperkalemia.
WASHINGTON—It’s been nearly six months since the House VA Committee launched its bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force, and the result is a legislative docket filled with bills geared toward ensuring VA has the resources it needs to care for the growing number of...
Elderly AF Veteran Had More Than 100 Ant Bites Before Death ATLANTA—Nine VA employees, including the VISN 7 director and chief medical officer, have been reassigned following reports that an elderly patient at the Atlanta VAMC’s Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center...
HINES, IL—Women and veterans with multiple comorbidities used and valued the Veterans Choice Program (VCP) more than other veterans, according to recent research by the VA.1 To help these veterans and others, the VA has taken steps under the MISSION Act to improve...
Nearly a year after a Government Accountability Office report revealed that the Veterans’ Benefit Administration had been unable to track the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the outside contractors
Older age, obesity and Agent Orange exposure create a trifecta of diabetes risk for the VA.
SAN DIEGO — Headaches and other type of pain are frequent complaints among veterans of Gulf War I (1990-91) and Post-Gulf War I (1992-2015), according to a new study.
Unrecognized by many in healthcare is that the greatest increases in long-term opioid use and opioid-related overdose mortality in recent years have been among women in midlife.
Cognitive-behavioral impairment can be intensified by pain in traumatic brain injury patients and impede rehabilitation efforts
More than four out of five veterans eligible for colorectal cancer screening have been screened, putting the largest healthcare system in the United States among the top performers nationwide in this important metric.
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest malignancies in the United States, but new therapies can extend life and improve quality of life for many patients.
A preponderance of evidence supports the use of sacubitril/valsartan, the first angiotensin II receptor blocker-neprilysin inhibitor-for mortality reduction in patients with heart failure, but the medication remains underprescribed, according to new research.
How do veterans fare when they undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement with the VA? That was the question asked by a study which sought to examine their association with short- and long-term mortality, length of stay, and rehospitalization within 30 days.
HOUSTON—Statin use remains suboptimal in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to a VA study trying to find out why. Michael E. DeBakey VAMC researchers and colleagues assessed whether outpatient care with a cardiology provider is associated...
