{"id":147601,"date":"2023-09-25T08:15:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T12:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=147601"},"modified":"2023-09-23T11:31:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T15:31:17","slug":"suicide-hotline-botched-veterans-cry-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=147601","title":{"rendered":"Suicide hotline botched veteran’s cry for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A veteran, having a history of depression and PTSD, contacted the suicide hotline via text in early 2021. The responder noted that the veteran planned to commit suicide and that he was in a shed with a belt around a hook. During the text exchange, the veteran claimed that he was not being completely honest. The responder recorded a safety plan that involved the veteran texting a family member for help. The veteran would then go to bed and wait for someone to follow up the next day. However, the veteran died via suicide 38 minutes after sending the last text message.<\/p>\n

From USA Today:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In the San Antonio incident, a crisis responder inadequately assessed the 31-year-old veteran’s history of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal behavior, missing the signs of an impending attempt during the text conversation one night in 2021, the inspector general found. The staffer also failed to note the veteran’s alcohol use and did not establish an effective safety plan or confirm access to lethal weapons or other means to die by suicide.<\/p>\n

The veteran had a history of depression and PTSD and had been flagged as being at high risk for suicide but the flag was removed in early 2020. When the vet contacted the hotline by text at 10:14 pm in early 2021, the responder made a note that the veteran planned to die by suicide and was in a “shed with a belt around a hook that hangs from the rafters of the shed,” and “reached out tonight in order to stop from taking action to end (the patient’s) life,” according to the inspector general’s report.<\/p>\n

At the same time, during the text conversation, the patient, who was not identified by name in the report, said they weren’t being “entirely honest.” The responder documented a “safety plan” that said the veteran would text a family member for help, go to bed, and wait for someone to call and follow up the next day.<\/p>\n

But the veteran never went into the house and didn’t go to bed. The vet died by suicide at 11:40 p.m. — 38 minutes after sending a last message to the crisis line.<\/p>\n

The responder reported in notes that the veteran “stayed online until the call ended normally” and with an “agreement to enact a plan of safety,” despite not hearing anything from the veteran after 11:02 p.m. even as the responder messaged the patient for half an hour with no response, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Investigators concluded the responder underestimated the patient’s suicide risk and failed to follow up when they stopped texting, according to the report. In addition, they found the hotline hadn’t established adequate procedures since 2011 for keeping text messages on file, limiting the ability of VA personnel or investigators to ensure the hotline is providing quality service to the thousands of veterans who now depend on it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

USA Today provides additional information here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A veteran, having a history of depression and PTSD, contacted the suicide hotline via text in … Suicide hotline botched veteran’s cry for help<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147603,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147601\/revisions\/147603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}