By far the most distressing revelation from the lawsuit by veterans against the VA, currently making its way through Federal court in San Francisco has to be the toxic email, disgracefully titled, "Shh!" and written by Ira Katz, M.D., the VA's top psychiatrist, about the not-exactly-light 'n humorous topic of veterans suicides. The email essentially attempts to cover up the severity of the number of veteran suicides that are taking place by those who are undergoing treatment at the VA. The contents of that email by now are fairly well known -- and the general reaction is to Katz's words, not surprisingly, is revulsion. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) are two legislators calling for Katz' removal. There's been just enough stink about his ill-chosen words that Katz has been moved to make a very superficial apology for them, a la Roger Clemens. An article in today's Seattle PI, linked here, quotes CBS News as saying Dr. Katz now calls his word choice "unfortunate."
Erm, well, can we just call "bullshit" on this? Because, really, it's more than the choice of words people are reacting to -- they're sensing the specious and supercilious attitude behind them. In the immortal lines from Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Even a dog knows the difference between being kicked, and being tripped over."
The "Shh!" email brings to mind another bureaucratic bumbler of late, Michael Brown, head of FEMA during the Katrina crisis, who ostensibly fiddled while Rome burned, writing superficial emails to his colleagues preening about his choice in ties and lamely wondering if it was time for him to go home yet. "'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged," according to an article archived here on CNN.com.
Brown certainly seemed to be over his head (no Katrina puns intended) at FEMA; perhaps Katz, because of his psychiatry training is actually not. However, they both have a world of learning to do in how to project empathic leadership. There's nothing confidence-affirming about either one of their responses. Wounded warriors deserve a lot better from the top psychiatrist at the VA responsible for their care. Those aren't just poorly-chosen words, there's an attitude of callous disregard for the patients behind them as well, that no thin veneer of apology really corrects. Combat veterans struggling with alarmingly high and well-documented rates of PTSD and suicide need compassionate leaders with a vested interest in their care, not someone making light of the size and the severity of the problem. In anyone but a psychiatrist, whose field after all is mental health, we might find this easier to understand or excuse. But in a psychiatrist whose professional responsibility is the mental health of veterans? Absolutely not. That's a vote of no confidence, in someone who's sworn to uphold the Hippocratic oath to "first, do no harm." The bumbling and apparent cluelessness of FEMA's Michael Brown in the face of a huge need for crisis management and control spurred calls for him to resign; perhaps outrage over Katz' email will do the same. There's really no way to spin that into a positive. The damage has already been done.
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Here's the content of the email Katz titled "Shh!" for those who haven't seen it. According to the article in the Seattle PI, "Our suicide-prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities," Katz wrote in a Feb. 13 e-mail to Ev Chasen, the department's communication director. "Is this something we should [carefully] address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"
