"18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans."

mimo2005 · 04-22-2008, 11:53 AM

Dept of VA internal e-mails show officials deliberately deceived American public on number of vets committing suicide

http://cbs11tv.com/national/VA.suici....2.705269.html

ebackhus · 04-22-2008, 02:36 PM

War doesn't always just kill those who get shot.

**sobeit** · 04-23-2008, 03:43 PM

this story is concerned about 18 sucides per day by military. so what about the other 85 per day by the rest of the US or is it unless you are military - who cares, its not news worthy.

yustr · 04-23-2008, 09:50 PM

If those numbers are accurate: there are about 25M veterans which is about 8% of the population but they account for nearly 20% of all the suicides.

Plus, the disgraceful way many are treated by the VA is (in many aspects of their care) well, disgraceful.

That's why its news.

But let's look at the numbers further and see if its not just kicking them when they're down. (They being the VA).

The veterans are predominately men. Men are 3x more likely than women to kill themselves. Those over 65 are more likely too. And nearly 40% of veterans are over 65. For US men the average is about 30 suicides per 100K. That equates to about 6800. What does the "hidden" report say? 6570.

So without doing very much research or math its seem probable that the suicide rate among veterans is about what could be predicted based on the population as a whole; it may actually be lower.

What does all this mean? 1) the reporter needs to open his eyes to other than what he's being fed or wants to see. 2) Its a PR move by the VA and Filner to get more attention (read: $$$) focused on Vets. 3) hiding it was about all they could do because its not a real issue and "hiding" it made it somewhat sinister and focused attention on the deed not the facts.

Don't you just hate it when facts spoil a good point?

04-22-2008, 11:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
mimo2005 Manager, Emeritus Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 11,142 OS: xp	"18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans." Dept of VA internal e-mails show officials deliberately deceived American public on number of vets committing suicide http://cbs11tv.com/national/VA.suici....2.705269.html __________________ TSF has outgrown its server, again. Please help "Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo"

04-22-2008, 02:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,265 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	Re: "18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans." War doesn't always just kill those who get shot. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

04-23-2008, 03:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
sobeit TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NEAR Posts: 7,433 OS: windows/linux	Re: "18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans." this story is concerned about 18 sucides per day by military. so what about the other 85 per day by the rest of the US or is it unless you are military - who cares, its not news worthy. __________________ there's been global warming since the ice age

04-23-2008, 09:50 PM	#4 (permalink)
yustr Asst. Manager, The Conversation Pit Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Connecticut shore Posts: 6,049 OS: XP Pro My System	Re: "18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans." If those numbers are accurate: there are about 25M veterans which is about 8% of the population but they account for nearly 20% of all the suicides. Plus, the disgraceful way many are treated by the VA is (in many aspects of their care) well, disgraceful. That's why its news. But let's look at the numbers further and see if its not just kicking them when they're down. (They being the VA). The veterans are predominately men. Men are 3x more likely than women to kill themselves. Those over 65 are more likely too. And nearly 40% of veterans are over 65. For US men the average is about 30 suicides per 100K. That equates to about 6800. What does the "hidden" report say? 6570. So without doing very much research or math its seem probable that the suicide rate among veterans is about what could be predicted based on the population as a whole; it may actually be lower. What does all this mean? 1) the reporter needs to open his eyes to other than what he's being fed or wants to see. 2) Its a PR move by the VA and Filner to get more attention (read: $$$) focused on Vets. 3) hiding it was about all they could do because its not a real issue and "hiding" it made it somewhat sinister and focused attention on the deed not the facts. Don't you just hate it when facts spoil a good point? __________________ If there are lawyers or politicians involved, logic may be a very poor tool for reaching a conclusion.