WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- A lawsuit claims the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' healthcare system is so broken that some vets commit suicide before claims get settled.
The class-action suit filed on behalf of Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth seeks to compel the VA to improve its healthcare system, particularly the part that deals with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"The court faces an agency that is in denial and a healthcare system and an adjudication system that are broken down and in crisis," said plaintiff's attorney Gordon P. Erspamer's opening statements.
The veterans agency says it made great strides in improving its healthcare system, but the plaintiffs say the agency delayed claims and benefits to the point many veterans committed suicide before their claims were settled, the Los Angeles Times said Tuesday.
Erspamer said the agency takes as long as 15 years to deal with PSD cases and when veterans do appeal, courts usually send the cases back to the veterans' agency for review.
Kerri Childress, a spokeswoman for the agency, told the Times her agency is "doing our very best" to provide the best healthcare available to veterans but admitted things weren't going "perfectly."
