Letter to the Editor
As a psychiatrist who has retired from the VA after 29 years serving veterans, I appreciate your continued support for homeless veterans.
I wish to offer three points that I hope will help to clarify the problem:
By Cyril Barnert, MD | April 18, 2011
1) Your editorial in the most recent issue calls the homeless veterans”broken”. What this means pragmatically is that they are impaired by mental illness with or without substance dependence.
2) The VA offers treatment for these problems, but many veterans decline or walk away from the treatment. Of course this is part of their impairment, but it is also their civil right to do so under current laws (with exceptions only for the most extreme disability).
3) Lost in the controversy about using VA land for purposes other than veterans treatment or housing is the fact that all income from such uses is directed to providing additional services for veterans that would not be possible based on the funding from Washington.
In short, these activities enhance rather than compete for care to veterans.
