284 sexual assaults at VA facilities in three years
USAToday reports that there were 284 sexual assaults in Department of Veterans’ Affairs facilities during a three year period which ended last July. Both men and women were victims and the perpetrators were both patients and employees of the DVA.
Investigators blamed the assaults on a host of problems, including haphazard security measures, too few VA police and no program for assessing potentially dangerous patients. There was also a failure to report crimes to higher leadership for corrective systemwide action and to the VA inspector general.
Yeah, well, if they can’t ferret out potentially dangerous employees, how can they be expected to find equally dangerous patients?
The VA is reviewing the study and taking corrective steps, said Josh Taylor, VA press secretary. An operations center established in 2009 has improved the tracking of crime, he said.
“We are taking steps to expand and improve our reporting of allegations and to provide more secure facilities,” Taylor said. “We take all allegations seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
Somehow, i just don’t trust VA’s new programs after watching them screw the pooch on the New GI Bill and dick up the support for family members to treat their long term wounded at home.
Knowing Shinseki like I do, he probably put a known sex-offender in charge of the program.
Category: Veteran Health Care, Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department
Someone very close to me was a victim of an assault in a VA in that period; I’m not sure if it rises to their definition of sexual assault or was included in these stats though.
She was doing an internship, and was working in her closet of an office on a day when her supervisor was gone. A patient showed up unexpectedly, asked to see her supervisor, and the help desk sent him directly to her office (where patients were never seen) without so much as a phone call. The guy came in, shut the door, talked for a few minutes, then tried to hug her. He put her in a bear hug and started kissing her neck. She managed to stay calm and convinced him to let her go after a minute or so. It could have been infinitely worse; this was a guy who outweighed her by at least 100 lbs.
I wanted fucking blood when I found out about it, but this being a guy with mental health issues and her being sensitive to that in part because of her profession, she was more forgiving. She ended up filing a police report with the VA cops; nothing came of it beyond a note being added to the individual’s file that he should not be left alone with female staff. I don’t even know if they changed the clinic policy. In any case, it never should have happened; basic security policies would have easily prevented it. I’m just thankful she wasn’t hurt any worse.
Question being: just how will the VA reduce these assaults?
The requirement for privacy during exams, counseling sessions, inpatient care and so on outweighs the risks to VA employees, contractors, and vets. Or should privacy be trump?
In the short-term, just a thought: a mobile panic-button worn on the shirt or wrist that, when activated, brings up all sorts of alarm-mayhem in the VA police-dispatch center? Give them to patients too? Those that are unable to activate the button could then be given a guard.