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Veteran On The Verge Of Death Repeatedly Put On Hold By Government Suicide Hotline

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Casey Harper
April 14, 2015 12:52 PM ET

Another suicidal veteran has been put at risk by the government’s utter incompetence.

Air Force veteran Ted Koran was on the verge of committing suicide Saturday when he called the Veterans Affairs suicide hotline Saturday, but the government repeatedly put him on hold for up to 10 minutes at a time, ABC Action News reports.

“I had to sit there patiently, in emotional distress, in tears, wanting to give up, desperately needing someone to talk to,” Koran told ABC Action News.
Koran, who has been struggling since his wife died of cancer six months ago, said he ended up calling four times. He reached out to the VA, and an automated recording gave him the number for the Veterans Suicide Hotline, but he had trouble finding anyone to answer his call. He said when he finally did talk to someone they did little to help.
“They had me on the [verge] of saying to hell with it,” Koran said. “The very ones that are supposed to be there for me let me down.”
Media reports have shown that VA offices’ suicide prevention measures have struggled to handle the high number of cases.
The Daily Caller News Foundation has previously reported on the VA’s  problems handling call volume. An audit in December of last year found that a third of veterans calling the homeless hotline run by the VA did not have anyone answer the phone.

Of those veterans who did have their call answered and were referred to a medical center, almost half of them had their cases closed without getting the medical help they needed.

The audit found that the hotline had 40,500 “missed opportunities” to make sure a veteran got the help they needed. (Related: VA Slammed For Not Answering Veterans’ Calls For Help)

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