April 20 VCS Lawsuit Update: VA Brought to Court in SF This Week

KCBS All News 740 AM

San Francisco, CA — A lawsuit charging that the Veterans Administration has fallen down in providing mental health care to returning vets is about to go to trial in San Francisco, and two organizations are asking a federal judge for major oversight.
“The bottom line is that we’re not taking care of the veterans and we need to change that,” said Lead attorney Gordon Erspamer, who wants the court to appoint a third party overseer to improve mental health services for veterans of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

“There are massive delays in the system. It is unconscionable how long it takes for the VA to decide these claims,” said Erspamer.

Erspamer claims that as many as 125 veterans take their own lives each week, with a huge wave of vet’s expected to return from the middle east within the next year or so.

The VA, which was unavailable for comment this weekend, claims the court has no jurisdiction over its operations, which it says are improving.

Judge Samuel Conti will hear the case without a jury, the trial is expected to last about two weeks.

 

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