Texas: V.A. Psychiatric Ward Closed

[flashl]

The fourth suicide this year among mentally ill patients treated at the Dallas V.A. Medical Center has led the hospital to close its psychiatric ward to new patients, and investigators from the national Veterans Affairs office are expected to arrive next week to assess safety. Joseph Dalpiaz, director of the V.A. North Texas Health Care System, ordered the shutdown after a man hanged himself April 4. The hospital stopped admitting patients to its 51-bed psychiatric unit the next day; 10 previously admitted veterans are still being treated there. In January, two men who met in the hospital’s psychiatric ward committed suicide days after being released. In February, a veteran in the ward hanged himself.

NY Times