"Each tragic veteran suicide is yet another painful reminder of the human cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and VA's abject failure to provide timely and appropriate mental health care," said Paul Sullivan, the group's executive director. "How many wake-up calls does (the) VA need?" 

October 7, 2008, Philadelphia, PA - A young widow sued the U.S. government over the post-combat death of her husband, a 23-year-old Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in Veterans Administration care.

During his 2003 tour in Iraq, Donald Woodward killed three Iraqis in battle and suffered the death of his lieutenant, his family said.

Woodward, of Lancaster, went to the VA Medical Center in Lebanon after attempting suicide for a third time, by setting his truck on fire, in November 2005. After less than four months of outpatient care, he killed himself in early March.

"You get him home, you think it's perfect, and then you have this happen," said his mother, Lori Woodward, who called herself the driving force behind the federal suit filed Monday by daughter-in-law Tiera Woodward, 26.

"I intend to make them make changes," said Lori Woodward, a medical claims supervisor from Lancaster. "I have too many friends whose kids are in Iraq. I have a nephew now in Iraq, in the same unit, and I can't have my family go through this again."

The family's negligence suit echoes others nationwide over VA mental-health services, despite legislation President Bush signed in November ordering improvements.

The family of Marine Jeffrey Lucey, also 23, has a federal suit pending in Massachusetts over his June 2004 suicide. And two veterans groups sued the VA in San Francisco seeking an overhaul of its health system, citing special concerns about mental health, but a judge dismissed the suit in June over venue issues.

Alison Aikele, a VA spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said the agency does not typically comment on pending litigation.

More than 150,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have already sought mental health care from the VA, and another 200,000 have sought medical care, according to Veterans for Common Sense, one of the groups involved in the California lawsuit.

"Each tragic veteran suicide is yet another painful reminder of the human cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and VA's abject failure to provide timely and appropriate mental health care," said Paul Sullivan, the group's executive director. "How many wake-up calls does (the) VA need?"

Woodward joined the Army before his 2000 graduation from Penn Manor High School in Lancaster. He served in combat in Iraq from March to August of 2003, according to the suit.

At the VA, he was initially treated for depression and post-traumatic stress, but deemed not to be suffering a "major depressive order."

On Feb. 2, 2006, he saw a VA psychiatrist for the first time, and that doctor diagnosed major depression, the suit states. The psychiatrist doubled the Zoloft dosage to 100 mg, even though Woodward, while acknowledging improvements on the drug, also complained of adverse reactions.

By month's end, Woodward told the doctor he had stopped taking the medicine because of diarrhea. No follow-up visit was scheduled, the suit states.

"He was (ultimately) put on Zoloft, and then he wasn't even set up for an appointment for 30 days," his mother said. "The protocol is for someone with past suicide attempts put on Zoloft, you follow them."

The antidepressant carries a warning that it can increase suicidal thinking and behavior in some young people.

On March 3, Woodward committed suicide.

Family members argue that they should have been involved in his care and made aware of missed appointments, the stopped medication and other developments, despite federal privacy laws.

"All that had to be done to involve family members in Donald's care was to have Donald sign a waiver," said the suit, filed by lawyer Robert Mielnicki of Pittsburgh.

Mielnicki declined comment Tuesday.