Tony Leys

tleys@dmreg.com

Iowa’s U.S. senators want the Department of Veterans Affairs to determine whether a Johnston veteran’s suicide was related to a delay in VA treatment for a medical problem.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst sent letters this week to the VA’s inspector general, seeking an investigation into the Nov. 7 death of Curtis Gearhart. Friends have said Gearhart, who served two Army tours in Iraq, had been told he had to wait five or six weeks for an appointment at the Des Moines VA hospital for treatment of severe headaches.

Gearhart’s death came amid a continuing controversy over waiting times for VA care and allegations that the problem is fueling suicides nationwide.

“Working to end the suicide epidemic among our veteran population should be an urgent priority. Accordingly, please conduct a thorough investigation into facts and circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Gearhart,” Grassley wrote Wednesday to Michael Missal, the VA’s inspector general.

Ernst, who is a fellow Republican, wrote a similar letter Tuesday. She noted two other cases, the 2015 suicide of Des Moines veteran Richard Miles and the July 2016 suicide of Davenport veteran Brandon Ketchum.

“It is unacceptable that veterans are being told to wait, especially when seeking care for combat-related injuries,” Ernst wrote. “If immediate care cannot be provided by the VA itself, it is absolutely imperative our veterans be made aware of other health care options available to them outside of the VA. It is simply unacceptable that anyone who has courageously served this great nation is sent home without being given options that exist for receiving qualified, outside care. I simply cannot accept that the Iowa VAs continue to allow veterans such as Mr. Gearhart to slip through the cracks of the system."

Ernst said she was disappointed that the VA seemed to be using the federal patient-privacy law as a way of protecting itself from scrutiny in such cases.

“I demand that the VA OIG conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Mr. Curtis Gearhart, focusing both on why Mr. Gearhart was denied care, and what steps must be taken to prevent this from happening ever again," she wrote. "I hope I make myself clear when I say, I do not want to have to write to you again regarding the loss of yet another Iowa veteran who has died because they did not receive adequate care from the VA.”

A VA spokeswoman told the Register last week that the agency couldn't comment on Gearhart’s treatment and death.