Sunday, January 18, 2009

Family of Iraq vet gets settlement after his suicide

U.S. loses wrongful death suit

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and StripesMideast edition, Friday, January 16, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — Marine Reserve Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey hanged himself on June 22, 2004, about three weeks after being released as an inpatient from the Northampton Veterans Medical Center in Leeds, Mass.

His parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming the VA initially refused to treat him for post-traumatic stress disorder because they required him to be sober first.

Now they will receive $350,000 under a settlement with the U.S. government that was announced Thursday by Military Families Speak Out, an anti-war group to which they both belong.

Read the rest of the story here.

There is also an article in the Boston Globe.

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