Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 1:24 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Against the backdrop that one in five veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley's legislation to review the VA's mental health care services advanced this afternoon on the Hill.
Berkley's bill came after the death of Lance Corporal Justin Bailey, an Iraq war vet from Las Vegas who came home with PTSD, developed a substance abuse problem and fatally overdosed after being given a self-medicaton regimen under care at the Veterans' Administration facility in West Los Angeles.
Berkley's legislation would mandate a nationwide review of the VA's residential mental health care facilities. The report would assess supervision and staffing ratios, and look into the facilities' administration of prescription drugs and other protocols.
"A review of our services is needed to ensure that what happened to Justin does not happen to anyone else," Berkley said in testimony before a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee.
The committee agreed to fold her bill into a broader vets care bill under consideration. The bill now moves to the full committee, and has been renamed the "Justin Bailey Substance Use Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act of 2008."
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