According to an investigation by American-Statesman, of all the Texas veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and were receiving disability benefits when they died, a majority accidentally died from drug overdoses or toxic prescription combinations.
Information released by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs indicated that almost 350 veterans from Texas with VA benefits died between 2003 and 2011; investigators from the American-Statesman went on to identify those veterans and confirm that 266 of them, 77 percent, died of accidental drug overdoses or from an accidental and toxic combination of prescription drugs.
There is a dramatic lack of research on veterans’ deaths and drug overdoses. According to Amy Bohnert, a researcher at the University of Michigan and Department of Veterans Affairs, the lack of research is a concern. Bohnert recently published the first-ever systemic examination of overdoses and recent veterans.
Bohnert looked at all the veterans nationally who were receiving VA services in 2005. She deduced that more than 1,000 of them died from accidental drug overdoses, which, accounting for age and gender, is double the rate of accidental drug overdoses in the civilian population. Bohnert conclude that accidental drug overdoses are a far greater threat to military veterans than suicidal acts, though suicide is far more often publicized.
Analysis by the Statesman suggests that for veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq, drug overdoses may be even more of an issue than for all military veterans.
A review by the Statesman of autopsy reports for Texas veterans determined that while a few of the overdoses were attributed to illegal drugs, most of the drug-related deaths were due to prescription medications, including pain medication, sleep aids and medication for anxiety and depression. While three out of the 47 listed overdoses were determined to be suicides, the others were accidental miscalculations of toxic drug combinations or dosages. The average age of death for the Texas veterans examined as part of the study was 29, and three of the veterans were women.
Prescription drug addictions, especially addictive opiate painkillers, are at the forefront of the drug issue with recent veterans: nearly half of service people returning from Afghanistan and Iraq reported pain-related issues. Military doctors in 2009 prescribed an estimated 3.8 million narcotic pain pills, an increase of 400 percent since 2001. In addition, the Army reports that amphetamine prescriptions to treat adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder doubled between 2006 and 2009. An Army study from 2010 found that one-third of soldiers were taking prescription meds, and almost 50 percent of those soldiers were taking opiate painkillers.
James G. Fausone is a Veterans disability lawyer and Veterans attorney with Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC. Learn more at http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com.
