House hears testimony on VA rape bill
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Click on the image to read SWAN’s Statement for the Record.
The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health is holding a hearing at 4pm today examining several pieces of legislation and hearing testimony from the Veterans Adminstration (VA) and several veterans organizations on the impact these bills would have. One of the bills being discussed is H.R. 2074, a bipartisan bill that would require the VA to develop and implement a comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking sexual assaults at VA medical facilities.
SWAN has submitted a statement for the record on this bill, advocating strongly for its passage. Last month the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a scathing report on sexual assaults within VA facilities, and in particular was critical of the VA for not having a codified, coherent and well-communicated policy on sexual assault reporting. Since the report was published, SWAN has pushed the story heavily in the media, we have been inundated with calls from veterans who experienced all types of abuses while at the VA, and from VA employees who have witnessed sexual assaults, to include members of the VA’s own police force who have apprehended perpetrators only to see them return to work without so much as a reprimand.
Our thanks Rep Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Rep Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Chair of the Health Subcommittee, for introducing H.R. 2074 and for holding this hearing. This is a much needed piece of legislation that will help protect all veterans who use the VA, and help encourage those who don’t to feel safer about seeking the treatment they are entitled to.
Statement for the Record in support of H.R. 2074, submitted by Greg Jacob, Policy Director for the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) to the HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH, Monday, July 25th, 2011.
Madam Chairwoman and Distinguished Members:
Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) is a national organization that supports, defends, and empowers today’s servicewomen and women veterans of all eras. SWAN’s vision is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without threat of harassment, discrimination, intimidation or assault. SWAN also seeks to reform veterans’ services on a national scale to guarantee equal access to quality health care, benefits and resources for women veterans and their families.
SWAN fully supports H.R. 2074, a bill to require a comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents that occur at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities.
SWAN has unique insight into the issue of sexual assault at the VA. Our National Peer Support Helpline receives numerous calls from veterans seeking help to remedy a negative experience at the VA. Some of these veterans, both men and women, tell us they were sexually harassed or sexually assaulted at VA facilities, reported it, and saw absolutely nothing done by the VA in response.
- One client told us that while receiving an EKG, a male technician inappropriately touched her breasts during the procedure and repeatedly commented on her appearance. Afterward she did not know how to report the incident, left the hospital and has not returned to the VA since.
- Another veteran was raped by her VA psychiatrist who was a retired Air Force officer. She reported this to the VA administration who told her they could do nothing based on her word alone. She then reported him to the authorities. Although he was not prosecuted, as a result of this veteran’s courage the psychiatrist had his treatment license suspended for 5 years.
- Another caller who is employed by the VA as a police officer has apprehended a VA technician twice for sexually assaulting patients and turned him over to the VA administration both times. Yet this technician has not been charged with any crime, is still employed at the same VA and still regularly works with women patients. The officer is completely frustrated with a system that allows rapists to roam the hospitals free to prey on vulnerable patients.
H.R. 2074 would help to reform this system by requiring the VA develop a comprehensive program for reporting and handling sexual assault complaints, a first step in what SWAN hopes will become a rigorous system that keeps everyone who uses the VA safe and secure. An institution that provides for the healthcare needs of veterans ought to have an effective reporting system in place, particularly given the rampant levels of sexual assault and sexual harassment within the active duty military. The Department of Defense estimates that in 2010 alone, there were over 19,000 sexual assaults in the military [1], or 52 sexual assaults per day. It is negligent and dangerous to think that somehow those tens of thousands of survivors and perpetrators simply go away after being discharged. The numbers of sexual trauma survivors, both male and female, utilizing the VA is substantial. VA reports that in FY 2010 68,379 patients had at least one outpatient visit to a VHA facility that was for the treatment of a condition(s) related to Military Sexual Trauma. 61% (or 41,475) of those patients were women; 39% (or 26,904) were men. [2]
VA serves tens of thousands of high-risk veterans every year, and as an institution it must accept responsibility for the care and safety of all its patients from the time they walk onto the grounds of a VA facility until they walk off. The VA must not only do so by providing top notch medical treatment, but also superior administrative support as well. That means every VA run facility must develop a well publicized process in place to handle sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints, must have policies that enforce rules and discipline offenders, must train every member of their staff annually on sexual harassment and sexual assault response, must maintain a security presence that is attentive and effective, and must invest in an infrastructure that allows for a completely safe visit. Safety and care for VA patients should not start or stop at the front door.
The stakes are high. With the number of veterans eligible for care rising year after year and with the rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment crisis continuing unabated in the military, it is essential that the VA protect patients from sexual predators. If the VA fails to do this, veterans desperately in need of care will avoid seeking it out which will result in untold suffering, chronic mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness and in some cases suicide or death. Our nation’s veterans deserve better, and H.R. 2074 will help to ensure that.
Respectfully Submitted,
Greg Jacob
Policy Director, Service Women’s Action Network
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[1 ]Department of Defense, DMDC. 2011. “2010 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members.” Available: http://www.sapr.mil/media/pdf/research/DMDC_2010_WGRA_Overview_Report_of_Sexual_Assault.pdf
[2] Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health Services, Military Sexual Trauma Support Team. (2011). Summary of Military Sexual Trauma-related Outpatient Care Report, FY 2010. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health Services
House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing webpage
