The sign of the Veterans Affairs Department is hung on the podium as U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald speaks during a news conference at Veterans Affairs Department September 8, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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“Someone dropped the ball.”
A veteran committed suicide in the parking lot of a Long Island veteran’s hospital Sunday, the New York Times reported.
The Suffolk County Police Department told the Times that Peter A. Kaisen, 76, fatally shot himself in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center “where he had been a patient.”
Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a part of the Veterans Affairs medical system.
Two anonymous “people connected to the hospital” told the Times that Kaisen may have “been frustrated that he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health.”
A 76-year-old veteran killed himself in the parking lot of the VA hospital on Long Island https://t.co/mrCxSFt6m5 pic.twitter.com/MpFDmI04JY
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 25, 2016
“He went to the E.R. and was denied service,” one source, identified as a hospital employee, said. “And then he went to his car and shot himself.”
“Someone dropped the ball,” another source said. “They should not have turned him away.”
Christopher Goodman, a spokesman for the hospital, told the Times that there “was no indication that he presented to the E.R. prior to the incident," adding, "The employees here at Northport feel this loss deeply and extend their thoughts and prayers to all those impacted by this tragedy.”
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