Suicide Highlights Military Mental Care Woes

Scheuerman's suicide note was among hundreds of pages of documents his family shared with the AP after wrangling with a military bureaucracy that family members say did not want to get to the bottom of the death.

In this Nov. 12, 2007 file photo, Chris Scheuerman comforts his former wife, Anne, while the couple...

In this Nov. 12, 2007 file photo, Chris Scheuerman comforts his former wife, Anne, while the couple reminisce about their son Jason, in photo, in Sanford, N.C. Three weeks after an unlicensed Army psychologist concluded Pfc. Jason Scheuerman was capable of faking mental illness to get out of combat duty, he killed himself. Scheuerman's death, the subject of an internal Army investigation exposed to The Associated Press by his family, casts light on the use by the Armed Forces of unlicensed mental health professionals to help soldiers cope with the extreme stress of combat. (AP Photo/Jonathan Fredin, File)

(AP)

A complaint in August to the U.S. Army Medical Department by Scheuerman's father, Chris, a former Army master sergeant, triggered an internal investigation into whether a senior medical officer was aware of the unlicensed psychologist's certifications and failed to take corrective action.

"There is a direct correlation between his actions and the events that led up to my son's death," Chris Scheuerman said, speaking of the unlicensed psychologist.

Historically, the Army deployed unlicensed psychologists under supervision until they were licensed, Col. Bruce E. Crow, the psychology consultant to the Army surgeon general, said in a statement to the AP. But by early 2005, "potential problems obtaining supervision in a combat zone" were identified, Crow said.

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An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. George Wright, said 10 to 12 unlicensed psychologists were deployed to Iraq between March 2003 and May 2006, when the practice was stopped. Prior to May 2006, Wright said, unlicensed psychologists could be assigned to their first duty stations while they were completing the requirements for either their doctoral dissertations or their licenses. He did not say what mechanisms were in place to ensure the unlicensed psychologists were supervised.

Chris Scheuerman said he had been told by Col. Elspeth Ritchie, who served as the psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general, that more than 100 unlicensed mental health professionals had been deployed to Iraq.

Scheuerman also contends Ritchie told him Hansen was not qualified at the time to evaluate the young soldier. Ritchie was the target of Scheuerman's complaint to the Army. The spokesman said Ritchie was not available for an interview.

The American Psychological Association reported in 2007 that there was a 40 percent vacancy rate in active duty psychologists in the Army.