AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A Texas congressman is calling for hearings in response to a newspaper report that an alarming number of Texas veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have died of prescription drug overdoses.
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, a Waco Republican on the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs, says the overdose issue "bothers me a lot." Flores tells the Austin American-Statesman that he will ask for a hearing to get the Veterans Administration's response to the overdoses and the latest research on post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Statesman reported last month that a newspaper investigation found the number of suicides among Texas veterans is nearly matched by the number of those dying from prescription drug overdoses.
There is also concern over how well the VA is tracking deaths among veterans.
___
Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
