TAMPA, Fla. — Courageous. Brave. Defenders. Heroes.
These are just a few of the words we so often use to describe American veterans. But what can happen when they need the help has prompted a wave of reaction.
“I’m thinking, what the heck did I do?”
“We've done a good job of creating veterans, but we've done a bad job taking care of them,” said Don Stiff, a former US Marine who told us he’ll never go to the VA for mental health treatment again after, he said, he went to his local VA clinic for counseling and got held against his will for days.
“At first, I didn't know what was going on. But I figured it out pretty quick when I couldn’t leave. I’m like, what did I say? I'm thinking to myself, what the heck did I do,” he recalled about the visit 11 years ago.
Stiff is one of several veterans who contacted us after, last month, we shared how the VA failed a young Florida veteran in crisis.
He sought help, got committed, then died by suicide
36-year-old retired US Marine Jordan Hunkin had top secret clearance when, in 2023, he voluntarily sought mental health treatment at Malcom Randall VA hospital in Gainesville but ended up involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act.
The state law allows a person to be involuntarily committed if a designated professional deems them to be a threat to themselves or others. https://www.myflfamilies.com/crisis-services/baker-act
In Hunkin’s case, hospital records provided to us by his family, show at the time he sought help, the young marine was neither suicidal nor posed any threat. A counselor even commended him for, “his courage reaching out for help,” according to medical records.
After Hunkin was baker acted, friends and family said Hunkin lost trust in the VA and never sought help again.
Jordan Hunkin died by suicide just 6 months later.
“You threw my son under the bus. You didn't take care of him,” his mom told us last month.
Hunkin’s Baker Act eventually got the attention of the VA’s Inspector General office.
VA Inspector General finds young Marine’s Baker Act was improper.
Last summer, investigators from the IG’s office released a blistering report that revealed not only was Hunkin improperly Baker Acted at the VA hospital, but the hospital’s Baker Act protocols were a failure.
There was no training, no tracking, and no oversight of how the Baker Act was being used on patients at the hospital. [The report did not name Hunkin but friends and family confirmed the report was based on a complaint about his Baker Act and treatment]
A VA official from the IG’s office said improper involuntary holds could be happening at other VA hospitals.
“I’m unable to say if it's a systemic issue. I can say it could be,” said Susan Tostenrude, who manages hotline inspections for the VA.
But, we discovered, the VA makes it nearly impossible to know.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the number of Baker Acted veterans, a FOIA officer from the VA told us they don’t track them.
Stiff believes improper Baker Acts on veterans is a widespread problem.
“I know it is,” he said.
Other veterans who reached out to us agree.
“Crap like this is why many of us won’t use the vets crisis line,” said one anonymous veteran in an email to us last month.
“The exact same situation happened to my wife,” wrote another tipster who wouldn’t talk about his family’s case on camera but pointed us to court records that show his family sued a Florida VA hospital over a bad baker act. Records show the VA settled the case.
Don Stiff said no one from the VA ever determined his Baker Act was wrong or improper.
“I think, probably, they can justify somehow to themselves that it wasn’t,” he said.
He never took any legal action, but Stiff did file a formal complaint to lawmakers and the VA’s Office of Inspector General. He told us he never got a response.
“This cannot happen to another veteran.”
“It’s just unacceptable. As far as I’m concerned, this cannot happen to another veteran,” said Florida US Congressman Gus Bilirakis, who is a strong veteran advocate.
He continued, “We want to make sure we incentivize our veterans to go seek the help and the mental health treatment, if they need it, that they've earned. It’s very disturbing, and I’ll definitely look into it further."
A decade after his Baker Act, Donald Stiff still has committed himself to helping other veterans in crisis. He also goes to mental health counseling but through a private provider and not the VA.
He decided to share his personal Baker Act story in hopes of continuing his efforts to help others while sending a message to a system he won’t yet call broken but believes is in desperate need of reform.
“What would I tell the VA? Just do better. Just do better. Don't turn a blind eye. Fix the problem,” he said.
