Not since Garfield has a cartoon garnered so much attention…but the attention sure ain’t positive.
On March 9, 2015, a story broke regarding an email circulated by an Indianapolis VA Medical Center (“Center”) employee, where the employee used cartoons to poke fun at possibly the most unfunny subject ever – veteran suicide.
The culprit is Ms. Robin Paul, a licensed social worker who manages the Center’s transitional clinic for returning veterans. This is a woman who is supposed to have empathy and sensitivity to the plight of veterans in an extremely vulnerable situation.
The email that has created a blogging storm across the country (see the comments to the story as posted on military.com here) depicts an elf in various rooms of the Center. One photo depicts him peering between the legs of a female doll. “Trying his skills as a primary care provider (doing a pap),” the email says. Another shows the elf next to a sticky note with the words, “Out of XANAX — please help!” A caption says, “Self-medicating for mental health issues when a CNS would not give him his requested script.” A third photograph shows the elf hanging from a strand of Christmas lights. “Caught in the act of suicidal behavior (trying to hang himself from an electrical cord),” reads the caption.
Apparently, the email was sent in the pre-holiday season, around November 18. Veterans service organizations across the country have issued many public statements on the issue, calling for Ms. Paul to be fired and asking why the VA did nothing about the email for nearly four months. It doesn’t help that the entire country is already fired up about the waiting time manipulation scandal at Phoenix.
A veteran client sent me the article on this subject in military.com, and I was reluctant to blog on the topic. The rage directed at Ms. Paul was palpable, and I almost felt slightly empathetic for one careless email having created such a stir.
Then I thought about the situation some more. I am a veterans advocate, and a lawyer, and everyone tries to make light of their jobs to alleviate stress. This is why I love a good dead lawyer joke. I would not, however, under any circumstances or context, come anywhere close to touching a veteran mental health issue with a joke. I cannot wrap my head around the concept of someone senior in the VA doing so. Ms. Paul has a fiduciary duty to care for the veterans she is charged to protect, and circulating an email like this isn’t simply careless. It demonstrates a lack of empathy and basic decency, which is dangerous considering her job.
That’s a message directly to you, Secretary McDonald. Consider her job. Consider eliminating it.
*Did you find this article informative? If so, sign up for Sarah Schauerte’s legal blog on veterans issues at: https://legalmeetspractical.com.
*Did you find this article depressing? If so, look below for two genuinely funny cartoons, by Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes and Gary Larson (The Far Side), respectively (and respectably).
While I understand gallows humor as a coping mechanism, as a combat infantryman I’ve used it a few times myself, this was beyond the scope. I don’t wish any personal harm to come to her. I find the military.com website comments regarding her ethnicity and personal appearance despicable and unnecessary. However, given the endemic lack of timely care for the veterans from within the VA system, her continued employment is symbolic of the larger problems. While firing her, which is entirely warranted, might make her a scape goat to the larger system… She’s certainly earned it with her thoughtless and careless email. Further, I believe thay any other employee that saw that and didn’t report it should also be terminated. Clearly the Indianapolis VA Medical Hospital should be investigated because these issues indicate a toxic environment that’s detrimental to the wellbeing of all veterans being treated there.