“Travis Patterson, a man from Texas, was a decorated Staff Sergeant in the Army, and a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He was injured by a roadside mine, and discharged from the army in 2016. He was in daily, severe pain. He could not get pain treatment, and tried to” die by suicide. “He was admitted to a Topeka, Kansas VA hospital, by his 26 year old wife. The VA refused to treat his war wounds with pain medicine, and offered instead a stress ball. Two days later, he made his own method for treating his intractable pain, by” dying by suicide. “He had a future with his wife and he was studying law. It did not matter. He showed no signs of mental illness, just the stress of failure to treat his underlying war injuries with long-term daily pain medication.” ‘One other veteran remarked, the US Government was finding other ways to “kill us.”’

‘Additional information: Travis was denied pain medication for these combat wounds, by the VA. A law was passed, without the knowledge of most people, it was hidden 12–15 pages deep, in a 2000 page budget bill. It is now federal law to “forcibly taper” wounded veterans with intractable pain, to “prevent addiction and heroin overdoses.”’