Private: The Sad Story of Alejandro DeJesus

Alejandro DeJesus served in Vietnam.  A Navy Veteran with a history of mental illness and attempted suicide, DeJesus checked himself in a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) residential facility in 1997.  At the time, DeJesus was homeless, unemployed, and had recently been jailed for a domestic violence incident sparked by his mental disorder.

While under the VA’s care, psychologists diagnosed him with “intermittent explosive disorder,” a mental illness which threw him DeJesus into uncontrollable fits of rage when he was “frustrated or unemployed.”  The VA also assigned Denise Outzs-Cleveland as DeJesus’ caseworker.  Outzs-Cleveland had attended nursing school, but did not have a license to practice because she twice failed the licensing exam.  The VA had hired her anyway, and assigned her to provide therapy to the occasionally violent and suicidal DeJesus.

After over four months living at the VA, DeJesus was transferred to a non-profit facility in Philadelphia which is funded by the VA.  The new facility specialized in transitioning homeless veterans back into society, and it provided DeJesus with the first reliable employment he had held in a long time.  Outzs-Cleveland remained his primary therapist at the new facility, but she never disclosed DeJesus’ mental condition to it.  To the contrary, on her form recommending DeJesus be admitted to the facility, she wrote that DeJesus had “no mental health issues or behavioral problems,” ignoring VA records documenting DeJesus’ intermittent explosive disorder, and his struggles with violent outbursts and suicide.

DeJesus did well at the facility for several months, holding down a job and even earning a letter from Outzs-Cleveland encouraging a family court to grant him visitation privileges to see his youngest daughter.  This changed, however, when DeJesus was served with divorce papers by his estranged wife.

Shortly after receiving this papers, DeJesus placed a call to Outzs-Cleveland.  In her own words, Outzs-Cleveland later described DeJesus as “very distraught” during this conversation, and she told him to see her as soon as possible.  DeJesus said her would call her back, but he never did, and Outzs-Cleveland never followed up.

About a month after this conversation, DeJesus threatened another resident with a knife.  Shortly thereafter, the VA recommended that he be discharged from the residential facility.  At no point had the facility learned of DeJesus’ mental illness.

Upon learning of his impending discharge, DeJesus began giving away his possessions.  He left after informing several people that he was planning to walk to Maine or New Hampshire.

18 hours later, DeJesus burst into his wife’s home, shot and killed two of his own children, killed two neighbors who were visiting his family, and then turned his gun on himself.

In a subsequent lawsuit against the VA, doctors from the residential facility testified that, had they known of DeJesus’ mental illness, or of the fact that he was giving away his personal belongings—a sign that a patient is about to commit suicide—they would not have discharged him, and they would have had him involuntarily committed.  They suggested that if the VA had given them the information they needed to make a proper decision, four children and a U.S. Navy veteran would still be alive.

Yesterday, the Third Circuit upheld a $7.4 million jury award against the VA, holding that the Department of Veterans Affairs was guilty of “gross negligence.”

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