Jesse C. Huff, was 27 years old had been in VA emergency room earlier in the morning.
Infantryman Jesse Huff during a period of training in Alaska. Photo courtesy of Thereasa Osborne of Elm City, N.C.
Infantryman Jesse Huff hands out candy to a child during a patrol in Iraq in 2006. Photo courtesy of Thereasa Osborne of Elm City, N.C.
By Lucas Sullivan and Margo Rutledge Kissell
April 16, 2010
DAYTON — Jesse Charles Huff walked up to the Veterans Affairs Department’s Medical Center on Friday morning wearing U.S. Army fatigues and battling pain from his Iraq war wounds and a recent bout with depression.
The 27-year-old Dayton man had entered the center’s emergency room about 1 a.m. Friday and requested some sort of treatment. But Huff did not get that treatment, police said, and about 5:45 a.m. he reappeared at the center’s entrance, put a military-style rifle to his head and twice pulled the trigger.
Huff fell near the foot of a Civil War statue, his blood covering portions of the front steps.
An assault rifle lies in front of the Dayton VA Medical Center, located at 4100 W. Third St. Police on the scene said the death is the result of a suicide. Photo: Ron Alvey
Police would not specify what treatment Huff sought and why he did not receive it. Medical Center spokeswoman Donna Simmons declined to answer questions about Huff’s treatment, citing privacy laws. But police believe Huff killed himself to make a statement.
Scott Labensky, whose son lived with Huff, agreed. He said the veteran was injured by a ground blast while serving in Iraq and received ongoing treatment for a back injury and depression.
“He never got adequate care from the VA he was trying to get,” Labensky said. “I believe he (killed himself) to bring attention to that fact. I saw him two days ago. He was really hurting.”
Simmons said Huff received care at the center since August 2008 and his care was being handled by a case manager.
The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who have left the military has gone up significantly, the government said in January.
The rate for those veterans rose 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to data released by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The military community also has struggled with an increase in suicides, with the Army seeing a record number last year. Last May, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base focused on suicide recognition and prevention after four apparent suicides involving base personnel within six months.
Huff arrived early Friday in a cream-colored van police found parked about 200 yards from a south entrance of the medical center. The van contained some U.S. Army clothing, a carton of Newport cigarettes and a prescription bottle of Oxycodone with Huff’s name on the side.
Oxycodone is often used to treat severe pain.
As a precaution, bomb squad technicians blew apart a backpack Huff carried before committing suicide. Source
Generic Name: oxycodone (ox i KOE done)
Brand Names: ETH-Oxydose, OxyContin, Oxyfast, Oxyir, Percolone, Roxicodone, Roxicodone Intensol
This drug is Addictive.
Oxycodone Side Effects
Oxycodone side effects may be common, adverse, or precursors to possible fatality.
Pain management specialists will recommend a dosage according to the patient’s individual pain relief response and his or her ability to tolerate the common or adverse side effects produced.
The more common Oxycodone side effects include:
- Constipation
- Dimness in vision
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Itching reflex
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Sleeplessness
- Sweating from shock
- Vomiting
- Weakness
Less common Oxycodone side effects, occurring in only 5% of the population, may include:
- Abdominal pain
- Anxiety
- Diarrhea
- Euphoria
- Hiccups
- Loss of appetite
- Nervousness
- Short or painful breathing (dyspnea)
And, reported on even more rare occasions:
- Impotence
- Enlarged prostate gland
- Decreased testosterone secretion
Oxycodone Side Effects, Overuse
Most patients contact us due to the onset of more adverse Oxycodone side effects from habitual use and overuse.
Adverse side effects:
- Confusion
- Difficulty urinating
- Fainting
- Fast or slow heartbeat
- Lightheadedness
- Seizures
- Severe dizziness
- Slowed or difficult breathing
- Tremor
- Vision changes
- Low resting heart rate
- Cold, clammy skin
- Suspended breathing
- Abnormally low blood pressure
- Pupil constriction
- Circulatory collapse
- Respiratory arrest
- Death
Severe allergic reactions:
- Difficulty breathing
- Hives
- Itching
- Rash
- Swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue
- Tightness in the chest
Convulsions may also increase in patients using Oxycodone with a history of:
- Alcohol withdrawal
- Central nervous system infections
- Drug withdrawal
- Epilepsy
- Head trauma
- Metabolic disorders
- Seizures
Oxycodone Side Effect Cautions
Monitor persistent Oxycodone side effects to verify a medical overdose . Different patients react differently to a medication and experience different or varying degrees of these Oxycodone side effects.
Oxycodone may cause severe hypotension (extreme blood pressure drops).
Oxycodone may be contraindicated (administer with caution) in patients having:
- Acute alcoholism
- Adrenal or thyroid problems
- Bowel disorders or obstructions
- Bronchial asthma
- Circulatory shock
- Decreased respiratory reserve
- Drug-related psychosis
- Enlarged prostate
- Excessive CO2 blood count
- Pancreatitis
- Pre-existing respiratory depression
- Reduced blood oxygen
- Respiratory disorder affecting the right ventricle of the heart
- Semi-conscious state or coma
- Severe kidney or liver disease
- Significant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Spinal deformities impacting the lungs
- Urinating difficulties
Other serious health concerns:
- Oxycodone, like all morphine-type narcotics, should be administered with extreme care to patients in circulatory shock. Narrowing of the blood vessels may reduce heart rate (pulse) and blood pressure.
- Intravenous injection, often illicit, risks lethal respiratory arrest.
- Under doctor’s care, survey patients with head injuries, brain tumors, and other conditions of increased brain pressure for reactions.
Additional signs of Oxycodone overuse involve:
- Decreased interest in affection
- Decreased interest in sex
- Ignorance of others’ distress caused by patient
- Indifference toward family events
- Lack of interest in simple things
- Loss of activities and hobbies
- Loss of vocational drive
- Signs of clinical depression
Odds are Jesse was on this drug for some time.
He in all likelyhood suffered from a number of side affects, which would greatly enhance his depression…
Related
War veterans who could benefit from medical marijuana, regardless of the legality in their own states, have to go outside the VA system and find new doctors just to learn about and try a potentially helpful medicine.
Sign this petition and tell the Obama administration that our veterans deserve better. They deserve to have doctors who practice medicine, not politics.
Give them Medical marijuana, it is much safer then pharmaceutical drugs.
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