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Veterans neglected for years in VA facility, report says

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(CNN) -- Two veterans in a Veterans Affairs psychiatric facility languished for years without proper treatment, according to a scathing letter and report sent Monday to the White House by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, or OSC.
In one case, a veteran with a service-connected psychiatric condition was in the facility for eight years before he received a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation; in another case, a veteran only had one psychiatric note in his medical chart in seven years as an inpatient at the Brockton, Massachusetts, facility.
Examples such as those are the core of the report released Monday by the OSC, an independent government agency that protects whistleblowers.

The agency said it is still investigating more than 50 whistleblower disclosures involving patient health or safety allegations at the VA nationwide, and "these cases represent more than a quarter of all matters referred by OSC for investigation government-wide," according to the report.
Fear kept the VA scandal a secret
The report also slams the VA's medical review agency, the Office of the Medical Inspector, or OMI, for its refusal to admit that lapses in care have affected veterans' health. For example, when the office reviewed the Brockton psychiatric cases, it confirmed the patient neglect yet "denied that... (it) had any impact on patient care."

Read the letter...

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/06/23/osc.va.letter.pdf


Veterans neglected for years in VA facility - CNN.com

The light of day is the greatest disinfectant.
"Louis Brandeis"

I would hope that this will be resolved quickly and with bipartisan support. We owe our veterans state of the art care.
 
There really needs to be heads rolling on this one. I hope the DOJ does the right thing and starts bringing criminal charges.
 
There really needs to be heads rolling on this one. I hope the DOJ does the right thing and starts bringing criminal charges.

That's all good and well. But I want the problem fixed. And THAT should be priority number 1. IMHO
 
That's all good and well. But I want the problem fixed. And THAT should be priority number 1. IMHO

I don't think you can fix this problem without the heads rolling first. This kind of institutional corruption breeds a sense of being bullet proof for the people who are the worst offenders. Turning around and asking the same people to fix it is just inviting new levels of corruption.. it's like discussing how to save the punch after someone peed in it.

There need to be FBI agents descending on these hospitals like they're SEAL Team 6 just to strike the fear of GOD in these people. There can be a soft touch resolution after all the bad actors are removed.
 
Veterans neglected for years in VA facility - CNN.com

The light of day is the greatest disinfectant.
"Louis Brandeis"

I would hope that this will be resolved quickly and with bipartisan support. We owe our veterans state of the art care.[/FONT][/COLOR]

I retired in 1986, the problem with the VA is getting into the system. It can take years to get your rating and an appointment. But once in the treatment is very good. Most vets are not interested in fixing blame, they just want it fixed. This is the first time I can remember where the VA has gotten this much media attention. But unless something is done to fix the VA, all this media attention is for naught. Perhaps everyone is just waiting for the media attention to die down, which it will. Then I fear it will be business as usual.

I have absolutely no faith whatsoever that government will actually solve and fix the problems at the VA.
 
In the government you get "fully successful" for just not quitting your job during the previous year.

You are mistaken. You get that rating if you are not a whistleblower.
 
I retired in 1986, the problem with the VA is getting into the system. It can take years to get your rating and an appointment. But once in the treatment is very good. Most vets are not interested in fixing blame, they just want it fixed. This is the first time I can remember where the VA has gotten this much media attention. But unless something is done to fix the VA, all this media attention is for naught. Perhaps everyone is just waiting for the media attention to die down, which it will. Then I fear it will be business as usual.

I have absolutely no faith whatsoever that government will actually solve and fix the problems at the VA.

I loved my VA care in the Phoenix VA. That hospital was set up so efficiently. But it clearly got over-run by population booms and funding issues.
 
I loved my VA care in the Phoenix VA. That hospital was set up so efficiently. But it clearly got over-run by population booms and funding issues.

Luckily down here they opened up two new clinics to go along with the VA hospital.
 
Veterans neglected for years in VA facility - CNN.com

The light of day is the greatest disinfectant.
"Louis Brandeis"

I would hope that this will be resolved quickly and with bipartisan support. We owe our veterans state of the art care.[/FONT][/COLOR]

Sadly, this is not really new. It has been going on for decades. Remember all the news back in the '70s and '80s of patients with dirty sheets, bed sores, etc? All the substandard facilities with mold and structural damage from the '90s.

Doctors that can barely speak English, even Psychiatrist, long waits for care. You have to fight to get non-standard care. The run you through hoops to get anywhere but primary care which is basically a doctor bitching about your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar, anything more than that and they don't have a clue of what to do.

Special authorizations required on certain meds, even if you been taking them for years or the med is the only one approved for your condition. They have to show they tried all the cheap meds first. You have to go through physical therapy to get to an orthopedic doc, even if you have annotated already that an ex-ray shows an torn meniscus. You do a year or more on anti-histamines and those pot things before the doc can even send you to get a cat scan on your sinuses.

Maybe we should make welfare recipients us the VA, then maybe Obama and the Dems will start giving a damn about it. They sure as hell don't care about people who actually contributed to the country. But then again, we are not a large voting block or one that normally goes for the socialist BS of the left.
 
Luckily down here they opened up two new clinics to go along with the VA hospital.

That's awesome. You go to Carl T. Hayden? That's where I had my operation and it contained the clinic where I went for my doctor visits. I thought it was so cool. Everything I needed was there from x-ray's to the doctor to the pharmacy. No driving around town just a walk down the hall.
 
That's awesome. You go to Carl T. Hayden? That's where I had my operation and it contained the clinic where I went for my doctor visits. I thought it was so cool. Everything I needed was there from x-ray's to the doctor to the pharmacy. No driving around town just a walk down the hall.

No, I am in Georgia. We have a VA clinic in Stockbridge which is only around 3 miles from where I live. For any operations, the rough stuff we are sent to the VA Hospital in Decatur Ga. About 30 minutes away.
 
Sadly, this is not really new. It has been going on for decades. Remember all the news back in the '70s and '80s of patients with dirty sheets, bed sores, etc? All the substandard facilities with mold and structural damage from the '90s.

Doctors that can barely speak English, even Psychiatrist, long waits for care. You have to fight to get non-standard care. The run you through hoops to get anywhere but primary care which is basically a doctor bitching about your weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar, anything more than that and they don't have a clue of what to do.

Special authorizations required on certain meds, even if you been taking them for years or the med is the only one approved for your condition. They have to show they tried all the cheap meds first. You have to go through physical therapy to get to an orthopedic doc, even if you have annotated already that an ex-ray shows an torn meniscus. You do a year or more on anti-histamines and those pot things before the doc can even send you to get a cat scan on your sinuses.

Maybe we should make welfare recipients us the VA, then maybe Obama and the Dems will start giving a damn about it. They sure as hell don't care about people who actually contributed to the country. But then again, we are not a large voting block or one that normally goes for the socialist BS of the left.

It is odd because my experience with the VA hospitals has been outstanding. I am not saying the accusations about them are untrue, and assuming they are true as is likely, the **** needs to be fixed now, but I am saying that I think not all VA hospitals are badly run. I also know that at least some among those who work at the VA are outstanding people who love helping vets.
 
Maybe we should make welfare recipients us the VA, then maybe Obama and the Dems will start giving a damn about it. They sure as hell don't care about people who actually contributed to the country. But then again, we are not a large voting block or one that normally goes for the socialist BS of the left.

Figures a right wing extremist would blame this on the dems. Yawn. Not that you would ever actually look at voting records regarding veterans' issues. How grossly misinformed.

Here's a few recent example... And this **** has been going on ad infinitum

Expanded veterans benefits bill fails over GOP's budget-busting objections - Washington Times
 
I would hope that this will be resolved quickly and with bipartisan support. We owe our veterans state of the art care.[/FONT][/COLOR]
Yeah, because the GOP has really been working hard to boost VA support...
 
It is odd because my experience with the VA hospitals has been outstanding. I am not saying the accusations about them are untrue, and assuming they are true as is likely, the **** needs to be fixed now, but I am saying that I think not all VA hospitals are badly run. I also know that at least some among those who work at the VA are outstanding people who love helping vets.

Yes, there are differences between facilities. I've been to two so far. I cannot say that all are uncaring, in fact I've also met a large number that seem to be but are hampered by Administrative procedures like I mentioned. Even the ones who don't speak English well are not uncaring, communications are just difficult.

My father also uses the VA and he has had great care (even though he was missing part of his left leg, they still made him go through physical therapy though to get to orthopedics). One of the problems for me is that some of my healthcare needs are not typical of what the facilities usually see.

The sinus problems I had were so difficult to get them to do something about because I was a smoker and there response was always it was caused by smoking, so quit smoking. They just would not go past that. It was after I switched to vapor that I finally got a doc that started looking elsewhere, but procedure required she try other things first. (I smoked and now use vapor because it calms involuntary muscle movements and tremors which they have no clue what is causing it or how to treat it.)
 
Figures a right wing extremist would blame this on the dems. Yawn. Not that you would ever actually look at voting records regarding veterans' issues. How grossly misinformed.

Here's a few recent example... And this **** has been going on ad infinitum

Expanded veterans benefits bill fails over GOP's budget-busting objections - Washington Times

Right, because they insist on only spending money they actually have instead of deficit spending. They were right to do so. The dems could of cut welfare and a lot of Obama projects to raise the money but refused. Also, you might note that even the VA was saying they didn't need more money. They had money that was unspent because administrators were not filling all the available job positions. Typical Liberal bull****, throw more money at it, don't actually fix the problems with the system.

As to blame, Republicans have had a total of 4 years of full control over the last 50+ years, the rest of the time the Dems either had full control or partial control. Which is more logical, the reps being the problem or the dems? The reps were just lazy when they had control and didn't kill off the 45+ years of socialism and environmentalism that the Dems have pushed for so long.

I'm extreme anti-socialism, that does not make me extreme right.
 
That's all good and well. But I want the problem fixed. And THAT should be priority number 1. IMHO

Part of the solution is to show the next crew will happen if they don't do right.
 
Part of the solution is to show the next crew will happen if they don't do right.

It's all fine. Just fix the god damned problem already. Vets are dying. THAT is the single most important thing.
 
That's all good and well. But I want the problem fixed. And THAT should be priority number 1. IMHO

The second step in fixing a problem is determining the cause of the problem. The first being admitting that something is wrong in the first place.
 
It's all fine. Just fix the god damned problem already. Vets are dying. THAT is the single most important thing.

And the first step in fixing the problem is to get rid of the personel that created the problem! You can't reward wrong doing!
 
And the first step in fixing the problem is to get rid of the personel that created the problem! You can't reward wrong doing!

People are dying. I suggest to you, the first thing you do is stop the carnage. I agree that heads must roll.
 
People are dying. I suggest to you, the first thing you do is stop the carnage. I agree that heads must roll.

The people in place, at this time, CAN'T, or WON'T fix the problem, ergo they need to be fired, prosecuted and replaced. Giving bonuses and letting them keep their jobs are NOT the answers.
 
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