What do all of you think of the hideous stories coming out of the Phoenix VA?
They need this dog.
We all need a dog like this in this day and age!
Z
x
Monday, May 5, 2014
Protecting our military
What do all of you think of the hideous stories coming out of the Phoenix VA?
They need this dog.
We all need a dog like this in this day and age!
Z
x
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31 comments:
The VA has been a broken mess for a very long time, and the problem isn’t only in Phoenix. I am disappointed with General Shinseki’s performance as head of the VA, but it does explain why Donald Rumsfeld forced him into retirement.
Yes, it is true that veterans deserve better than what they’re getting at the so-called veterans organizations. At the same time, we need to speak frankly about 71-year old Thomas Breen, who previously struggled with cancer, had blood in his urine, and refused to see any other doctor not associated with the VA. With Stage IV Bladder Cancer, it is not likely Breen would have survived no matter where he went for treatment ... but in this case, Mr. Breen chose not participate in his own treatment. Of course, there were others ... and this story is indeed a travesty.
The VA is a mess, healthcare quality in general is going downhill, costs are ridiculously high for care as well as medications, good health insurance is prohibitively expensive for many, and the nation of "exceptionalism" can't agree on how to make it right, for all.
Politics, keeping us divided, and fighting wars takes top priority.
I knew a guy who worked for VA and remained on his email distribution for a few years. Seems all he did all day was forward humorous emails.
Either he retired or discovered Facebook.
Z - That is a precious picture of the dog and the troop. Of the dog protecting his master. You are right - we could all use a dog like that.
In Obama'a eyes it's just fine.
There seems to be no one consistant story of experiences with the VA. I have friends who were given excellent treatment....my own was average...and I know some who's pain and suffering have been prolomged due to inefficiency and bureaucratic ineptitude.
I'm sure many soldiers have been taken advantage of in airports if my cousin's experience is any indication. After last minute order changes going in one direction, he turned around to a long, exhausting trek to Germany where he fell asleep in the Frankfurt airport and was robbed of everything.
18 years ago my father received excellent care at the VA (Loma Linda). Much better than our local civilian hospital. But I was shocked to read in Jason Redman's book The Trident of outdated methods used, including a far more painful way to treat skin grafts. Since this has been a big issue in burn victims in Iraq/Afghan it's shocking they haven't adopted the more effective and relatively painless treatment he eventually received outside of the VA.
@CI:
"and I know some who's pain and suffering have been prolomged due to inefficiency and bureaucratic ineptitude."
I wasn't even allowed the experience of finding out their level of care, personally.
What's important here is the Phoenix situation and to try to prove it's not happening in other VAs.
None of us should condemn them all for this unconscionable allegation.
I think our soldiers deserve the best treatment they can get, and all of us understands that many ARE getting it..
By the way, what do you think could happen if can be proven (which might be hard to do) that those soldiers did indeed die for having waited so long for treatment?
My gosh..there's now been a shooting this morning in Dayton, Ohio, in a VA center; no details yet.
Curious as to how much this Phoenix news could craze a soldier or his family if they were even legitimately delayed treatment for some reason.
Of course, this could be a lover's quarrel, too, let's get more information as it comes in, but it makes you think how this Phoenix situation does affect so many vets and their families across the country and makes them wonder.
The Dayton shooting could quite easily have been perpetrated by somebody at the end of their rope.
Of course, if true...this will only continue to serve the 'angry, dangerous vet' meme in the media.
When Obama and the Dems were in the early stages of secretively structuring Obama Care, it occurred to me that all health care in the US would eventually change.
Everybody would be regressed into some form of Medicare or Mecicaid. I speculate this would include all military personnel, including Tricare and VA eligible.
When the Dems goal of a single payer system is understood, it makes sense that they don't want the VA to continue its existence.
Obama and the Democrats DON'T WANT MILITARY TO HAVE SPECIAL CARE, or separate care. They are all about a one-size-fits-all system. This is one of their primary goals.
Obama and the Democrats simply don't care about people who defend out nation.
Oh Bob, really? Were you saying the same thing when the scandal at Walter Reed erupted during the Bush Admin?
Your partisan hyperbole is as bad as the extremist Dems back then who claimed Bush woke up everyday happy to send our soldiers to their death.
Is it horrible? Yes. But you're nuts of you think Obama and the Dems don't care about our service men and women.
I worry about the 'dangerous vet' syndrome, particularly about the gun situation.
Bob, there are many, many folks I've listened to who do feel that the Single Payer plan is what the WH is going for... how to pay is yet another thing(think taxes)
Funny, because I remember while living in Munich when Chancellor Schroder was begging Germans to BUY PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE, even WITH their high taxes..they simply haven't been able to afford it anymore. I wish our news would cover that here. I know people who still think healthcare is free in Europe!
What we have to guard against is not voicing our concerns about MANY Leftwing policies or goals, like the very possible goal/advent of Single Payer, or those who want to lump all soldiers as nuts, as Janet Napolitano basically did, remember? We need to stand firm against the insults and the possible goals because it's always been leftist "oh, really, you REALLY think the sky is falling? How ridiculous" talk that has pushed great nations into very bad situations in the past.
THanks.
"I worry about the 'dangerous vet' syndrome, particularly about the gun situation."
As much as I want my Brothers to get needed treatment for PTSD, I caution them.....as I foresee a diagnosis being a disalifier for obtaining a CCW at least...or owning a firearm at worst.
Imp - Did you get turned away from VA?
Dave Miller said...
"You're nuts of you think Obama and the Dems don't care about our service men and women.
Look who's calling who "Nuts"
More crapola from the Missioner to Mexico!
Just never understood why the GOP always votes or blocks Bills to help veterans.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0227/Republicans-block-Senate-bill-to-boost-veterans-benefits
@CI:
"Imp - Did you get turned away from VA?"
Yup...twice.
@Z:
Do you think PTSD is a new phenomena?
Hardly....it just wasn't talked about among some men.
Imp? Why ask me about PTSD?
Why do you think I haven't known it's existed since war began, probably?
And yes, I hesitate to use the term I would about men who didn't talk about it before modern wars.
It's a compliment, however.
It's all that more painful to know that 50% of medicare is fraud. Government sponsored fraud - proven by the fact that obama refused free hardware and software from IBM that could eliminate much of that fraud.
Well.............. A Ronald Reagan would say. Who can name a federal government run program that operates efficiently and has any focus on customer service or statistical performance ?
A little 4 second humor
@Z:
That's the answer I was looking for. I was just curious. I know a few of my vet friends that still have some issues with their time in service.
My dad did... and spent some time in a VA hospital 8 years after the war. Which we didn't talk about until we started taking an oral history in the last two years of his life, when he was 87.
Two years ago my wife and I uncovered letters that her father had written from his 4 years in the Pacific and Alaska. Pretty scary stuff.
Imp; I don't know how men get through it.
We just didn't hear of many mental problems until Vietnam.
But, they surely happened.
I had an elderly friend who said an uncle lived in his family's attic and never came down after WWII.
I wish soldiers could get 'secret help'...that they could trust, have paid for, and nobody had to know about it.
Imp - "Which we didn't talk about until we started taking an oral history in the last two years of his life, when he was 87."
Ironically, this is the discriminator for vets and those who are close to vets. Those who crow about their exploits of derring-do.....didn't.
Those who ave seen the shit [pardon my term Z, but that's the usual label], don't talk about it, unless with a Brother.
Many of us lied in redeployment screenings. Partially because we understood that there could be follow-on effects based on political whimsy...and partially because we spend 12-15 months in IRQ or AFG, with at least occasional access to a good KBR chow hall and haji-net.
We didn't spend 4 years fighting through Europe or the Pacific. The generations before us sucked it up and returned to build our nation. How could we not do the same?
@CI:
You've said it all. Nothing more to say when it's that spot on.
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