Veteran ends his life after VA denies his request related to pain management
Rayford Hill advanced a request, to the VA, to pay for a Neurolumen Pain Management device to help manage constant pain. This device reportedly aids pain reduction, with claims of reduced need for pain medications. The VA denied the request. The veteran made funeral arrangements, and then took his life behind the mortuary that would handle his funeral service.
From News Channel 8 on your side:
“He told me it felt like pins and needles were just sticking and jabbing in his legs and his feet,” Hill said. “He said it was just a constant pain.”
Hill said during what turned out to be her husband’s final doctor’s appointment last September, his request for the VA to pay for a Neurolumen Pain Management device was denied by his VA doctor.
Hill called a nurse at her husband’s doctor’s office the day after the appointment to ask why the request was denied.
“[An assistant said] ‘she can’t take your call, but she’ll call you back,’ ” Hill said. “That was September 9. I never got a phone call back from her.”
According to emails sent to the physician from Neurolumen Provider Specialist Kim Davis, the device has been prescribed in VA facilities more than 600 times.
Ninety-three percent of the patients reported a “reduction in pain” and 34 percent said they needed fewer medications after using the device, according to Davis.
During the few weeks after the denial, Hill planned his own funeral, then ended his life behind the mortuary where the service would be held.
“I’m sorry. You just cannot imagine,” Hill said through tears. “You’ll never know what it feels like if someone tells you someone you love and have lived with 28 years has shot and killed himself.”
News Channel 8 on your side has additional information here.
Category: Veteran Health Care, Veterans in the news, Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department
Damn, damn, damn.
And it was probably denied because a t was not crossed or an i not dotted! Typical
May he rest in peace now that his pain is ended.
If it’s really worth it, they’ll keep applying– that’s actually how the VA thinks. Nothing is ever approved on the first try just on G.P. with them.
Whoever kept that Veteran in that kind of pain has a place awaiting their arrival in hell, that’s my belief.
Another case of the VA murdering someone they were supposed to help. Abolish the VA.
I’m glad that I don’t use the va. A friend of mine in the Volly FD was a secont Lt. in South Korea and he fought the va for 10 years about being sick from the agent orange that was used there, the va claiming that the product was not used there until my friends CO submitted all sorts of documentation about it being used there. My friend started to lose his sight going blind and he had diabetis losing part of his leg and finally the Lord took him away to the pearly gates last year. RIP Jimmy.
Friend of ours in Florida ended his situation under similar circumstances to the OP…the going blind part was the final straw…went out in yard well away from the house and took care of business…a sad finale to a life mostly well lived really….
I’m conflicted at wanting to shit on the VA but (knock on wood) so far my experience has been pleasant.
This WILL however, strengthen my resolve to climb so far up their asses as possible as they have recently had the pleasure to do for me, as to get ever got-damn thing I can POSSIBLY squeeze the fuck out of them for NOW that I’m still gainfully employed and have civilian insurance and my facilities about myself.
It’s not so much the “Evil VA” but the bureaucracy and the incompetence of government SLUGS, managers and administration.
Much like the FEEBEYES and the other 3 letter agencies, many of the front line day-to-day folks are good people.
It’s the shitbirds that fuck it up for the rest of them.
This hurts my heart to hear about this veteran’s pain and demise.
A wee video:
Deny, deny, until veterans die– the the VA cost-saving mantra!
Fuck Joe Biden
His VA killed a vet
But to illegals they give cash
So they need never fret.
We are a bit confused by the article.
From the article:
“James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital spokesperson Alicia Burden responded to questions about Hill’s request Thursday afternoon.”
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family for their loss,” Burden said in an emailed statement.”
“Burden claimed Hill did not request the Neurolumen device at the September appointment.”
“As no pain concerns were expressed by the patient during this appointment, the device was not ordered,” Burden said.”
“Shirley Hill insists the emails from Neurolumen employee Kim Davis to her husband’s doctor indicate there was a conversation involving her husband’s request.”
“One email from Davis the day before the appointment states Hill “is interested in a Neurolumen pain management device.”
“A follow up email from Davis the day after the appointment states, “Mr. Hill would like to use the device for his neuropathy.”
*Continue*
“Hill also recalled a conversation she had with the doctor’s nurse.”
“She said [my husband] had been there twice asking for the machine,” Hill said. “She said, the doctor said he is not going to give him that machine.”
I wonder if the Doc was getting kickbacks from the drug companies?
I am not saying the Doc did, but something doesn’t sound right about this.
Here is an interesting letter that Rayford Earl Hill wrote to the News and Observer Newspaper, Raleigh, NC in January 2007.
Seems as if he has “problems” with the VA for a long time when it came to Pain Management.
We are very confused about his letter and his obituary.
In his 2007 letter, he claims he “retired” from the Army 22 years ago (from 2007). In another letter and his obituary, he claims to have served 25 years with the US Army “as an Army infantry paratrooper with the 11th Airborne, 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne divisions and later as a transportation NCO after sustaining wounds in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division.” When one does the math, that means he “retired” around 1985. If he served for 25 years, that means he came into the Army around 1960.
What is confusing is that his obit said he “sustained wounds in Vietnam’, yet there is no mention of a Purple Heart. His letter stated he received a back injury while in Vietnam.
*Continued*
*Continued*
His Obituary:
https://www.parrishfh.com/obituary/rayford-hill
In his 2007 letter, he claims to have started receiving 30% Disability in 1979.
IF he enlisted around 1960, that means he only served 19 or 20 years instead of the 25 years as mentioned and that he had been “retired” from the Army for 18 years since 2007, not 22 years.
We are speculating that he may have sustained a back injury while serving in Vietnam and that when he retired in 1979 after 20 years of service, not 25 years, that he received the 30% for his back injury.
There is a picture of him in his Obit wearing the 8th Division Patch. That picture matches the description in his Obit where he was a Transportation NCO.
Research indicates the 8th Division was in Bad KreuznachGermany from December 1957 to January 1992.
The pain he described sounds as if it may be pain related to Diabetes as well as the previous back injury he mentioned in the 2007 letter to the newspaper.
Something just does not sound right about this story.
The VA claims he did not address any pain issue on his last appointment in September.
We guess the burden of proof is on both the VA and his widow, i.e. the emails about him requesting the device…
Our of curiosity ..if his pain was related to diabetes, would he be treated with a machine or would he be advised to lose weight, quit smoking, eat a healthy diet, take medication, etc. etc?
I won’t try to answer to the numbers (TIS, etc), but just because he was a motorpool monkey (said with all respect), doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of heavy objects and incidents that would take out your back. And if there were diabetes after 20 years? Additional neuropathy and pain.
Be interesting to follow that doctor who denied the pain management machine and see if “anything happens” to him in the near future.
Did the VA Doctor REALLY deny him the machine…and if so, there has to be a reason.
Nothing wrong with him being a Transportation NCO. He stated that he either “injured his back in Vietnam” or “Sustained Wounds” in Vietnam. His obit states he became a Transportation NCO AFTER his “back injury”.
Which one is it? “Sustained Injuries” or “Injured His Back?” He does not have a Purple Heart.
We are speculating that he did indeed injured his back. Somehow, he managed to stay in the Army for 20 years and received 30% for the injury.
In his 2007 letter, he admitted he had Arthritisdegenerative disks, etc. Sounds normal for a 70 year old man, especially if one is overweight.
The pain his wife describes him having sounds similar to diabetes pain. Just wondering if he was advised to lose weight, control what type of foods he ate, exercise, take medicine, etc. to help with the pain.
This sounds like a case where it is “He Said, She Said.
If he was on long term drug (pain) therapy and old may explain why he had trouble remembering correctly dates of service and such.
He commented about his Dates of Services in two different letters to the newspapers…In 2005, he claimed to have served 25 years. His family stated in his obituary that he served 25 years.
If he did serve for 25 years, that meant he came into the Army in 1954 versus 1959.
In 2007, he claimed to have been retired for 22 years.
Those two letters were written 16-18 years ago.
There could be other reasons why he chose to end his life that the news station or the VA is not covering.
Again, this may be a case of “He Said…She Said.” One would think there would be notes in his medical records on his September visit. What if it turns out he did NOT address his nerve pain to the Doctor?
BTW, in 1952, he and 3 other teenagers were arrested in Washington, DC for stealing a car from a Raleigh, NC resident. The case was turned over to the FBI. The newspaper listed his age as 17, when in reality, he was 15.
I would normally say, wait and see.
But this is DOVA, even if they are guilty of something, I figure they will not be held accountable.
Thank You for the feedback, fellow RANGER Classmate! (4-78)
RLTW
😉
Back injuries are easy to fake and can be hard to prove or disprove. They are also a fairly common claim in the civilian world; just ask any workmens compensation employee. Some of the complaints are even true.
Be interesting to get more information to see if the doctor had a legitimate reason for allegedly denied that machine.
In addition to “stolen valor” there should be a category called “stolen medical conditions”. Faking or exaggerating medical conditions does occur, even by active duty members of the military. I would hope that all those interested in “stolen valor” would show at least some of that enthusiastic skepticism toward possible “stolen medical conditions”.
I certainly need more information before I start jumping on the “evil VA” bandwagon.
You are correct, the 8th ID was garrisoned in Germany for over 30 years. I served in its airborne brigade in the late 1960’s.
The Canadian Healthcare system grins and sez…”Now that’s the way to do it.” The US VA learned their lesson.
Curses to the ones that ignored this Vet’s problems, damn them to hell.
May God’s Peace bring some measure of His Comfort to the family.
Pretty soon, the rooftops of our VAC buildings will have a diving board
Believe it or not this guy lived twenty miles from me. He was 85 years old and I know the owner of the funeral home who buried him. It happened 11 days after I retired last year. I did not know him personally but he was well known in his area as a good person.
Strange he went to the Winston-Salem VA when there is one closer in Fayetteville (actually 2, one is kinda new and nice) and also in Durham. There has been a marked improvement of veterans care at both lately.
According to the article, he went to a VA Hospital in Tampa, Florida.
https://www.va.gov/tampa-health-care/locations/james-a-haley-veterans-hospital/
Very confusing.
I think you are correct and he was spending some time in Florida in his later years, but the funeral home is in Selma, NC, and he was buried in Pine Level, NC. He was 85.