The war against veterans
Well, you might remember that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix had a secret waiting list for treatment of veterans and it looks like at least 40 veterans died while waiting to see a doctor, any doctor. According to CNN, the director of the hospital, Sharon Helman has been placed on leave along with two others for her part in the scheme to make the hospital look efficient by killing off patients while the agency investigates itself.
The announcement Thursday by U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki came a day after officials at the Phoenix VA denied in interviews with CNN the existence of such a list, only to be called liars hours later by the top VA physician who first appeared on CNN and brought the allegations to light.
“We believe it is important to allow an independent, objective review to proceed,” Shinseki said in a written statement. “… These allegations, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and if the Inspector General’s investigation substantiates these claims, swift and appropriate action will be taken.”
Yeah, while they’re at it, they can investigate why the president thinks Shinseki is blameless in the the preponderance of inefficiency of the veterans Affairs Department. Somehow, everyone seems scared of Shinseki. While evidence mounts that he is an incompetent boob, he seems bullet proof.
The Washington Examiner reports that a million and a half orders for medical care have disappeared at the VA nationwide, and there’s no way to track whether or not those veterans ever received their care in another gambit to hide the VA’s bureaucratic inefficiencies;
Since May 2013, veterans’ medical centers nationwide have been under pressure to clear out 2 million backlogged orders for patient care or services.
They were given wide latitude to cancel unfilled appointments more than 90 days old. By April 2014, the backlog of what the agency calls “unresolved consults” was down to about 450,000.
What happened to other 1.5 million appointments is something that no one, including top officials at the veterans’ agency, can answer.
A review by the Government Accountability Office of the process VA used to close old consult orders found that poor documentation in patient files and the lack of independent verification made it impossible to know whether patients got care they needed before their medical orders were canceled.
Is there a war against veterans in this administration? That certainly appears to be the case.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
The way I see it, the VA is given so much $$ and they have to hire the “best” medical personal around…so the veterans, us, have to suffer because it’s more important to give an over paid under worked VA clinic nurse $90,000, who’s only duty is to do out patient appointments and schedule people to go to the VA hospital for tests then it is to process claims for vets. Some states need to fire staff and re hire people that are there for the veterans and not themselves. All salaries are on line.
Isn’t this the story TAH covered months ago, the one where somebody tape recorded a meeting? If so, why in the world is the suspension of Mengele now just occurring? Again, if this is the same story, she should have been suspended immediately, pending a more thorough investigation. And I wonder whether she is suspended with pay. I’m guessing yes.
On a related note, I’ve been following this story out of Vegas about the VA hospital there:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/inspectors-long-waits-north-las-vegas-va-hospital-not-unusual
The problem here is the same problem that I’ve encountered in working with both the VA and the MTFs (military treatment facilities). The doctors, nurses, and PAs are excellent and some of the best in their respective fields, but administratively the facilities suck ass.
The doctors truly want to do the best they can for their patients, but the drones in between the doctors and the patients seem to do their best to NOT do their simple jobs.
Evidence for that is the scandal at Walter Reed seven years ago. The troops were getting excellent care, but the support activities were failing them.
That is mostly been my experience as well. Once I get to the care it is good, but getting there is often a beast.
VA and Army hospital in El Paso used share the same facilities, you could see the (stark) difference in care between VA and Army… made dudes not want to get out. (That was around the time the VA there had a couple of hundred vets exposed to HIV and Hep C because they were re-using single-use needles and not cleaning them properly [you know, like liberal do-gooder bureaucrats teach every heroin addict when they’re not giving them clean disposable needles free by the handfull] so it wasn’t really surprising… )
And when the problems at Walter Reed were uncovered, people were held accountable and the problems were fixed. Democrats blasted the Bush administration and were quick to once again “blame Bush” for the problem. President Bush, acting like a leader, FIXED THE PROBLEM!
And then there is this latest Obama administration fuck up. You can already see the VA circling the wagons and this administration once again coming out with its usual “move along, nothing to see here” attitude.
The war is almost over. Veterans are going back to 3rd class citizen status in the eyes of politicians. Expect nothing much to get done on this. That bitch Helman will be fired and that will be that. Totally ignoring her career made by fucking over veterans.
21st Century Bonus Army is sounding like a better idea every day. I’m here in the “NCR” so I can spot targets for y’all
The new episode of “the Damn Few” deals with visits to the VA-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QH5LcmfyLI
Should we expect anything different from the man that stole the black beret from the Ranger Regiment? He ignored sound advice as CSA, he ignores veterans needs as the head of VA.
“These allegations, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and if the Inspector General’s investigation substantiates these claims, swift and appropriate action will be taken.”
Dear Lord…that statement means that if proven true, some poorly staffed VA hospital in Mississippi or somewhere will get Helman as their new Administrator.
No way in hell. Now tha the word is out on this junior league administraive bitch, if she turns up anywhere near this region, I’ll be raising 12 kinds of hell. Fire her worthless, cull ass and be done with her.
Mr. Lilyea, I have witnessed the same thing as you. For the most part, the professionals at the VA, the doctors, nurses, etc…have been great. The problem is getting to see one. The VA I use is overstaffed with a plethora of overweight, unmotivated, self entitled whiners. They spend the majority of their day either eating/snacking at their desk of gossiping loudly with the other worker bees. The main topics of the gossip are 1)their fellow co-workers 2)How hard they have it working at the VA 3)When do I get my next promotion?
You forgot they’re skipping out to get matching pastoral scenes painted on their finger/toe nails. And their $300 hairdos capping a 300 lb. frame.
Toss in physicians practicing outside the scope of their licensees, the inability of senior staff to follow federal code and policy and the finger pointing between the VHA and VBA when called out.
Tommy sees……
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tommy/
Roger that PavePusher.
It took these shitbags 4 months to get me a fucking ID card.
People better go to jail.
VA… like the Honey Badger, don’t give a crap.
No surprise here- It’s a gov’t agency… Anyways, as far as order backlogs go, I am glad to see they are purging them. All it does is make it longer for peeps to get an appointment. IF you miss your appointment, you should go to the back of the line with your consult. There are way too many vets who make appointments and don’t show up, then get pissed off when they have to go to the back of the line.