More VA news

There’s so much going on in regards to the VA issue, it’s hard to do just one article every day. But, here some articles making the rounds. Our buddy, Coby Dillard writes in Pilot Online that which we’ve all said – the VA needs a personnel housecleaning, top-to-bottom;

Instead of demanding the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinsheki – an idea I wrote about last year – President Barack Obama has allowed him to continue in his role, despite having said in 2008 that there was “no one more qualified” to run the VA.

I wonder if he still shares that confidence, still believes that the best person to right this sorry ship is the same person whose side he stood by then. If so, that’s unfortunate, because very few veterans share it.

A sacrificial “resignation” does nothing to absolve those who are most responsible for the disrespect shown to our nation’s veterans. If Obama truly recognizes that, he will clean house at the VA, from the top down.

Here, in West Virginia, a former VA doctor comes out claiming that patients in the Huntington VA Medical Center in Charleston, WV system committed suicide while waiting for treatment according to Fox News;

Dr. Margaret Moxness, who says she was employed at the Huntington VA Medical Center in Charleston, W.Va., from 2008 to 2010, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that she was told to delay treatment even after she told supervisors they needed immediate care. She said at least two patients committed suicide while waiting for treatment between appointments.

“I was in a very tight-knit community,” Moxness said. “There was lots of extracurricular support: family, faith, vet centers. So we had help, but no thanks to the VA. …I mean, these men were eventually going to need more than a visit every 10 months.”

Moxness, a psychiatrist, says the VA administrators lost touch with patients and claims they were compassionless.

The Daily Beast reports that even more VA hospitals are experiencing an outbreak of whistleblowers, for example in Albuquerque;

On March 19, 2014, for example, a patient with a deteriorating heart condition requested to see a doctor. The patient was finally seen only days ago, on May 16, when they were admitted to the hospital for decompensated heart failure. “A near miss” as the VA doctor familiar with the case described it. “He could have died before being seen.”

The Albuquerque VA did not respond to requests for comment but Ozzie Garza, Director of the VA Regional Office of Public Affairs, provided this statement to The Daily Beast: “We are not familiar with the allegations but will call immediately for an external review as we take all allegations seriously.”

Yeah, they take “allegations” seriously, but no one is ever held accountable for these violations of human decency. Supporters of a single-payer healthcare system should take note. This is a single-payer, government-run healthcare system and obviously it fails miserably because of the bureaucracy involved. Bureaucrats just don’t care about the people they serve – that’s just inherent in the system of bureaucracies.

Of course, the Left is saying that we need to pump more money into the VA in order to fix it, but what the VA system needs is an administrator who can properly manage the resources they already have before there is more money pumped into the system. Shinseki and his subordinates have proven time and again they are not qualified or interested in managing those resources effectively. They can declare thet they’re “mad as Hell” or “madder than Hell”, but that doesn’t fix the incompetent boobery.

Blackfive nominates David Petraeus to replace Shinseki. Me? I don’t care because an untrained ape could do what Shinseki has done to veterans. But, they need a leader, not a politician. fat chance that this administration knows the difference.

Speaking of this administration, Jay Carney, the Baghdad Bob of the current era, mischaracterized (lied about) the American legion’s response to the “firing” of VA official, Robert Petzel.

Here’s what Carney said at the White House briefing: “The American Legion said that the group looks at Petzel’s resignation as a, quote, step towards addressing the leadership problem at the VA. So I think that undercuts the assertion that that is not a meaningful development.”

Carney went on to cite the American Legion nine times during the briefing.

The White House explained that Carney was directly quoting from newspaper accounts citing the commander of the American Legion’s reaction to Petzel’s resignation.

But the American Legion put out a statement on Friday about Dr. Petzel’s resignation saying almost exactly the opposite of what Carney suggested.

“This move by VA is not a corrective action, but a continuation of business as usual,” American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger said in a statement. “Dr. Petzel was already scheduled to retire this year, so his resignation now really won’t make that much of a difference.”

So, I’m guessing that this White House doesn’t know what meaningful change will look like in the VA, since they can’t even read press release statements.

Category: Veterans' Affairs Department