A Slightly Late Appointment
Doug Chase was a Vietnam vet. Unfortunately, in 2011 he became seriously ill.
He lived in the greater Boston metro area. Originally, he was being seen by doctors in Boston. But the Bedford VAMC was closer, so he tried to move his care to that facility.
That request was made in 2012.
Two weeks ago, Chase got a notice from the VA telling him he could schedule an appointment with a primary care physician. There was just one problem.
Chase had died in August 2012 – nearly two years ago.
It gets even better. When Chase died, his wife applied for VA funeral benefits. The application was denied – according to his wife, because he’d never been treated at a VA hospital.
There’s more info at the link. It’s worth reading – unless you’re having blood pressure or anger-management issues today.
It’s not a resource problem at the VA, folks. And it’s not a medical problem, either.
It’s a priorities, culture, and management problem.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Veteran Health Care, Veterans' Affairs Department
Special corner of hell reserved for these morally bankrupt bureaucrats whose incompetence knows no bounds. Years of unaccountability, selfishness and malaise has infected the VA at every level, it seems. You have to treat it like you would a house infested with termites…rip it down and start over.
Fixed spelling of my username. Guhdoy.
In a more ideal world, the staff at the VA would be in fear for their jobs over this.
Yes. Yes they would.
Do you know why they sent out an appointment reminder from the Primary Care clinic? I don’t either, but am guessing it could be because they saw he had not been seen in over 2 years and wanted to reach out perhaps?
As I stated in my own response to this, the VAMC would not know of his death if his NOK did not notify them directly. Applications for burial benefits are not made through VA Health Care but the VBA, and they are not going to call and say “hey, did you know Timmy Tent Peg died, you may want to take him off your patient list”…
There are some huge holes in this story.
From the inside looking at this(but not looking at his record, because I am not going to jail for anyone), there are a few red flags popping up, and I think there is a whole lot more to this than the family is saying. First thing is this, he was not a patient of VA Boston. He was a patient in private care suffering from a brain tumor and the family attempted to get his care transferred to the VA and for some reason they were unable to or were denied. The issue of the Primary care clinic sending out a letter stating he needs to call to make an appointment… Okay that sucks, but is it related to the care they were trying to get him for his brain tumor 2 years ago? Or was it a simple appointment scheduling reminder sent out like ones you get from your PC or Dentist every year or so… As to should they have known he was dead, no they would not have known unless the VA Medical Facility he was receiving care at was directly notified by the Next of Kin. His denial of burial benefits… something is hugely wrong there. Medical treatment at the VA is not a requirement for burial benefits. Your benefits primarily depend on you being honorably discharged, and from there you get increased benefits based on other factors. All Honorably Discharged veterans are entitled to some level of benefit though! That just does not ring true that they were denied any benefits based on lack of medical care at the VA. (It is also not the VA medical Center who you apply to for funeral benefits) I am sorry for the loss of her loved one, but I am sensing more mountains out of mole hills being built here. I am trying to not jump to too many conclusions here, but based on your service connected disability rating or lack thereof, as well as ability to obtain care on the outside if not service connected you may not be elligible for care or to get admitted… Read more »
rb325th: regarding his spouse contacting the VBA about his death, and the local VAMC not getting word – as the senior North Vietnamese officer said to COL Harry Summers after being told in 1975 the US had never been defeated on the battlefield: “That may be true. It is also irrelevant.”
The SSN, Service Number, and CSS number are all essentially unique identifiers (duplications are quite rare). Ergo, there is no reason that news of a Veteran’s death cannot be shared electronically among all VA agencies on a near-real-time basis. Indeed, not doing so invites fraud (doing that indeed allows other errors as well, but those are – or should be – easily correctable).
Further: given the VA’s IMO ill-advised 2009 decision to open the floodgates by granting anyone who ever set foot in Vietnam presumptive Agent Orange exposure without actual proof of same, there is simply IMO no excuse for not seeing this man relatively promptly. If nothing else, he should have been seen by a primary care physician for a prostate cancer screening.
Yeah, the story may have holes in it. And I understand that as an “insider” you feel compelled to defend your agency if you feel it’s being unjustly accused. But IMO the VA appears to have really dropped the ball on this one, in multiple ways.
There may not be a good reason, but that is how it is. VA is broken down into 3 separate agencies. All of which are run independently of one another as they have entirely separate missions.
Again, all we have is the families word that they were denied benefits based on not being treated at the VA (which is utter bovine fecal matter, whether they were told that by someone or are exagerating things)
Bottom line, the VBA does not make death notifications to VHA. They may check to see if a patient had died in a VA hospital or died as a result of a service connected disability, but that takes place well after the fact to determine if reimbursment for funeral expenses is authorised. If the family when asked if he had died of connected issues answered negatively, they would not even check with VHA and would have denied the full monetary benefit.
I’m sorry, but there is an awful lot about this families story that is raising red flags in that they are exagerating things greatly.
I see some holes in this story, as well. Your VA death benefit is not related to any VA health care you do or don’t get.
This does bear closer scrutiny, and while I sympathize with the widow, I think there is a misunderstanding regarding how the VA works.
Entirely possible there was a misunderstanding on the part of the spouse, Ex-PH2. But it’s still fairly well inexcusable.
If she contacted the hospital while attempting to apply for funeral benefits, there is no reason the hospital could not have referred her to the correct VA office for that. Or at least referred her to a local VSO rep for further assistance.
Ditto if the lady was ignorant of the benefits actually authorized.
Might be worth remembering that the story is based pretty much solely on the wife’s version of events?
Shame!!! Fuck you VA!!
That is all!
Holes in this story or not! The fact is…. the VA sucks!!! For a very long time now, they have screwed way too many ppl over. I personally know several of my fellow 11B brothers who have been completely fucked over by the VA!
Hondo…Thanks for this article. “It’s a priorities, culture, and management problem.” That pretty much sums it up.
There is no excuse for any this, with or without any understanding by the widow of which bureaucrat should be contacted. It is NOT her job to keep up with the VA system. It IS the VA’s job to pass out benefits to those who have earned them.
Disgusting on many levels.
It’s cool.
I’m sure they got their bonuses.