Thread: Awful: VA Attempts to Book Appointment With Terminally IIl Veteran, Two Years Too Lat

Awful: VA Attempts to Book Appointment With Terminally IIl Veteran, Two Years Too Late

Daniel Doherty | Jul 01, 2014






The unfolding VA scandal has not received the attention it merits and deserves. The crisis at the border and recent Supreme Court rulings have pushed these horror stories to the backburner. But they warrant additional and increased attention.
In case you missed it, retiring Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) published a report last week explaining in great detail the problems plaguing the VA Health Care System. He summed up his findings thusly: “Over the past decade, more than 1,000 veterans may have died as a result of VA malfeasance, and the VA has paid out nearly $1 billion to veterans and their families for its medical malpractice.”
At the same time, we now know that government workers were “cooking the books” to increase their own performance-based bonuses while veterans suffered and received substandard care. Many died as a consequence of these unconscionable practices.
One of those veterans who died was Vietnam veteran Doug Chase. According to the Associated Press, he discovered he had a brain tumor roughly three years ago. But only last month did his widow receive a letter in the mail from the VA informing her they wanted to schedule an appointment with her husband. The problem? He died in 2012 -- two years before the letter was even sent -- a fact that the federal agency should have been well aware of:

The Veterans Affairs Department is apologizing to a Massachusetts woman for offering an appointment to her husband almost two years after he died. …
In 2012, she tried to move his medical care to the VA hospital in Bedford. They waited four months and never heard anything. He died in August 2012.
Suzanne Chase says two weeks ago she got a letter addressed to her husband, saying he could call to make an appointment.
She says the VA had to know her husband was dead because she applied for funeral benefits and was denied.
The department said in a statement: "We regret any distress our actions caused to the veteran's widow and family."

If this is the standard of care the VA provides -- and the way it treats dying veterans and their families -- every American should be outraged and concerned. This story is a scandal in and of itself. American veterans deserve better. And so do their families.
Let us hope, then, that a change in leadership at the VA ensures this never happens again.




http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danield...-late-n1857719

VA BS: Guess How Long Vet Had Been Dead Before He Got An Appointment With VA


Posted on July 1, 2014
For effect, the family should have exhumed the body and brought the corpse into the office and said, ‘Here he is, now fix him.’ Unbelievable ineptness and insensitivity. Check it out…

ACTON (CBS) – “He was steadfast. He took care of us, all of these years.”
Suzanne Chase of Acton was talking about her husband, Doug, a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011.
In 2012, she tried to move his medical care to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Bedford.
“It was so difficult for him to take the ambulance ride into Boston, we wanted to be closer.”
They waited about four months and never heard anything. Then Douglas Chase died in August 2012.
But two weeks ago, he got a letter, from the VA in Bedford, saying he could now call to make an appointment to see a primary care doctor.
“It was addressed to my husband and I opened it,” said Suzanne Chase. “I was in complete disbelief.”
Read more: CBS Local Boston

http://boston.cbslocal.com/video?aut...lipId=10318418

Read more at http://clashdaily.com/2014/07/va-bs-...Wvb0SDLrBD1.99

VA Whistleblower Details Retaliation She Faced for Exposing Problems




by Fox News Insider // Jul 09 2014 // 10:52am

As seen on America's Newsroom

Dr. Katherine Mitchell, former co-director at the Phoenix VA emergency department, testified during a congressional hearing that she faced retaliation from her bosses for whistleblowing.

Mitchell said she feared for patients’ lives in some cases and kept a record of problems. She testified that in the process of recording hundreds of mistakes, approximately 20 percent of the ER nurses would retaliate by refusing to answer her questions and stop doing her orders for patients.

Today on America’s Newsroom, Mitchell told Martha MacCallum that names meant to stay confidential were leaked from one of the complaints she filed.

She said, “I knew there would be a good chance that my name would be leaked also. […] For that reason, I told my friends to give me the information that could not be traced back to them because I wanted to make myself the only target.”

Mitchell added, “We only have so many chances to make change and I didn’t want to lose other good employees because they would fall victims of retaliation.”

MacCallum asked if any change will occur as a result of whistleblowers coming forward. Mitchell said that it depends on what the public and veteran reaction is.

“In general, all the other scandals in the VA, once the cameras turn off and politicians go back to their lives, everything just reverts back to the way it was,” she said. “I’m hoping that there will be enough understanding for the public to realize that this is an issue that […] has to be addressed now, otherwise our entire VA system is going to implode.”

Watch the interview above.

video at link below

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/07/09...ng-va-problems