what do you think of the care given in veterans hospital? What can be done?

Question

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17458405/?GT1=9145 Read this and you will be horrified. I myself have witnessed the lack of care in the veterans hospitals. (Seeing my dad recieve substandard care, but he can afford no other and does not qualify for medicaid. Income is $100.00 a month two much. A family of two can only recieve $1200. a month, with out doing a spend down. Which is $6000.00 in six months. Dispicable.

Why is it that foreignors come over from other countries and are given the best medicaid care (which is pretty good )and the veterans who serve their country whether service related or not are given substandard care?

Dear Political Wrong. I am happy that you and your son have recieved good care. I wish I knew what state you are in. But what I have seen of the ones in mass. the care is substandard. (worse than any hospital I ever seen) I normally am not one to complain. I just see the doctors there are not qualified for advance medical problems.

I agree with yellow bad they are now billing my dads medicare.

Answer 1

I just read that article and it made me so upset. I remember when my grandfather was in the VA hospital( this was about 20 years ago), none of the patient rooms had telephones. Any other hospital in the city had telephones, but the VA did not. So if you were a patient and wanted to speak to a family member to let them know how you were doing, too bad. If you were well enough you could walk or roll down to the pay phone at the visitors waiting room and pay a quarter. We are the type of family that when someone is sick, the whole family stays all day long and we take turns to make sure our loved one always has a family there, if no just for company, but also to keep an eye on the medical staff. I witnessed many patients at the hospital who had no family to visit and therefore had not family to speak up for them if there were medical incidents that occured. For example about 5 years ago my grandfather went back to the VA hospital because he had a wound on his foot( could be serious if you are a diabetic, could get infection easily), and this male nurse came in to change my gf's ulcer dressing with no gloves on. Did not wash his hands and was moving toward my gf's foot and started peeling his old dressing off. My mother said" you're gonna wash your hands and put on gloves right? he said" well i'm just changing the dressing". My mother ( who is an RN) said " no let me do it"... and she washed her own hands put on gloves and changed her father's dressing the proper way. Now I guess this guy thought he was maybe saving time in his already busy schedule and that it was unnecessary time wasted to wash hands and put on gloves and then take gloves off, no one is that understaffed. You never touch anyone's oozing bloody ulcer with your bare hands, especially without washing them and without gloves. You don't know what patient he was dealing with prior to or after my grandfather.It made me so upset that the veterans have to go through stuff like that.after fighting for our country, you'd think that they could receive better treatment once they return home.
When I was 17 I did volunteer work at the VA hospital. Like filling up water pitchers, tidying rooms etc, I'd see the vets put on their call light( which means they are wanting a nurse to come in the room for whatever reason).5,10,15 minutes passed, checked on the patient to see if the nurse came in still no nurse. So I go to the nurses station, maybe they are busy in other rooms and with other patients, maybe this guys light is broken. Like 3 nurses are sitting on their *** flipping through the fingerhut catalog. I'm like Mr..Jones needs assistance..Then they were acting like none of them wanted to help. Finally a 4th nurse who was already passing meds saw what happened and said she would check. To be honese I think that a lot of the admin, docs and nurses do not care at VA hospitals. maybe because the pay is lower, or maybe because they know once they are hired by the federal gov't they will have security and low chance of losing their job. But the situation is sad

Answer 2

The VA hospital that I go to usually is pretty good. They also have a local VA clinic in my home town. The biggest problem with the VA health care is the bureaucracy involved. I suppose that the same is present in the larger hospitals that are not run by the VA. I've also been to a PTSD center in Batavia, NY and it is run very effectively. Each week the VA Outreach Center that I attend has a "group meeting" of Vets bothered by PTSD and it is very helpful also. The length of time that it takes the VA to settle claims or to settle appeals is ridiculously long but that's my biggest gripe. I would also like to see more Veterans employed by the VA health care system so that the Veterans problems are honestly understood.

Answer 3

The veterans have gotten the shaft lately. In 2003 Bush cut out most veterans from ever getting access to VA medical care. Now they are even going cheap on wounded and disabled vets. How can he go in debt more that all the other presidents COMBINED and not even have enough money budgeted to take care of our soldiers. Go to VA.gov and pretend you are someone with a lower middle class income who has lost your insurance, can't buy it anywhere, and have a heart condition. See what I mean? For 60+ years vets had VA medical at least as a last resort. Now if they carry you into a va hospital, you will be billed!

Answer 4

As a Veteran, I am happy with the care I receive, at my local VA facility. My son is a disabled Vet and his care is very good also. I have been to several facilities and found them no worse than any local public hospital. I & my son get great care, in a clean and professional manner.
I can't believe that the Liberal congress, that doles out funding, was unaware of conditions at Walter Reed. ALL the polititians go to Walter Reed for their medical care...Unless, thay have a VIP Wing for them.how come they didn't notice? Since it is a VA Hospital, why are they ( Polititians) taking up resources needed for Veterans?? Why has Congress, repeatedly diminished funding for VA programs??
The man in charge has been fired and now it is a big deal. Why wasn't it a big deal all along?
Besides, all this Media Hoopla is focusing on one isolated hospital in the DC area....do I see something cooking????

Answer 5

1. Move all of the non-battle injured officers and politician and members of their families and staffs from the luxurious accommodations in the regular part of the government hospital systems.
Move them into the hospital facilities now occupied by the wounded coming back for Iraq and Afghanistan.
2. Make the politicians give up their golden health insurance plans and make them live by the same rules as the rest of us.
3. Reserve all VA hospital facilities for the battle injured first and then for other service connected disabilities.
4. Prohibit all politicians and their families from using VA medical facilities.
I guarantee that this mess with our disabled vets would clear up in no time.

Answer 6

We could replace the Secretary or Veterans Affairs and his Superior. I also have to wonder that not a single member of Congress was aware of the conditions at Walter Reed until the MEDIA broke the story. Once again, just as with authorizinng the Invasion of Iraq, they seem to think stupidity is an excuse.

Answer 7

Did you read the plan? The Vet himself will NOT be paying for his medical care. If the vet has other health insurance, the insurance would have to pay the costs of care. All the vet would be required to pay is the deductible (which they have to anyway, if they receive care for a non-service related medical issue). Anyway, since everyone knows that costs roll down-hill; we all know the vet would end up paying more in higher premiums, so I don't like this plan at all. It's a slap to our servicemembers.

Answer 8

Unfortunately what we are seeing at Walter Reed is one of many hospitals in the system with those kinds of problems. We really need a combined civilian/military task force to visit each veterans hospital and note what they see. Then they can go back to Congress for funds to fix them and let Congress investigate with them what went wrong, how to fix it, and do so in a way that this kind of thing will NEVER happen again.

Answer 9

Yep. I'd like to see regular hospitals up their standards too...

Answer 10

Welcome to America friend.