VA: 19 deaths in Ill. traced to care

[Packo]

Good points and would love to see that. The only problem is that it is so hard to find people, due to pay and other stuff, to replace them. Guess it's better to have the incompetant fired though...than to have him/her killing people. Again, somebody needs to make the VA pay more than the average private setting with better bennies for medical professionals. Then you could fire the assholes and have people waiting in line to get in to work.

Last example: After my hip replacement my bandage was, of course, to be changed daily. I was operated on Thursday....late so the bandage remained on Friday...no problem. Doctor comes back in on monday.....looks at my bandage and says.....wow, why is this still draining like this? This looks like the same bandage I put on in the OR!?" He looks at me and I say..."It is." He immediately started cussing and talking about infection, (why my buddy visited every day), and changed the bandage himself. I asked him if he was going to complain and he said, "....to who? The good nurses are gone across the street to a private hospital, the bad ones can't get fired because we can't replace them, and if I complain, they will do less out of spite. It's easier for us to just do it."

Pretty scary, huh?

Pack

[MORTARDUDE]

Packo :

Thanks for all the posts about your experiences. Unless there is a huge pay increase in the works for doctors and nurses at the VA, I don't see this situation ever improving. What I don't understand is how the VA is rated so wonderful when it apparently has many facilities that are not.

Larry

[SuperScout]

Your response caused a couple of reactions in me, first a bit of a sandstorm that you had to endure that level of incompetence, and secondly, disgust that our veteran care system is so broken that it appears to be irreparable. The only thing that will be done by any administration is just another band-aid on the open festering sore of grossly improper care provided by grossly underpaid workers. Even if they raised the pay, before long the private sector would still be a better alternative, since there is less bureaucracy with which to contend.

I still find it inconceivable how anybody could object to a "choice system." Is it because the big-government advocates fear that the choices some people would make would in turn invalidate big government itself? Take the issue of government schools, and the lousy end-products most of them produce. Why not parents a choice of how to spend the education dollar? Given an opportunity, most people will make better choices than those which the government makes for us. Same thing applies to medical care: would you choose to go to a doctor of your choice, or just rely on what the government provided for you? I know that you're smart enough to make a very intelligent choice. For those not smart enough to make intelligent choices, let the government choose for them.

[Packo]

I also believe in choice. There is my "we're veterans and a grateful nation set this up for us, EXCLUSIVELY! I love that we have our own system. A system that should be the best in the world. This country HAS the money to do this, especially with all the wastefull crap our tax dollars go to. What I see as a trend in VA facilities is the same trend our nation took towards it's veterans when WE became veterans. Those dirty crappy drug addicted Vietnam Veterans. They are all crazy and murderers so who gives a shit about their care. As our nation continued to disrespect veterans, our symbols, (flags, anything "patriotic"), when the movies reflect nothing but government conspiracies to hurt everyone in the world, when small things like Pledges of Alligence are challenged in our schools, when it is uncool to love your country, and when the torch was passed to a new generation, THEY PISSED ON IT, this all contributes to the decline. It has been the Vietnam Veteran who has been on the for-front of getting these things to change. WE went out and raised the funds to make a monument and dedicate it almost exclusively to our brothers and sisters who did not come home. All we got from our "grateful nation" was the land. We were next in-line to become the forgotten warriors, just like what happened to our Korean War brothers and sisters. There were some KW vets who said to me...."how come you guys get a monument before us? We are the forgotten warriors." My response was that we would not allow us to be forgotten and if your gonna sit on your ass for 40 years and allow that to happen it's your fault. Oh, they wanted to forget us, but WE didn't allow it to happen. I truely believe that WE who went to fight in Vietnam are really America's finest generation. WWII was a no brainer. How could you NOT go to that war. But as our war dragged on and more and more of us were being killed and maimed for basically nothing, WE STILL WENT! Now that takes balls.

We will probably have a Veteran Friendly Congress and President in 2008. This is where we have to step up to the plate, not only for us, but for our Iraq/Afghan brothers and sisters and what's left of the WWII/Korea brothers and sisters. I want our own system, just for us, we who bore the brunt of the battle, our widows and orphans. But by God if we are not going to take the steps to make this system the finest in the world, then give me the choice to bow out of it and get my care elsewhere. Actually I have that option as I continue to pay for my Fed Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but how sad is that. I'm 100% SC combat wounded veteran and for my own safety I must pay for my own insurance, including dental and eye care. A disgrace. This is NOT a Republican/Democrat issue as BOTH over the years are equally guilty in my eyes and to anyone who is not so biased they can't see that both sides have tried to continually screw us. This is the opurtunity for real CHANGE and we must strike while the iron is hot. I recommend that until the VA is FULLY FUNDED(not the way they do it today and all of the yesterdays, Gimpy can explain this better than I), I say NO MORE EARMARKS....I.E. PORK FOR ANYONE! Let's get these assholes to make that pledge or give me the option to get my own care somewhere else.

Sorry for the rant.

Pissed off Pack

PS Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

[SuperScout]

Kindly understand (that's my kinder/gentler way of giving a direct order!) that you have carte blanche to rant at will! If veterans truly had a choice, they would probably opt for a doctor closer to home than many have to drive, a doctor who just might be a neighbor, fellow church member, etc. When I see my doctors socially, the have nothing to apologize for, knowing that I received the very best care. Not so with any VA doctor.

Don't hold your breath about the VA getting fully funded any time soon. There are so many other constituencies/lobby groups that have more clout than all the service organizations combined. It's not the size of the service group that matters nearly as much as the size of the constituency - and with the die-off rate of the WWII vets, and the unwilligness of many current vets to join, these organizations are losing clout. And as for 'ear-marks': we citizens have sat back and let these porkers bend us over and have their way with us. We need to take away this blatant waste, and make each and every item of appropriation a single bill; if they want to spend our money, then tell us up front what it's for, how much, and how it is mandated by the US Constitution. If the bill fails any of these prerequisites, it doesn't see the light of day, much less the keys to the treasury.