A Bitter Holiday for Disabled Vets

[thedrifter]

05-26-2003

Guest Column: A Bitter Holiday for Disabled Vets



By Cynthia Prouty



The words didn?t come out easily as I recently tried to explain the importance of Memorial Day to our six-year old son.



The important role that veterans have played in defending our freedom is abundantly clear to me and easy for me to communicate. What is difficult is explaining to him why the U.S. government apparently does not believe in the true meaning of that holiday or what officials normally say at this time of year. Let me explain.



Memorial Day always makes me feel like a tattered American flag flying in a hurricane. I am proud to be an American. I believe that we live in the best country in the world. We have our rights, freedoms and liberties because our veterans had the courage to stand up and fight on our behalf.



But on Memorial Day, I find myself wondering what it means in the hearts and minds of our government officials. Here is why:



A military serviceman or woman deploys overseas and fights for our freedom. Avoiding death or injury, he or she returns safely home to a hero?s welcome. On the other extreme, a serviceman or woman serving overseas who dies in battle is brought home for burial and honored as a hero. But what of a man or woman who fights for our country and returns home permanently injured or disabled?



He or she and is regarded by the government as a liability.



That is my husband?s plight.



The world was in turmoil. Robert was seventeen years old and eager to defend peace for his country during wartime. He joined the service in 1975 Excited at the career that he was about to embark on. One of the best in the world. Protecting our nation in the U.S. Army.



During Robert?s service he was injured during a jeep explosion while on duty. Robert remembers yanking himself out of the burning jeep, not knowing if he had his leg with him or not. Robert was in an Army hospital for several months where he was originally told that he would not walk again on that leg. Born with stubborn determination, he walked slowly out of the hospital many months later. After which he ended his career with the service.



Robert spent several years fighting night sweats, night terrors, irritability, as well as constant pain from the pins in his hip, back deformities and a missing kneecap. Unknown to Robert he was also suffering from undiagnosed and untreated PTSD from the accident. Twenty-four years after his accident, he was finally diagnosed with PTSD.



Robert experienced extreme fatigue, pain in his upper abdomen, malaise, nausea, periods of vomiting, a loss of appetite and weight loss. The VA told us there was nothing wrong.



Suddenly Robert came down with an extreme kidney stone attack. While in the emergency room, the doctor asked to perform certain blood work. We said that it wasn?t necessary because the VA had tested Robert two years earlier and found nothing wrong. We relented and they ran tests anyway. It came back that Robert had Hepatitis C. He was immediately scheduled for a liver biopsy and found out that he is in the fourth and final stage of liver disease.



We returned to the VA. We received Robert?s records. Robert was diagnosed with Chronic Hepatitis C two years prior and never notified. The state of Maine was notified, but Robert was not.



Robert applied for compensation. The VA denied it. Our congressman stepped in. The VA denied it again. According to federal regulations, Robert was eligible for compensation for his liver and his life-threatening hepatitis C. We are still fighting for those rights.



Robert has been told that since he still has all of his limbs, so it can?t be that bad. We have asked them to take a limb and give him new blood and a new liver. They don?t see this as tragic.



Robert entered the service. He did his job. He was injured while on duty. He received a blood transfusion that contained hepatitis C. Robert was later diagnosed with Chronic Hepatitis C and Cirrhosis, but was not told. His chances for treatment working were only at 40 percent to begin with and the elapsed time span caused that to be reduced to nothing.



Although the regional VA has admitted this in, no one seems to be able to grant Robert the appropriate disability ratings



Robert is currently not eligible for a liver transplant as his Hepatitis C is chronic and active. If he were given a new liver now, the Hepatitis C would attack it. Robert now waits for a new treatment to be developed or his liver to fail. Whichever comes first.



Every day is a new fight for a veteran with disabilities. For the seriously disabled it is a fight that makes war seem as if it were a stroll on the beach instead of a battle for survival through the depths and horrors of hell.



Someone who comes home injured has now begun the fight of his or her life. For 27 years, this is a fight that I have witnessed close to my heart as my husband has struggled with his disability and the indifference of VA bureaucrats. I already know how his struggle will end: Leaving our children without a father and me a widow.



When a veteran returns home injured, the rights that were guaranteed suddenly become a burden of proof for the ailing ex-serviceman or retiree to overcome.



I have witnessed the bleak life that disabled veterans must live in thanks to the VA?s indifference to their situation. I have listened to veterans who must travel 200 miles in each direction in order to receive care at a VA hospital. I have seen a veteran sitting in a wheelchair, covered with his own urine, while VA caregivers walked by and did nothing. I have seen the saddened and tired faces of veterans as they waited in line for hours for their prescriptions.



I have watched VA health personnel who got upset if they were interrupted to actually deal with a veteran?s needs. I have watched VA employees candidly talking about veterans as if they were a sitcom cast.



I have felt the pain of a spouse as I have watched my husband fade away because he was never notified of his disease ? even though the local VA hospital in Togus, Maine, since July 2001, has been collecting $42,000 per year for his care and not providing any to him.



I have spent months fighting for my husband?s rights that were so clearly marked and outlined, only to see the incompetence of the veterans board when it denied them.



My husband continues to fade away. The Veterans Administration continues to spin a web of deceit around his case and that of countless thousands of others. His self-esteem and self-worth continue to fade with each unsuccessful attempt to gain his rights.



So, what does Memorial Day mean to our government officials? Apparently ? nothing.



It is a day for our president to give speeches about what a wonderful job our veterans have done, to raise his hand and praise all veterans, and to make a public display of all that they have done. But rhetoric aside, the president ? like the VA bureaucrats who ultimately work under him ? has also abandoned the disabled veterans.



What can I tell our son regarding Memorial Day? I can tell him what Memorial day means to me, and to his father, and to all of the men and women who have so bravely fought to defend our freedom.



I can tell him it is a day for all of us to say thanks to America?s veterans, especially those who have been so cruelly treated by their own government.



Cindy Prouty is the wife of a disabled veteran. She lives in York, Maine, with her husband and children ages 5,6 and 11. She can be reached at cprouty@maine.rr.com.

Sempers,

Roger

[MORTARDUDE]

our natoins' veterans, disabled, retired..one and all..have been treated since WW1 is simply criminal...all politicians are equally to blame..

Larry

[the humper]

That's not the only story like that. Let me give you one, that is just the opposite. A friend entered the Dallas VA, one evening about 6 months ago, at 2:a.m. thru emergency. They immediately entered him, put him in an induced coma for six plus weeks. Was on life support all that time. They found three (3) different infections over that period, cured them, finally brought him out of the induced situation, and he walked out of that place.
SF
NC