Walter Reed Hospital...
I am appalled at the story about the facility and treatment of soldiers at the Walter Reed Hospital, and facilities like them! The Govt. publicly louts the efforts of our armed services and states they are behind them a 110%, but in reality are passing off second hand care and equipment to our injured personnel! These types of facilities should be "show case facilities and services"! When a man (or woman) puts there life on the line in defense of this country, policies, & efforts, the promise of "good" care and or compensation for injuries received defending that effort is undisputable! Any govt. agency/dept./personnel doing less is guilty of neglect and should be punished accordingly!
I am also amazed at the effort (or lack of it) by the press to point this out to the public! I only wish one self-righteous politian would step up to the plate and be a "real" purveyor of the public good! ..I should not probably hold my breath till this happens! My $0.02!
I am also amazed at the effort (or lack of it) by the press to point this out to the public! I only wish one self-righteous politian would step up to the plate and be a "real" purveyor of the public good! ..I should not probably hold my breath till this happens! My $0.02!
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use new haven conn's va. it IS SHOWCASE.
this appears to be very bad press for the military.
especially being walter reed of all places.
W.R. was always known as the last hurrah before you died, so it HAD to be good. they worked on my bad ear. had no problems with them. clean efficent and never had to wait long.
times have changed i guess.[:(]0 -
With all the vets from the current conflicts, there's a huge backlog in getting folks inprocessed into VA hospitals. I recently moved to the NW and I called the VA in Spokanne to get my stuff transferred over to them. I was told that there is a big delay and they would notify me when they can get to me...at which time I will be assigned another team. They said that if I had an emergency in the mean time that I could come into their urgent care clinic. The only reason they can even get me in the system right now is b/c I'm already service connected diabled. 0 -
Is Walter Reed included in those three great big thanks yous that schill gave President Bush back during the election?
If this had happened during Clinton's tenure, you guys would be screaming for his assassination. As is, a few muted "no goods" and on we go on our merry way...[xx(]0 -
Sorry to say it, but the VA has never been known for high quality care. Yes, the report is horrable but it has been going on for more years than I can count. It's just now getting the attention that it deserves. There was a movie made back in the '80s about the problem, I believe it was called "Artical 99" or something like that. BTW: As a disabled Gulf War vet I do speak from experance. 0 -
It is pretty shocking that any servicemen are being hung out to dry. I think this media coverage is going to help...maybe not enough, but it should help. 0 -
As a disabled vet who has spent much time (once was 9 months straight) as in patient at a few different VA's, I can say there are good ones and bad ones.
It seems as though some get more funding than others and that is the difference I believe.0 -
Now the media's a friend?
Thank God the liberal media wasn't muzzled and shackled. I'm surprised no one's brought up the notion that publicizing this gives comfort and aid to our enemies, courtesy of the liberal media.[xx(]0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
Now the media's a friend?
Thank God the liberal media wasn't muzzled and shackled. I'm surprised no one's brought up the notion that publicizing this gives comfort and aid to our enemies, courtesy of the liberal media.[xx(]
...why are you so bitter EMM?0 -
ECC,
Because I've been telling you folks for YEARS that the VA has needed more funding and staffing! All I got was "Bush is doing a great job! Bush increased funding! You're being a liberal traitor!"
I TOLD YOU SO! And NOW you guys give a $#!t? We should have been raising hell YEARS ago! But in your rush to be good little patriots, you ignored people who were trying to tell you that all was not well in Candyland.
And due to the blind obedience of the sheep, our wounded were forced to suffer through bull$#!t no one should have to, least of all those who sacrificed what they did for this nation.
Maybe now you all will come to realize that not all criticism is treason and that sometimes people complain for a good G-- damned reason.[:(!]
THAT'S why I'm so bitter.
And imagine how I'd be if I or a loved one had to go through that.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
ECC,
Because I've been telling you folks for YEARS that the VA has needed more funding and staffing! All I got was "Bush is doing a great job! Bush increased funding! You're being a liberal traitor!"
I TOLD YOU SO! And NOW you guys give a $#!t? We should have been raising hell YEARS ago! But in your rush to be good little patriots, you ignored people who were trying to tell you that all was not well in Candyland.
And due to the blind obedience of the sheep, our wounded were forced to suffer through bull$#!t no one should have to, least of all those who sacrificed what they did for this nation.
Maybe now you all will come to realize that not all criticism is treason and that sometimes people complain for a good G-- damned reason.[:(!]
THAT'S why I'm so bitter.
And imagine how I'd be if I or a loved one had to go through that.
EMM...You never told me anything I did not already know. I've known that VA care pretty much sucks for the last 15 years...nothing new here. I doubt you could possible imagine the crap I had to go through for the Persian Gulf Registry in DC...only to have them lose my medical records after they recommended me for an upgrade in disability...and then get told to start the entire process over again. I've been there and done that. You are preaching to the chior.0 -
Some of the troops who had to endure those awful conditions at Walter Reed spoke before a Congressional delegation today, here's the video:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=390490e6-3273-4b36-92c7-7ff3129ee7ae&f=00&fg=email
Absolutely heartbreaking, especially the Staff Sergeant who had brain damage and kept losing his train of thought and he says "I want to leave this place (Walter Reed)." Another soldier had suffered brain damage so severe that he couldn't even testify himself, his wife had to tell the Congressmen what her husband had to endure at WR. Shameful, absolutely shameful and heartbreaking. [:(]0 -
ECC,
I meant "you' in the impersonal plural.
I know that you personally have been quite vocal in relating tales of VA deficiencies to the rest of us.
It's a damned shame that no one listened until now.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
ECC,
Because I've been telling you folks for YEARS that the VA has needed more funding and staffing! All I got was "Bush is doing a great job! Bush increased funding! You're being a liberal traitor!"
I TOLD YOU SO! And NOW you guys give a $#!t? We should have been raising hell YEARS ago! But in your rush to be good little patriots, you ignored people who were trying to tell you that all was not well in Candyland.
And due to the blind obedience of the sheep, our wounded were forced to suffer through bull$#!t no one should have to, least of all those who sacrificed what they did for this nation.
Maybe now you all will come to realize that not all criticism is treason and that sometimes people complain for a good G-- damned reason.[:(!]
THAT'S why I'm so bitter.
And imagine how I'd be if I or a loved one had to go through that.
EMM - The VA doesn't need more staffing. They could always use more money, but what they really need is to get rid of the bureaucracy! Why does it take 6 months for a soldier or sailor to get disability benefits? Because some desk-weenie has to justify his existence by making them fill out 150 forms and then rejecting them because they didn't use a #2 pencil on form #129!
As for the more money thing, it would be nice to see some of the pork-barrel spending go to the VA. Unfortunately it would just feed the monster now.0 -
What a shame what we do to the people who serve their country 0 -
Oddly my father in law uses the VA hospital in Rome NY and has to go to Rochester where he says everyone is rude, he came to Charleston sc and used the VA abd they were nice as could be and treated him great. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by HandgunHTR52
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
ECC,
Because I've been telling you folks for YEARS that the VA has needed more funding and staffing! All I got was "Bush is doing a great job! Bush increased funding! You're being a liberal traitor!"
I TOLD YOU SO! And NOW you guys give a $#!t? We should have been raising hell YEARS ago! But in your rush to be good little patriots, you ignored people who were trying to tell you that all was not well in Candyland.
And due to the blind obedience of the sheep, our wounded were forced to suffer through bull$#!t no one should have to, least of all those who sacrificed what they did for this nation.
Maybe now you all will come to realize that not all criticism is treason and that sometimes people complain for a good G-- damned reason.[:(!]
THAT'S why I'm so bitter.
And imagine how I'd be if I or a loved one had to go through that.
EMM - The VA doesn't need more staffing. They could always use more money, but what they really need is to get rid of the bureaucracy! Why does it take 6 months for a soldier or sailor to get disability benefits? Because some desk-weenie has to justify his existence by making them fill out 150 forms and then rejecting them because they didn't use a #2 pencil on form #129!
As for the more money thing, it would be nice to see some of the pork-barrel spending go to the VA. Unfortunately it would just feed the monster now.
I respectfully disagree with you - they need fewere bureacrats, but more technicians, doctors, and medical staff. The backlog is due to a lack of staff that can treat patients among many other things.0 -
EMM - I agree that the VA needs more techincal staff, but why would anyone want to work for an organization that has a bunch of desk-jockeys telling you how to treat a patient instead of letting them treat patients the way they were trained to. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by HandgunHTR52
EMM - I agree that the VA needs more techincal staff, but why would anyone want to work for an organization that has a bunch of desk-jockeys telling you how to treat a patient instead of letting them treat patients the way they were trained to.
My neurologist flat out told me that his hands were tied. He said that there were things that he would like to do for us but that VA had tied his hands as to what he could and could not do.0 -
VA hospitals had a bad reputation to my hearing for at least the 25 years my wife has been an ICU /CCU nurse.
As I understand it they can't attract quality physicians.
It wasn't always so. An Army vet uncle, whos' 20 year Army career
ended in 1945, spoke very highly of VA hospitals before he died in 1958.0 -
quote:My neurologist flat out told me that his hands were tied. He said that there were things that he would like to do for us but that VA had tied his hands as to what he could and could not do.
That is the whole reason I pay for private medical insurance. Last tuesday was the first time in 5 years that I have been to my local VA as I do not care for the treatment I recieve when I go in. 5 years ago I went in for a few stiches, 14 hours later I left. Last week I was in for a re-evaluation of my benefits and the doctor told me that I would not hear back from anybody for at lest a year.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
ECC,
I meant "you' in the impersonal plural.
I know that you personally have been quite vocal in relating tales of VA deficiencies to the rest of us.
It's a damned shame that no one listened until now.
No monkey, you just blame it all on Bush, when it has been going on for years, and I bet the only reason you comment on it now is to try to slam Bush. Like any of the democrats have, or are going to do anything different.0 -
EMM...if it makes any difference, some of the worst and most degrading medical care I have ever received was in DC...during the Clinton Administration. This is not a partisan or political issue...it's just an issue of right and wrong...unfortunately, the VA has been all wrong for all too many years. 0 -
Back in the 70's I was a 64c (driver) in the Military District of Washington for a couple years. I transported enlisted personnel to Walter Reed in an ambulance on quite a few occassions. Walter Reed sucked then, and that was Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Peeling paint, dirty floors, roaches, patients in hallways. Excessivly long waits, even for ambulance transported injured and ill. It looked like a low rent welfare hospital. I was exposed to hepatitis by an incompetent staff member, given my gamma globulin shot and sent on my way. Once waited with a guy with two broken ankles for literally hours before treatment was even begun. No pain meds, not even an aspirin, until a doctor finally made his way down to the basement to attend to the poor meanie. Bethesda Naval Hospital, on the other hand, was state of the art. Of course, the only people I ever transported there were officers (and one officer's wife; food poisoning from bad juice in her drink at the O-club at 10AM). And that was where the politicians went for free treatment. I'm pretty sure that if that kind of double standard existed 30 years ago it still does. I'd be betting there aren't a lot of staff officers on the patient list at Walter Reed, and the list of admitted enlisted at Bethesda is probably equally short. 0 -
Americans have the shortest memorys on earth.
Ronald Reagan closed more VA hos[itals then Any pres. has in history. I think it was something like 22. No wonder theres a waiting period.
Walter reed isn"t that where the Vice pres, and many presidents go?
The answer is clear who's fault it is. Rests plainly on the sholders of the president.. but some poor flunky will take the fall.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
Is Walter Reed included in those three great big thanks yous that schill gave President Bush back during the election?
If this had happened during Clinton's tenure, you guys would be screaming for his assassination. As is, a few muted "no goods" and on we go on our merry way...[xx(]
This did happen during Clinton's tenure. If it makes you feel better, Clinton received it that way and passed it on that way. git_r_done got it right when he said it comes down to the Yankee Dollar. This isn't the first time we have been through this drill and it won't be the last time. This time two generals and the Secretary of the Army paid the political price, but they are just the current political scapegoats. The fixes you see happening now are temporary. Congress never has and never will appropriate enough money to buy what they expect to get. For a while you will see attention paid to military and naval medical facilities, and maybe even VA medical facilities. (By the way the Army and the Veterans Administration ain't the same thing.) While the medical facilities are sucking up the money, somebody, somewhere else will pay the price. Pick any low priority ship or station of any service anywhere on earth and take a look at the living and working conditions. Your average ship underway has the crew working twelve hours a day, seven days a week, and that's not counting standing watches. The United States of America gets every penny of it's money's worth from these young men and women. Conditions under the spotlight will improve for a while, but the spotlight is just one spot. Until congress decides to spend the money on the people we should be supporting instead of tunnels to nowhere in Boston or some woman pumping out babies in Chicago or Birmingham it will not change.0 -
You would think they would contract out this military job to increase productivity and pass the blame onto the contractor.
I am glad American News has managed to run this story on how yet again more American's are being sold out and screwed over. If history does indeed repeat itself the Govt. will start running Pentagon Funded smere campaigns from some contracted think tank to make Americans believe that these Vet's and Soldiers are all drunkards and all should be forgotten again.
http://p203.ezboard.com/fvetbenefitsfrm460 -
And another thing. When the History Channel or network TV does a one hour program about an Aircraft Carrier, and they show the young folks working the flight deck and mention that when they talk about cutting back to half days they are talking about working twelve hour shifts, the public doesn't even notice that. What they see is the F-14 being shot into the sky or catching the second wire on the arresting gear. It's all Rah, Rah, Rah for the F-14. No thought for the sailors on the flight deck or the young folks standing watch on the bridge or in the bilges after working a twelve hour shift.
Then they give you a tour of the crew's berthing and tell you how little space they can call their own. They don't show you, or mention, these sailors on the Carrier are living the high life compared to their escorts and auxiliary ships. I don't know about the new submarines, but not long ago if a submarine got underway with a full crew, some people didn't even have a bunk they could call their own. Known as "hot racking".
After the Marines spend three months at sea and invading Norway in those deathtraps they call AMTRAKs, they get a full day off at Morehead City before they carry full packs and gear into the hills for another month.
What pisses me off about this Walter Reed Hospital thing is the Senate, House, Administration, Military Leadership and the public at large claim they had no idea. That really pisses me off.0 -
I think it woulda been a good move on Cheney's part to go to Walter Reed for the clot in his leg yesterday.......[:I] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by ObiWan
You would think they would contract out this military job to increase productivity and pass the blame onto the contractor.
I am glad American News has managed to run this story on how yet again more American's are being sold out and screwed over. If history does indeed repeat itself the Govt. will start running Pentagon Funded smere campaigns from some contracted think tank to make Americans believe that these Vet's and Soldiers are all drunkards and all should be forgotten again.
http://p203.ezboard.com/fvetbenefitsfrm46
Not necessary. It will be forgotten about again. It's as dependable as the phases of the moon. We are now in the discovery cycle. Next is the "It will never happen again" cycle, then the "Walter Who?" cycle, then the discovery cycle.0 -
Blame it on Clinton, Nixon, or Lincoln, if you want to, but, the accountability for the current situation falls directly on the shoulders of this administration. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of troops wounded in the Iraq war would not have survived similar wounds during the Vietnam war or previous wars. So, you add these severely wounded people to a system already on the verge of overload and what do you expect? This administration had no clue as to what kind of war they were starting, how could anybody imagine that they would know how to cope with the casualties? Does anybody think that four years ago, Cheney was saying, "Ok, once we're in this war, we're going to have a lot of survivors of wounds that would have meant certain death a few years ago, so, let's make sure that we have the resources to deal with them, especially if the war isn't the cakewalk we are sure it will be"? 0
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