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We Are So Sorry
by James Glaser May 8, 2008 In the last thirty years I have had to deal with the VA Hospital system as a veteran, as commander of a VFW Post, and as commander of an American Legion Post. One thing I have learned in all three capacities is that you can not trust the VA. Yes, every VA Hospital I have had to deal with was filled with hard working doctors, nurses, and support staff, who really wanted to help the veteran. In fact, many of the people who work at those hospitals are former veterans. The problem is not the people working there, but rather the people who run the VA, and the people who run the hospitals. I can think of hundreds of times that a sick veteran was told just days before an appointment that they had been waiting sometimes for a year, that the appointment was canceled — canceled with no new appointment set up. So, then the vet is in limbo, not knowing if he or she will ever see a doctor. It has happened to me several times. I have driven a couple hundred miles to an appointment only to be told at the hospital or clinic that my appointment was canceled. Of course, every time the VA would say, "We are sorry." After the third or forth time, "sorry" doesn't mean that much. While commander, many times veterans would show me their appointment letter, but tell me the story of going down to the VA Hospital in Minneapolis (500 miles round trip) only to be told that they never had an appointment. When they showed their appointment letter, they were told, "We are so sorry, but that letter is a mistake." VA doctors will tell you that they are putting you in for a consult with a specialist, and you watch them enter it into the computer, but months and months go by, and you hear nothing. You call down and ask what is going on, and the VA says " We are so sorry, but there is nothing in the computer about that. Ask your doctor at your next appointment to put you in for that." I would have to bet that there have been hundreds of thousands of complaint letters sent to Congressmen over the last fifty years about how Veterans are treated by the VA, but those letters have done almost nothing. To tell you the truth, Congress doesn't care about veterans except during an election year. Surprise, this is an election year, and Congress is holding hearings about the VA. It seems that thousands of returning veterans from George Bush's wars are killing themselves. In fact, it is rumored that more veterans from those wars have killed themselves than the number who have died in combat. The total number of combat deaths between Iraq and Afghanistan is over 4,500. Like so many things about this country, we do not find this story in the American media. Agence France Presse ran this article on May 7, 2008.
It seems that Congress had hearings on veteran suicides five months ago, but the VA played with the numbers and said everything was hunky dory. Congress doesn't know it, but the VA has been killing veterans ever since WW II. Every time a veteran is turned down for an appointment or has to wait a year or longer to get one, the chances of he or she dying go way up. The VA has this unwritten policy of treating the veteran poorly, and then saying they are sorry. I don't know how many, because the VA does not do body counts, but there is no doubt in my mind that thousands and thousands of veterans have either committed suicide or died of their medical problem after getting one of those "We are so sorry" responses to their request for help. |
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