Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comThe Veterans Affairs Department is limiting the types of surgeries performed at some of its hospitals following a systemwide review prompted by surgical deaths at its southern Illinois hospital.
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Sounds to me like you have a bunch of "butchers" in VA hospitals??
It raises my confidence that they recongize problems and take action. Is the next hospital you go to doing that, or sweeping their problems under the rug to keep that bottom line up?
James Wolfer,
You are very wrong about that! The VA hospital in White River Junction, Vermont is great! I've been in VA hospitals as a patient from La Jolla, CA to Albuquerque, NM to Manchester, NH. They all provided care that at least matched the standards of regular hospitals. I've had some problems here and there but by and large the treatment has been excellent. I get my medical care from them regularly and I can say that I have had no complaints for several years now. My doctors and nurses and all of the other employees are very competent at what they do and friendly on top of that!
Once those VA hospitals having the trouble figure out where their problems lay I have no doubt that immediate action will be taken and the problems fixed. Civilian hospitals can only wish that they could take such immediate and positive actions.
Last of all, I've seen the VA when it was totally underfunded and Americans just gave a cold shoulder to the needs of those hospitals and those of the Veterans in the years after the Vietnam War. It was shameful and not the fault of the VA or it's workers. It was this country and it's citizens who caused those problems by not giving them the funds needed to function properly. The situation could often be heartbreaking! Things seem to have changed for the better and I hope that they stay that way but it will always be the citizens who control the quality of care that is given to their husbands, wives, mothers, sons and daughters. Lets see how YOU all act in the future when it comes to caring for those who have volunteered and risked their lives for the nation. I think that the VA employees have far more justifiable reason to look down on you than you have to look down on them and bad mouth them.
Merlin, you have obviously not stopped by the VA in Indianapolis! Almost none of the doctors speak English, the care isn't even good enough to be considered sub-standard! They are badly understaffed and what staff they do have is mostly foreign and indifferent to our military personnel and their suffering. There is a lack of basic necessities there as well as services. If ever a hospital needed to be closed, this one does....
Thanks for that Meezermom59:
I understand Hippocrates couldn't speak English either.
I have been to several VA's, and I know this is going to be a shock, but they simply have not been able to cure everything. Why, for Pete's sake, I heard a 92-year-old veteran died at one fairly recently.
For those of you who are too stupid to understand the need for V.A.'s, I'm betting you have no understanding of why many veterans have lost limbs, have brought home souvenirs like shrapnel, hearing loss, and blindness. For you, I say STFU.
Could the V.A.'s stand improvement? Of course, everything could stand improvement, but look at Bartman's comment. Do you honestly believe that every other hospital is doing better?
Meantime, I will continue to take my medical problems to the V.A. It's what a single-payer system is all about.
I will also take a moment to thank the fine staffers at those hospitals. Thank you.
Imported foreign doctors that do not speak english and are not trained in america is the problem. why can't america graduate enough american doctors to meet the needs in all our hospitals. 5 out of 6 highly educated american kids are turned away due to quotas set in place in the 60's by the AMA. If every near retirement physician had to spend the last two years of his practlice training doctors in medical schools we would have enough doctors.
Not all. The VA Hospital in Northport N.Y. is first rate ! They have a highy qualified, caring staff.
This veteran just hopes he doesn't get sick. What else can I say?
Eddie,
I hope you don't get sick either, but are you even eligible for VA medical care to begin with? You may not have to even worry about going to a VA hospital if you don't meet eligibility standards.
You can do the civilian hospitals and also do the insurance paperwork and pay bills for whatever isn't covered and pay big buck for your prescriptions. Personally, I thank God I do not have to deal with that mess. It gives me a headache just to think about it.
I have some doubts about the VA hospital here. My son, a Navy vet, spent a lot of time there with a serious back problem. He has since passed away, and I suspect that the treatment he received in the service and after he was discharged contributed to that. He had 4 surgeries, and was sent home the next day after 3 of them, and the SAME DAY after the last one. All they ever did after that was throw drugs at it. He died of a heart attack at 34.
btucson,
I'm sorry to hear about your son. My deepest condolences go to you and your family. My son in law died last year after having returned from Iraq he was diagnosed with tumors. Eventually it cost him his life
I've had a same day surgery from the VA and I also didn't much care for it. After a hemorhoid operation I was sent home with 3 days worth of weak pain meds. I can't even describe to you the pain I was in for weeks after that.
Any time the body gets opened up, whether its your back or your belly, it is a severe strain on the body. Sometimes doctors do all they can to help a patient but things simply don't work out. Keep in mind that a doctor "practices" medicine just like lawyers "practice" law. It is a vocation in which you cannot guarantee an outcome, no matter if you do a good job or bad. It sounds like those doctors did as much as they could surgically. After all they did take your son in and take the time to perform the surgeries on 4 different occasions. I think they hit the limit of what they could do for your son with surgical procedures. At that point the only thing they CAN do is prescribe physical therapy and deal with the problem with medications. It sounds to me like they were giving him whatever they could think of that might help him, Having been in and out of VA hospitals for treatment since I was 21 back in 1983 I have learned one lesson that many people never seem to catch on to. A doctor is a human being with his/her own limitations, which is why they often confer amongst themselves as to the best treatment for patients. Even then there is the limitation of their own knowledge and the equipment and tests they have available to work with and apply to healing. With all of that, sometimes it still just isn't enough to enable them to affect a cure for some problems. Back injuries are particularly difficult since their is often nerve damage. That is an area in which medicine is still at the beginning stages of real understanding. (I wish they did know more! My back was broken twice and it is constantly painful.) The thing is, there are limits as to what we can accomplish medically. I've faced that fact squarely for over 2 decades and have accepted it. We can't fix all problems and give everyone a cure. I'm sure those doctors did what they could with your son.
You say that he died of a heart attack at age 34. What exactly was the cause of it?
"VA curbs some hospital surgeries after deaths"
Great title! But I really believe surgeries should take place before deaths.
MSNBC should think about hiring professional writers for a change.
VA in New York City operated on my wife's favorite uncle and managed to kill him before the surgery by not addressing a clearly absessed tooth that went on to infect his lungs as he swollowed puss during or just after the surgery. A terrible trajedy. Avoidable since the center has a full complement of dental residents..just too lazy to do their jobs and check out patients before surgery. Piss off guys..hope it happens to someone you care about so you feel the pain.
Dr David Hamlin
dhamlin,
There is no reason to be a nasty bastard. I'm sorry that that uncle died. Why in hell did the uncle show up at the hospital for surgery without having had the absess treated by HIS dentist? The only people eligible for dental treatment at the VA are those who have a service-connected disability related to their mouth or teeth, or those whose mouth and teeth are affected because they are adjunct to a service connected problem. People are also eligible for dental care if their VA treatment or medications cause them dental problems. You don't just get to show up and have every problem taken care of. The VA system doesn't work like that. Did the uncle show up for surgery for a problem that was so serious it just couldn't wait and the VA doctors had to make a judgement call on whether to proceed? You don't give very much information, just accusations and name calling. Did he even tell his surgeons about the absess?
I'm not a medical doctor but I've spent plenty of time as a patient in VA hospitals and also Walter Reed Army Hospital right at the beginning for me in 1983. You speak like a dental exam is SOP before surgery. I don't recall it ever being so, but I may be mistaken.
Lastly, YOU piss off. My son-in-law died last year after recieving treatments from the military and VA hospitals. He left my daughter a widow and 2 beautiful kids fatherless. I don't blame the doctors because there are limits to the abilities of the medical profession to bring about cures for everybody. So far we don't even know if your uncle spoke up about his absess for himself or why he didn't see his own regular dentist about it. It seems to me, at the moment, that you're directing your anger and feelings at the VA, for what just may well be your uncle's fault. I don't know. Like I said, not much info from you, and you a 'doctor' too.
I'll end here without wishing something bad on a friend/relative/loved one of yours. I only wish evil on those who purposefully perform evil acts, and then as a punishment. I'm not an a$$hole.
PS- With you being a doctor and all, I would think that you would know better than to condemn all VA health care workers for what MIGHT have been incompetence by one or two people.
It sounds like there is still might be a wide variety in the quality of treatment in the various VA facilities. The various VAs that I have been hospitalized in have provided me good care overall- my biggest complaint being delayed prescription refilling. I've been with the White River Junction VT VA Hospital as a patient for a number of years now. My doctor is American and very competent. If you percieve problems with care givers at YOUR VA hospital then it is YOUR responsibility to report them to your elected officials among others, and insist on better qualified people or a higher budget so they can get what they need. The Congressional delegation from Vermont has done an excellent job for us and we have what may be the best VA hospital in the country because of their attentions. Get YOUR reps and senators to do the same and hold their feet to the fire if necessary.
Yes, let's let these jokers take over healthcare. Good going.
JMH,
What do you know about the VA system, the care it gives, or the people who work there? What do you know about administering health care or running a system that does? Surely you must be an expert, just the person this Nation needs to set up the health care program? STEP FORWARD AND SHOW YOUR STUFF!!! You sit on your a$$ and call these people trying to help everyone else 'jokers', yet you know nothing ,and even more DO nothing that will help to end suffering- just mock those that would even try.
It is a shameful blight on American government that our veterans are not given expert care. Make these fat congressmen go into the VA hospital and see how they like it.
the worst mistake i have make in my life is to go to va. its shameful the way they run the hospital and clinics.i wos prescrive the wrong medication. my hart fail my kidneys fail and in two years i had over ten t.i. a. now i sit and wait for the day of the big one a full stroke.
The physicians in the VA system vary from hospital to hospital. Here in Albuquerque for instance, many of the University of New Mexico hospital staff are also on staff at the VA, so it makes for a pretty good system. Smaller VAs that don't have university resources to draw upon are probably the ones where no one speaks English.
I have found most physicians at the VAs I've seen to be quite competent. The fact that they're salaried means they don't try to rush people in and out the door. The down side to this is that you may be waiting a couple of hours past your expected time, but hey....can't have it all, you know?
RackNStack,
I agree. The White River Junction, Vermont VA hospital is affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School. It benefits both institutions. It also wouldn't hurt people to join organizations like the Disabled American Veterans or the Paralyzed Veterans or Blinded Veterans Associations. Their purposes include fighting for good VA hospitals and doctors, helping Vets with disability applications etc... The DAV has NO other purpose than to help disabled Veterans get proper care and compensation and be their voice in Congress to the elected representatives and senators . Join and PARTICIPATE, not just complain and sit on your a$$es.
A harbinger of things to come with Maobama care -- still time to roll back the Obamination of socialized medicine -- come on America!!!
Do you guys simply take nightly turns getting on the computer and saying stupid things? I see a good demonstration of brain dead jingoism, but no logical argumentation to support your jingos. Typical. Everytime I read crap like yours it only makes me more determined than ever not to associate with your kind and not vote for people you would elect.
I notice that you follow right wing propaganda rules for naming things the exact opposite of what they really are ( that was SOP with the Nazis too). I speak of your name- Mr Logicalone. Your statement shows you to be anything but logical. The alone part I DO believe somehow.
I’m not the biggest supporter of the VA medical, considering my dad died in the hands of the VA, but I do understand the difficulty the VA has with the number of patients and hiring qualified medical personnel. Let keep in mind that many of the patients the VA treat do have underlying conditions which can make surgery difficult and treatment just as difficult. There is not quick answer or resolution to the present situation. I do feel the VA is doing a better job, but there is till room for improvement. If you are not satisfied with you treatment from the VA let someone know or get a second opinion.
Korean vet, been to two different VA hospitals and have yet to be seen by an American doctor! Does anyone in government really check the credentials and background of these foreign docs? What does it really take to get a MD whatever in some of these foreign countries? Maybe at my age I could go to some foreign country pay off some government officials and wind up with a MD behind my name. All I have to do then is come to America and work for the VA and do all the butchering I want without fear of any type of malpractice law suit, or displinary actions! Just keep burying all my mistakes!!!!
No hampster. No one checks the credentials of those filthy foreigners. In fact, many of those guys aren't doctors at all. I have it on good authority that some have been promoted directly out of the canteen. Most don't even wash their hands before surgery.
That is a fine idea though. Why don't you go to a foreign country and pay off some officials and wind up with an MD behind your name? That's how it works in ALL foreign countries. At their medical schools you give them lots of money, party for four years, and then PRESTO! you're an M.D.
By the way, how did you sustain that terrible brain injury. Was it in combat?