5 Deaths at Los Angeles VA Facility Prompt Investigation

5 Deaths at Los Angeles VA Facility Prompt Investigation

www.sfgate.com

Marine Corps veteran Justin Bailey, who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a groin injury, checked himself into the VA hospital after Thanksgiving because of his addiction to prescription and street drugs.


The 27-year-old who served in Iraq got prescriptions filled on Jan. 25 for five medications, including methadone, according to medical records. He was found dead of a drug overdose the next day in his room at the hospital's rehabilitation center.


"My son had made a decision to get help, and they didn't help him. They gave him the bullet," Gulf War veteran Tony Bailey, 47, of Las Vegas told the Times.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Legions of Onetime Soldiers Lack Homes, and Now Beds
Wounded Soldiers...Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
Army Secretary Fired Over Walter Reed Fiasco

The saddest thing you can do to the Veterans who risk their lives defending this country is to treat them like dust to be swept under the rug.

Here is just another example of this horrible treatment of our Veterans...

www.sfgate.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

More sad news on the treatment of this Veteran:

Vet Claims Docs Removed Wrong Testicle

An Air Force veteran filed a federal claim after undergoing an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed on June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages.

What did the VA surgeon do ? Flip a coin? This is ridiculous....

And still the President wants to cut VA benefits.

thinkprogress.org...


What's wrong with this picture?

Another story on the fine treatment our Veterans receive:

Mpls. Veterans Home to be fined for failure to correct violations

The Minneapolis Veterans Home will be fined $650 daily starting Thursday for failing to correct two of three violations discovered in February, the state Department of Health said Wednesday.

The Health Department found that the home had not corrected two violations of state rules governing proper nursing care and the labeling of drugs.

I will keep posting these stories in a show of support of my fellow Veterans, I have been watching the news all day and not a peep on these stories.

As a matter of fact I haven't heard a thing since the Walter Reed firing.

These mistreatments going unreported shows one of two things.....

Shame for the treatment....

or a total lack of regard for our Veterans.

I would choose the second, I guess there is not enough ratings in showing how our Vets are treated, it is much more catchy to discuss what drugs Anna Nicole took and who gave them to her....

Last time I looked she never served anyone but herself.

Rant over..J

So I guess now when guys go in for an orchiectomy they'll have to write, "This nut." ... "Not this nut." ?

I kid but it's common to write the equivalent on arms and legs. Docs do screw up. Is that what this has come to?

I find the treatment of our vets appalling but how do they fare when compared to public medical facilities?

AT least this story was reported in the NYTimes, this Veteran failed to get the help he needed upon returning from Iraq, blind and crippled with PTSD, without treatment he is now a criminal.

Injured in Iraq, a Soldier Is Shattered at Home

DUNBAR, Pa. — Blinded and disabled on the 54th day of the war in Iraq, Sam Ross returned home to a rousing parade that outdid anything this small, depressed Appalachian town had ever seen. “Sam’s parade put Dunbar on the map,” his grandfather said.

That was then.

Now Mr. Ross, 24, faces charges of attempted homicide, assault and arson in the burning of a family trailer in February. Nobody in the trailer was hurt, but Mr. Ross fought the assistant fire chief who reported to the scene, and later threatened a state trooper with his prosthetic leg, which was taken away from him, according to the police.

How about mistreatment in Arizona?

Governor's chief of staff testifies at vets' home hearing

Gov. Janet Napolitano's Chief of Staff Alan Stephens told a legislative panel investigating patient neglect at the Arizona State Veterans Home that he should have informed the governor earlier of problems at the facility.

Department of Health Services Director Sue Gerrard told lawmakers Wednesday corrective actions are be taken and that staff turnover and low pay for some care workers was a problem at the vets home and other state facilities. Most of the problems occurred on overnight shifts, she said.

Texas: 89 year old Vet left on a bench to die on Fort Bliss

Man's Death Could Mean Other Lives are Safer


89 year old Cruz Fierro had alzheimer's and diabetes.
He was missing for four hot days and cold nights,

He died beside a wall inside Fort Bliss.

“I can't think of him any other way but wondering in the desert,” said Irma Fierro, Fierro’s daughter.

There are several questions and very little answers for Irma.
Irma tells us, “He was a veteran regardless of his age and the country failed him…
At what time does a veteran stop being important is it at 40 is it at 30 or is it at 89?”

What Irma wants to know is why William Beaumont Army Medical Center staff didn't contact the Fierro family when her father was released.

Fierro was a patient at Beaumont .

Good News? $52 million of a $621 million project for a new Veterans Facility in Colorado:

Land acquired for VA hospital at Fitzsimons

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it has completed the acquisition of 17 acres at the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora, where it plans to build a new medical facility.

The hospital plans to relocate from Ninth Avenue near Rose Medical Center to 30 acres on the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center campus in Aurora. The Children's Hospital and University Hospital are relocating to Fitzsimons as well.

$621M Construction project for Veterans, right, who is profiting while the Vets suffer? I bet the initial 2007 fund of $52M could have paid for some decent treatment of vets and not fill the pockets of constrruction companies.

I will be posting links to stories related to the treatment of our Veterans in this thread:

TBI's -- ATS

Minneapolis,MN --- VA says Marine wasn't denied care before killing himself

StPaul,MN --- Commission to help resolve problems at Veterans Home

WashDC --- Fighting Walter Reed After Fighting the War

Panel story --- 'Outrage' over medical care of US veterans may spur quick fix

Soldier Molested Walter Reed --- Medical tech admits molesting Iraq war vet

Feel free to comment and if interested please do so, I want to have one place to go in these Veteran's treatment related stories.

I am not sure if this is in violation of the TOC, if any staff feels that it is please U2U me with the details and I will abide by your decision.

edit: add story

[edit on 2007/4/7 by JacKatMtn]