Waiting, Living And Dying In The VA Medical Care System

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

The nation was shocked by charges that more than 1,400 vets lingered and 40 died on a secret waiting list at the Phoenix VA medical center. The list was concocted to conceal long waits for care.

 

But what you haven't heard is even worse.

 

VA hospitals all over the country are manipulating the official electronic waiting list, and the deadly cover-ups have been going on for years.

 

The dirty tricks at the Phoenix VA came to light on April 24 when retired VA physician Sam Foote exposed how the hospital evaded legal requirements that patients be seen promptly. But since the 1990s, Congress has known about vets at many VA facilities waiting hundreds of days for care and sometimes dying in line.

 

In 1996, Congress passed a law requiring that any vet needing care be seen within 30 days. The General Accountability Office, a research service for Congress, reported in 2000 and again in 2001 that excessive waiting was still a problem. In 2007 and again in 2012, the VA's own inspector general reported that VA schedulers routinely cheated to hide long waits.

[Draggingtree]

December 24, 2014

More than 500 vets died in VA hospitals because of mistakes in last 4 years

By Rick Moran

Veterans Affairs records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon reveal the startling fact that more than 500 vets have died in VA hospitals due to mistakes since 2010.

 

Delayed treatment for cancer patients due to a failure to diagnose the disease and a failure to screen properly for suicide are two of the more common "adverse events" discovered in the documents.

 

The 1,452 disclosures represent a miniscule portion of the hundreds of thousands of patients who are treated annually at VA hospitals,

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/more_than_500_vets_died_in_va_hospitals_because_of_mistakes_in_last_4_years.html