"VA faces lawsuits over tainted testing" by Steve Vogel, Washington Post | August 24, 2009
WASHINGTON - Army veteran Juan Rivera reported to the veterans hospital in Miami for a routine colonoscopy in May 2008. Almost a year later, the 55-year-old father of two learned that the Department of Veterans Affairs had not properly sterilized the equipment used for the procedure.
A test soon after revealed that he had been infected with HIV. “The VA has issued me a death sentence,’’ Rivera said, according to his lawyer.
A problem with sterilization practices at a VA center in Tennessee was discovered in December, and the department has notified more than 11,000 veterans who had endoscopic procedures at three of its facilities that they may have been exposed to cross-contamination. The VA has advised them to return for testing....
Would you want to go back to them? Would you trust them?
And YOU want GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTHCARE, America?
The VA, while promising full care for those infected, has said that no link has been established between the patients’ conditions and the endoscopy procedures. The agency referred comment to its website....
They can't even own up to this, huh?
That explains the foot-dragging on the Agent Orange, Depleted Uranium, and all the other chemicals our soldiers have been exposed.
The problem was revealed when officials at the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., learned that workers were sanitizing endoscopy equipment at the end of the day instead of after each procedure. The manufacturer of the equipment recommends a cleaning after each use.
All VA facilities were subsequently instructed to review their procedures and identify problems. Based on the review, the VA announced that patients who underwent endoscopic procedures in Murfreesboro from April 2003 to December 2008; in Augusta, Ga., from January 2008 to November 2008; and in Miami from May 2004 to March of this year might have been exposed to cross-contamination.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Over FIVE YEARS!!!!
Yeah, support the troops! Pffft!
But the problems could extend beyond those locations. In April, the VA’s inspector general sent investigators on unannounced inspections at 42 of the department’s medical facilities. Its report, released in June, concluded that only 43 percent were in compliance.
Unreal!!!
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And that is not the ONLY THING the VA f***ed up:
"VA wrongly tells veterans they have ALS" by Associated Press | August 25, 2009
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - At least 1,200 veterans across the country have been mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration that they suffer from a fatal neurological disease.
One of the leaders of a Gulf War veterans group said panicked veterans from Alabama, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming have contacted the group about the error.
Denise Nichols, the vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said the VA is blaming a coding error for the mistake....
Yeah, I don't want national healthcare now. Not in this country.
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I'm sure the vets appreciated the extra stress:
WASHINGTON - .... Due to the nature of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan - where an innocent-looking bystander can be a suicide bomber or enemy insurgent - service members must be constantly aware of their environment, scanning their surroundings for the smallest sign of a threat. That vigilance can be hard to turn off at home, sometimes leading to the false impression that a family member or other person wants to cause harm....
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Related:
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Soldiers recovering in special Army medical units have faced inconsistent regulations and discipline because the military has not adopted standards for how they and their commanders should act, according to a military review.
The report obtained Tuesday by the Associated Press said the units’ leaders need better training and should do a better job of communicating with the almost 9,000 wounded and ill soldiers in the Warrior Transition system.
You'd think they would be their first concern, no?
The 34 Warrior Transition units were set up two years ago to help soldiers navigate the medical system and monitor their progress and treatment, following the scandal over shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
The review was ordered in March after the AP reported on soldier complaints that officers were indifferent to their medical needs and punished them for the very injuries that landed them in the unit....
Hey, if you ain't no good on the battlefield, you ain't no good to the Army!
At the time of the complaints, officers who oversaw Fort Bragg’s Warrior Transition Battalion said they held the wounded and ill soldiers to the same performance standards as able-bodied troops, arguing that it helps them get back into fighting shape....
OMG, they really DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU, soldier!
Soldiers in the Fort Bragg unit told the Army secretary earlier this year that they feel forgotten by the military and that combat duty would be better than the treatment they get now, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press....
That's an indictment of the whole system right there.
--more--"Aren't you glad we were sold so many lies to start these wars, 'murka?
I mean, ALL of THAT is worth a BIG BONUS, wouldn't you say?
A Slow Saturday special:
"Inspector general hits bonuses to VA workers; Checks for veterans are delayed" by Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press | August 22, 2009
WASHINGTON - Even as severely wounded veterans have faced financial hardship waiting for their first disability payments, money has been flowing inside the Veteran Affairs Department in the form of $24 million in bonuses.
In scathing reports this week, the VA’s inspector general said thousands of technology office employees received the bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances.
Then WHY did the Globe wait until SATURDAY to run the piece, huh?
The reports also detailed abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees. The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting “as if she was given a blank checkbook’’ as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008....
The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the inspector general said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan’s family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000.
While YOUR KID'S TUITION ROSE, 'murka!
Separately, a technology office employee became involved in an “inappropriate personal relationship’’ with a high-level VA official. The technology office employee flew 22 times from Florida to Washington, where the VA official lived. That travel cost $37,000.
So much for CARBON FOOTPRINTS, 'eh?
The details on the alleged improprieties were in two reports issued this week....
So WHERE WERE YOU then, Globe?
Didn't want to hurt the loot effort, 'er, war effort you lied us in to?
In addition to Duncan, three other high-level employees received $73,000, $58,000 and $59,000 in bonuses in 2007 and 2008, the reports said. In 2007 alone, 4,700 employees were awarded bonuses, on average $2,500 each. Some employees were given cash awards for services that were supposedly provided before the employees started working at VA, the inspector general said.
It's called LOOTING, America!
The inspector general also found that Katherine Adair Martinez, deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management in the Office of Information and Technology, misused her position, abused her authority and engaged in prohibited personnel practices when she influenced a VA contractor and later VA subordinates to employ a friend.
The inspector general said Martinez also “took advantage of an inappropriate personal relationship’’ with former executive assistant Robert Howard to transfer her job to Florida....
Think of that as you are serving in the desert sand of Iraq or the mountains of Afghanistan, soldier!
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