I worked at the VA and the government has been doing this crap to our best for decades. I dealt with very sick patients from agent orange, or whatever color chemical they were exposed to, all the way thru gulf war syndrome. The DoD was responsible for these tragedies and then refused to pay for it knowing full well that many would die without seeing a dime. Those that were too sick to hold down jobs with private insurance were forced to use the VA as their sole provider. Many of the vets I worked with that fell into these categories of service connected injures had been denied treatment because the government was not acknowledging its responsibility for their injuries. When I was there, the government finally started paying out on the Viet Nam era claims - decades after the fact. By then, many of those injured vets, like your brother, had already succumb to their injuries.

It is all about the money at the end of the day. They delay paying out as long as possible. Some of my patients had treatments delayed so long that they were too sick to undergo that treatment when it finally was approved. (Look into the military connection to Hepatitis C exposure. This is another area where they have tried to bury the truth and run from accountability.) Delaying treatment was deliberate.

I had a monthly running list of needed biopsies that the VA kept dropping the ball on. The appointments would be cancelled for no damn reason and never be rescheduled. It was shameful. I would personally get a patient back on a schedule when I noticed that they had been dropped. Luckily, I did not have any patients that died because of a diagnosis that hinged on one of these delayed biopsies. When I first started working there, I had heard of that happening. At that point I made a decision that it would not happen under my watch.

I spent many hours on my own time trying to get things done for my patients. Sometimes it could take 9 months to a year to finally get some results. There were some vets that ended up with referrals to mental health just because of the BS the VA was putting them through because they would finally break fighting the system. I understood their frustration because I was also fighting the same system.

I lost my job there for being a patient advocate - they don't like the boat rocked because it makes the rest of them look like the useless government employees they are. Most of those people are just there cruising to retirement and do as little as possible. They hire per diems like me to actually do the work. For most permanent hires, it is all about procedure and protocols which do not distill down to actual patient care - it makes them look busy.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I came onboard and it was not long before I was making waves. What was being done to our vets disgusted me. I finally reached out to my Congressional Representative who was on the Armed Services Committee. To his credit, he at least was trying to get some accountability but he was also being stonewalled. They did finally manage to allow vets to seek outside care and bypass the VA. How well that system is working, I do not know. When I was there, trying to get an outside referral was near impossible.

We have to find ways to keep the pressure on these bastards and make them responsible for what they have done. They are counting on these injured vets to simply go away. It is up to the rest of us that they leave behind to pick up the flag and continue to fight for them.

I worked at the VA and the government has been doing this crap to our best for decades. I dealt with very sick patients from agent orange, or whatever color chemical they were exposed to, all the way thru gulf war syndrome. The DoD was responsible for these tragedies and then refused to pay for it knowing full well that many would die without seeing a dime. Those that were too sick to hold down jobs with private insurance were forced to use the VA as their sole provider. Many of the vets I worked with that fell into these categories of service connected injures had been denied treatment because the government was not acknowledging its responsibility for their injuries. When I was there, the government finally started paying out on the Viet Nam era claims - decades after the fact. By then, many of those injured vets, like your brother, had already succumb to their injuries.

It is all about the money at the end of the day. They delay paying out as long as possible. Some of my patients had treatments delayed so long that they were too sick to undergo that treatment when it finally was approved. This was deliberate. I had a monthly running list of needed biopsies that the VA kept dropping the ball on. The appointments would be cancelled for no damn reason and never be rescheduled. It was shameful. I would personally get a patient back on a schedule when I noticed that they had been dropped. Luckily, I did not have any patients that died because of a diagnosis that hinged on one of these delayed biopsies. When I first started working there, I had heard of that happening. At that point I made a decision that it would not happen under my watch.

I spent many hours on my own time trying to get things done for my patients. Sometimes it could take 9 months to a year to finally get some results. There were some vets that ended up with referrals to mental health just because of the BS the VA was putting them through because they would break fighting that system. I understood their frustration because I was also fighting the same system.

I lost my job there for being a patient advocate - they don't like the boat rocked because it makes the rest of them look like the useless government employees they are. Most of those people are just there cruising to retirement and do as little as possible. They hire per diems like me to actually do the work. For most permanent hires, it is all about procedure and protocols which do not distill down to actual patient care - it makes them look busy.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I came onboard and it was not long before I was making waves. What was being done to our vets disgusted me. I finally reached out to my Congressional Representative who was on the Armed Services Committee. To his credit, he at least was trying to get some accountability but he was also being stonewalled. They did finally manage to allow vets to seek outside care and bypass the VA. How well that system is working, I do not know. When I was there, trying to get an outside referral was near impossible.

We have to find ways to keep the pressure on these bastards and make them responsible for what they have done. They are counting on these injured vets to simply go away. It is up to the rest of us that they leave behind to pick up the flag and continue to fight for them.

I worked at the VA and the government has been doing this crap to our best for decades. I dealt with very sick patients from agent orange, or whatever color chemical they were exposed to, all the way thru gulf war syndrome. The DoD was responsible for these tragedies and then refused to pay for it knowing full well that many would die without seeing a dime. Those that were too sick to hold down jobs with private insurance were forced to use the VA as their sole provider. Many of the vets I worked with that fell into these categories of service connected injures had been denied treatment because the government was not acknowledging its responsibility for their injuries. When I was there the government finally started paying out on the Viet Nam era injuries - decades after the fact. By then, many of those injured vets, like your brother, had already succumb to their injuries.

It is all about the money at the end of the day. They delay paying out as long as possible. Some of my patients had treatments delayed so long that they were too sick to undergo that treatment when it finally was approved. This was deliberate. I had a monthly running list of needed biopsies that the VA kept dropping the ball on. The appointments would be cancelled for no damn reason and never be rescheduled. It was shameful. I would personally get a patient back on a schedule when I noticed that they had been dropped. Luckily, I did not have any patients that died because of a diagnosis that hinged on one of these delayed biopsies. When I first started working there, I had heard of that happening. At that point I made a decision that it would not happen under my watch.

I spent many hours on my own time trying to get things done for my patients. Sometimes it could take 9 months to a year to finally get some results. There were some vets that ended up with referrals to mental health just because of the BS the VA was putting them through because they would break fighting that system. I understood their frustration because I was also fighting the same system.

I lost my job there for being a patient advocate - they don't like the boat rocked because it makes the rest of them look like the useless government employees they are. Most of those people are just there cruising to retirement and do as little as possible. They hire per diems like me to actually do the work. For most permanent hires, it is all about procedure and protocols which do not distill down to actual patient care - it makes them look busy.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I came onboard and it was not long before I was making waves. What was being done to our vets disgusted me. I finally reached out to my Congressional Representative who was on the Armed Services Committee. To his credit, he at least was trying to get some accountability but he was also being stonewalled. They did finally manage to allow vets to seek outside care and bypass the VA. How well that system is working, I do not know. When I was there, trying to get an outside referral was near impossible.

We have to find ways to keep the pressure on these bastards and make them responsible for what they have done. They are counting on these injured vets to simply go away. It is up to the rest of us that they leave behind to pick up the flag and continue to fight for them.