When the Washington Post breaks news, they don't mess around. Dana Priest and Anne Hull's reporting on abominable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has already caused firings at the Pentagon. We'll talk to both of them today, and hopefully hear from you (especially any military folks in our audience).
Blog of the Nation
As an insight into this problem, my father-in-law served in WWII. Prior to the war he participated in High Altitude tests. He suffered loss of feeling in his hands during these tests. The VA denied the disability because his records were lost in a fire. Even when a publically published book on the High Altitude testing was produced and named my father-in-law as a test subject, the VA still did not allow the disability.
I remember that as a child our local VA hospital had a terrible reputation of being a dirty, dank, and miserable place to visit, let alone get services from. How is it that this is now such a surprise? Why is action only taken after the media exposes the truths? Why were the complaints of the soldiers ignored and now everyone acts so outraged at this "new" revelation? Time and again we learn of atrocities under this administration - when and how will they be held accountable?
Regarding veteran care in general, I have to ask where the heck you folks in the media have been? I'm a Vietnam Veteran, and I can tell you that the problems you are just now uncovering have been endemic to the system since the '70s.
We veterans are used to getting nothing more than lip service from politicians and the military. We don't like it, but we've come to expect nothing better than this. You may shine a spotlight on Walter Reed for a while, but this news cycle will pass, and my fellow vets will be in the same boat as before.
Sincerely
as a registered nurse who has worked in many urban settings, i think this is a reflection on health care across the country. i see a real crisis for the US in the future. also consider the maze of beauracry within the federal system, i have never met someone who works at a veteren hospital for the satisfication of taking care of soliders, they work at these hospitals because they know they are not accountable and will never be fired. sorry to be so cruel to my own profession. sincerely anne nagel rn
As dreadful as this story is, it's not the only issue for our service people. Visit a large base and see the way the families and children of our soldiers are treated. I'm embarassed at theservices they lack.
How do wounded soldiers who obtain medical care outside the VA system pay their health care bills?
Please ask the journalists to comment on the distinction between military hospitals, such as WRAMC, and the VA system. It's my understanding that the problems they uncovered are prevalent in the military hospital system, but that the VA, a distinct system, is a lot better. Is that true?
While I'm glad these inadequacies and neglect are being brought to life, I agree this is no new news. As a Navy wife, it wasn't long before I learned that the VA is "your second chance to give your life for your country."
There is a perception in this country that the military is taken care of. Nothing could be further from the truth. The regular health insurance (Tricare) for military families is such a joke. Neither GS workers nor members of Congress have to tolerate the poor coverage and red tape that military families must deal with daily. I suggest you do a story on Tricare as well.
For 4 years we have read about the commander in chief George Bush and his wife Laura visiting the soldiers at Walter Reed. Seems a commander would go off the preset path and look for the wards noone wants to show off. The White House approach to Walter Reed repeats the flyover at 20,000 feet above the Katrina disaster. Is not the Commander in Chief responsible here?
I am an Active Duty AF Physician who has been involved with the military medical system since 1974. While the situation at WRAMC is a travesty, and may represent a systemic problem for the Army, I would highlight that there are also tremendous shining examples of medical care throughout the services. I would also ask the reporters if they have done any investigation to make a distinction between the VA system, the Active Duty health care system and even more specifically between the Army and the other services, particularly the Air Force system. Not that it would ever justify the sort of happenings at WRAMC, the Military Healthcare System is asked to do amazing things with limited resources and manpower. I believe it is also of note that the care at the front lines is setting the standard for lifesaving trauma care
I do not understand how anyone can continue to believe that this Administration is patriot and cares about our men and women in uniform. First they send the soldiers into combat without adequate supplies (remember the unarmored Hummers and lack of body armor) and now Bush and Co. do not have adequate care for the soldiers when they return home.
How un patriotic can you get?
I heard this morning that there will be new hires to help facilitate the patients through the system. Why is there no provision for Americore volenteers or other volenteer groups at Walter Reed?
There was an irony in the fact that my husband had an appointment at the VA Hospital in Charleston yesterday. He has just graduated from using a walker to using a cane. He was sent all over the hospital (when it was clear walking was painful). Finally, he waited. After three hours he left, knowing he was in so much pain he might not make it the two hours home.
You know, these men are trained to "suck it up", and not to complain - either about their condition or their care. No man wants to be a "sissy". Also, many feel thankful that in a country where so many are uninsured, they get any care at all. Few want to jeopardize the care they get.
Hi, I deployed twice, once in 2001 and then again in 2003. We had guys who became medical holdovers and had to stay at the Mobilization Site, Ft. Dix. Some of these guys were STILL at the mobe site when we returned in 2003 waiting to be medicaly cleared. How do other MTF's compare to Walter Reed and what about the mobilization sites? The housing for medical holdovers at mobe sites generally consists of crowded cold war era open bay barracks. For the guys that are stuck there they have little to do but get in trouble. It is also extremely difficult for their families sometimes hundereds of miles away. I am very concerned about this issue as a veteran, reservist, and Student Nurse at an East Coast VA hospital.
This is something to think about as we debate National Healthcare. How would a National Healthcare plan be any different in dealing with the Bureaucracy? My wife is a Resident and rotates through a VA hospital and continually has to deal with a nursing staff that will not hesitate to show their contracts if they do not want to do something. Why should jobs be protected when workers do not perform?
I second the surprise that the nation is "outraged" over poor care at the VA. My husband did some residency (Internal Medicine) time at the VA and for all his good qualities, a sensitive soul he is not. But I recall him coming home on more than one evening crying. He was shocked that the conditions were so poor for men and women who had gone to war for the country and come home to this.
Our brother has recently undergone several surgeries and treatments at Veteran's Hospital in Iowa City, IA. He is now in the Veteran's Nursing facility in Knoxville, IA. We (his Sisters) have found that he gets good care and services if he has a determined and consistent advocate. We have found the Drs. and nurses to be helpful and informative if we just ask. We discovered that different parts of his body were the responsibility of different teams and we had to make sure that those different teams knew what the other teams were doing or planning. We had the same experience with nongovernment medical services, when our Mother was a patient, as we are having now with Veteran's medical service.
We recommend that family members of veterans become outspoken, assertive and consistent.
Walter Reed is known for its excellent medical care for wounded soldiers. It is hard to beleive that with such poor conditions and out-patient care there that it is not as bad or worse at other military hospitals
I don't understand why either the conditions at Walter Reed or the more systemic problems in the Army medical system are such a surprise and scandal. Call me a cynic, but considering that a) it's the government- every part of it is a huge, overwhelming bureaucracy, and b) the war in Iraq is enormously expensive, and the facility is due to be closed in a few years anyway, why would we even expect that it would be easy to navigate the system, or that money would be spent to improve or keep up anything there that wouldn't have to be? Quite frankly, I would have been more shocked if it had been reported that everything was going smoothly and working well.
During the late 60's when my father was 2nd in comand at WRAMC (we lived on post), Vietnam war casualties also crowded the facility. What must have been more than frustrating for him was having to make room for Senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices who demanded--and recieved--medical care.
Does this practice still continue? Are top civilian officials demonstrating their support for this war effort by once again displacing servicemen and women who deserve the best in care the military can provide?
Jim Fairchild, Philomath, Oregon
I am an active duty physician who will be retiring after 20 years of service. This war is definitely taking its toll on the medical system that will last for years. ER physicians, anesthesiologists, mental health care providers, family practioners and others are already in short supply because people don't want to stay in the service and be repeatedly deployed. I'm sure the outpatient system at Walter Reed has been greatly impacted by this-the only way to fix this is to put money into the system to hire GOOD providers to fill these gaps. The best choices would be former military providers, but the pay needs to be there.
Even before the United states entered WWII, FDR began preparing for the casualties of the battles. The Pentagon building was initially planned as a hospital. Obviously such plans were not made. The attitude was very cavelier.
A journalism/media/marketing question:
You have both been interviewed extensively by other media about this story. Does the Washington Post make you available and encourage/require you to devote your time to this coverage? Are reporters always encouraged to appear when they're asked?
Thank you.
Please address the issue of privatization of service support personnel jobs (300 fed workers replaced by 50 private workers) at Walter Reed. Walter Reed gave a 5 year contract ($120 million) to IAP Worldwide Services run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official. Bush has systematically privatized government work--Walter Reed, 100,000 mercenaries, etc., etc. Please comment.
I had the pleasure of serving at Walter Reed (active duty) and then of being medically discharged after a training accident.
I doubt that you will find many ex-soldiers who have been in medical hold units for whom aspects of this story are not familiar. The only difference is the scale of the problem.
my experience at wramc was dismal d/t the paperwork needed to qualify for disability. i think the goal is for vets to give up.
Ron Kovic, author of "Born on the Fourth of July," wrote about his horrific experiences in military hospitals after being injured in Vietnam. Were any improvements made after the era of the Vietnam War? Thank you.
When is the President, his administration and those who stubbornly support him going to realize this truth: We are making enemies faster than we can kill them and, as a result, making disabled veterans faster than we can treat them? My active duty physician husband, and everyone else in Medical Corps, is SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE trying to make up for the lack of planning on the part of this Administration. Stop blaming the messengers--hold this PRESIDENT accountable!
I am offended by the comment that the average listener or reader of the news cannot separate the care from the many professionals in the military health care system, and the problems with the red tape, buildings and other issues described in this news story. I am angry that the veteran's health care system has been systematically underfunded and dismanteled over many years.
To maintain the system, the Administration must get straight on the matter of money to take care of the system. My care has been OK, but I've heard from many vets who say that for major care needs, they will not go to V.A. We need to appropriate MONEY to take care of the network.
WRAMC--Again, we see that government cannot "do it all". Maybe some of the "Hollywood Elite" who "support the soldiers, but not the war" would be willing to raise money (lots of money) specifically for fixing WRAMC & VA problems. Now THAT would be a celebrity worthy of my support. Thank you for NPR and "Talk of the Nation" specifically. Sincerely, Mrs Sarah J Galassi
To give the army its due, Walter Reed was on the BRAC list. They did know the facility was outmoded and I can understand them being overwhelmed by the casualties. I am sufficiently convinced that the Army is doing the best it can for their wounded. The deeper problem is, as it has long been, the inefficiency of the VA.
Why is everyone so shocked and surprised at the conditions at the Military hospitals? Our veterans were subjected to the same things (and worse) during and after the Viet Nam war. The only difference now is that people are paying attention and actually care. The country wanted to forget Viet Nam, and unfortunately that also meant forgetting about the soldiers. By the way, my mother is a veteran of WWII and has always received excellent care through the VA. Now that they have decided to shift some of the responsibility on to the VA system, I just hope her level of care does not deteriorate.
I am a Colonel's daughter. I would not have lived if it had not been for the incredible care I received at WRAMC after being transferred from DeWitt at Ft. Belvoir. I had anorexically induced double mycoplasma pneumonia which had spread to my liver also, pleurisy, no red blood cells, white cells, or platelets being produced, fevers of up to 107, ammenorhea, diarrhea, and got down to 82 lbs and my hair fell out. I had grand mal seizures every 15 mins or so for a few weeks while in intensive care. After living there for two months, I went home, re-learned how to walk and returned to school. I had a B average for that year despite being gone for over two months. I wanted to go to WRAMC to become a nurse. It didn't work out but I still regret it. I remember nurse Alice, who was a Vietnam Vet. She often came to see me in the evenings to play cards with me and comb my hair, even when it had all fallen out still massaged my skull. I loved all my corpsmen and doctors. If I had not had care at one of the best hospitals in the world, I would not have lived. Thank you to all the hard working and overworked military people who work there. I am turning fifty next month. I was told I would never see it!~ Thank you, Barbara Jo Matson
I am the daughter of a now deceased WWII veteran who spent 40 years struggling to get the VA to recognize his PTSD condition and whether or not it was service connected. He enlisted underage and was a 17 year old medic at Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and then at the liberation of Buchenwald. It required an appeal to the CVA (Court of Veterans Appeals). I am now an attorney and during law school I clerked for an attorney who represented veterans in their disability claims. There are probably less than 100 of them in the country due to a Federal law prohibiting attorneys from charging more than $10.00 to represent a veteran in his disability claims process. What makes this area of the law now economically feasible is the imposition of Equal Access to Justice Fees against the VA for failure to follow their own regulations during the adjudication level and then at the Board of Veterans Appeals. The Court (created in 1988) is imposing millions PLUS of dollars in fees against the VA on a routine basis. I have to wonder if anyone has looked at these fees being accessed against the VA?
The disability claims process is excrutiating at the Regional Office level for the veteran and his family. (File claim, denial, recon, denial, file appeal, then wait for it to be docketed for appeal can take well over a year) And then to the next level where waits to have a unfavorable decision reviewed by the Board of Veterans Affair are at least a year. Meanwhile the veteran's medical needs may remain untreated because his conditions have not been determined to be 'service-connected.'
When we went into Iraq 5 years ago I prayed that these veterans would not suffer the same beaucratic nightmare that my father and those from Korea and Vietnam experienced. I am heartbroken that our Iraq veterans and their families are experiencing the same... my siblings and I are still dealing with growing up with a man who was completely broken by his service to his country.
As a final note, I tell every service member I meet, always get a copy of your medical records every time you see a doctor. Keep your own set of records.
thank you
Jan Doran
I knew Gen Kiley during the first Iraq war. He appeared to me as soley focused on his own career than the soldiers underneath his command. He over worked his command giving care to Iraq POWs at the expense of the health and welfare of his own soldiers. After providing record care to POWS and US soldiers he rewarded his own soldiers by providing them sleeping quarters in Chicken Coops where his soldiers had to clean them out themselfs to make them livible. It does not surpise me one bit what we are hearing in the news about his mistreatment of soldiers
I keep hearing people talking abput the commissions to look into this and blah, blah (important to be done) but what I want to find out is how many qualified and needed medical personnel have been hired in the past week and how many are at work as we speak at Walter Reed ?
I listened to the entire program and feel that an opportunity was missed that addresses what the "real" story is; the hand-off of the military medical system to the Veteran's Administration. The VA has always been a political hot potato that niether party is comfortable dealing with, and of course its the Veterans who suffer as a result.
OF COURSE the army was unprepared for the numbers of casualties needing treatment. This administration repeatedly lied to America about the invasion - it refused to admit there would be a 25% casualty rate - medical personnel were taken FROM the hospitals - it let the "war" drag on and on and on, with NO plan to secure Iraq - equipment wasn't provided to soldiers - and the whole time Bush and Rumsfeld made speeches that everything was going fine. Add to that, the Repubs were closing MORE hospitals and CUTTING funding.
My son (USMC) was severely injured while deployed and received a medical discharge. The nearest VA Hospital is 200 miles away. His "rating visits" were weeks/months apart. The Tri-Care "gap" coverage ran out six months after his discharge; his final rating took 14 months. The patient advocate at the VA told us, "You have to be patient; there are a lot of veterans coming into the system."
In the meantime, unable to work or receive service-related medical benefits, our son was forced into bankruptcy.
While we were sitting in the waiting room during one of the myriad of "rating visits," we spoke with a young woman who was there with her husband. He had jumped out of an airplane, but his chute failed to open. After two years, the VA rated him 50% disabled (a paraplegic is ONLY 50% disabled???). They were going through the rating process again, trying to get it increased.
Other posts have noted that this is really not news, that this has been the situation for as long as anyone can remember. The patriots among us are appalled that our country continues to send the lambs to slaughter, and then abandons them when they manage to survive. I suggest that we send the Bush twins to Iraq, then maybe we'll see some changes.
I was unable to catch all of your show today, however I did hear about the last half hour. My husband is a veteran of the Army. He served this country for 8 years. He has problems, but none as significant as what I have heard on the show. My comment today is in regards to VA benefits for veterans. I have recently been made aware that when people like the gentleman's story that was on the show last, are at risk for losing their VA disability benefits/settlements, should their spouse choose to leave them after what has happened. There is a federal law, 5301, that states veterans disability benefits are NOT to be used as a marital asset. However, it turns out that STATE judges are "above the law" and do consider them marital assets. I know of a gentleman from another war, who is pretty much bedridden. His wife left him because of the condition he was in. And a STATE judge has awarded her HALF of his disability benefits! We...as taxpayers are paying ABLE BODIED PEOPLE money that was meant for the soldier whom defended this country and every single person in it! This man CANNOT WORK and all he has is his VA benefits; and STATE judges around the country are awarding it to able bodied spouses. For the life of me I cannot understand this. And I hope the rest of you can't either and join the fight for VA rights and benefits. This is just ridiculous and absurd. Our military veterans are being JAILED for refusing to split their disability benefits with former spouses. And there isn't a news anchor, reporter etc. that will touch this subject and bring it out to the "public". I guess it is just something only veterans are allowed to know. That way, when it does come out, the "people" will think, "Oh, thats coming from an angry military vet. He shouldn't have went then if he couldn't handle it" Nice. Think about that.
Those who saddle the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed and other military and
VA hospitals exclusively on the Republican Party have very short
memories and a pitifully underestimating view of our federal
government's shortcomings.
A brother-in-law of mine served in Vietnam in 1969. Almost as soon as
he returned---in seemingly good health---he developed thyroid cancer.
For the next 35 years or so, the man suffered one physical problem
after another.
In that time, my sister---his wife--- battled VA countless times, and
I dare say she fought tougher battles with the VA bureacracy than
many a soldier has ever fought in combat. The party in power made no
difference whatsoever.
Her paperwork was staggering. The double-talk and VAspeak maddening.
The shifts in VA's responsibilities were endless. The incompetency in
documentation was enormous. The assurances of improved treatment were often forgotten. The red
tape was monumental; the line of government hoops she was forced to
jump through was infinite.
Were it not for my sister's steadfast and perpetually gutsy fights
with the VA "system,", my brother-in-law would have been nickle-and-
dimed by VA for the rest of his life, in terms of disability
benefits, pension and professional attention.
Thanks almost exclusively to my sister's determination not to give in
and "go away," her husband finally, about three years ago---over 30
years later!---qualified for full disability benefits. Agent Orange
was generically implied to be a cause of his health problems.
Yes, there were some caring people at Louisville, KY's VA Hospital
who tended to my brother'-in-law's laundry list of physical problems.
A few caring people, vs. waves of new doctors and new administrative
faces, many of which offered treatments and care which time and again
differed 180 degrees from the previous diagnoses and care.
My brother-in-law developed a reputation as a hard-ass, vile,
incorrigible patient. Maybe more often than not he was within his
rights to be such a patient, given his myriad conflicts with VA.
Please, there has to be a much better means of seeing after America's
sick and broken vets, whether they have been beseiged by hells either
emotional or physical.
Better means than running a major VA hospital in Louisville as a
virtual a ghost town every weekend, devoid of any but a skeleton crew
of medical professionals; better than marching in an ever-changing
staff which has to start over from square one with patients who
astoundingly, have to "educate" them as to his or her problems,
because there is no continuity in treatment or through case review by
the doctors.
My sister passed away over a year and a half ago from a brain tumor
which came out of nowhere. I strongly believe it may have been
created by the tremendous stress produced by not only her husband's
medical condition, but her years and years of taking up the sword and
fighting the mighty VA on his behalf. Her husband, by the way, the
Vietnam vet, passed away less than a year after she did. On Memorial Day, 2006. His body had
suffered through enough.
PLEASE make it known though your coverage of the Walter Reed/military/Veterans fiasco
that vets such as my brother-in-law paid even a more shocking price
for their patriotism in the 70's than the disrespect of much of the
American public. More than half a lifetime later, they still were
being treated in shameful fashion by their own government.
I pass on using the word "disregard" and dare here to suggest that a
more accurate and operable word for our military's attitude could be
"contempt." The shameful health care demonstrated by our own
government speaks to me of an absolute contempt for the very soldiers
it pays to fight its wars. "You're back, you got half your skull
blown off, so what?"
This is sickening, my fellow Americans.
Two questions:
1. Thirty-five years from now, will our vets who come as home damaged
goods from service in Iraq and Afganistan be fighting the same
woeful and dispassionate VA as my sister and brother-in-law did?
2. What's going to change it?
My father joined the Marine Corps at the tender age of 17. He was 19 when he went to Vietnam. He was wounded and exposed to numerous dangerous chemicals.
I find it amazing that the media and the government is acting as if this is the first they knew of the deplorable condition of the VA and military hospitals. This is not new information.
The US citizens have bought into the HERO, PR campaign of military recruitment and refused to acknowledge the reality of the life, post injury.
Our wounded HEROS are not treated with respect and admiration. They are treated as if they are freeloaders or welfare cases. They are expected to wait for months to receive a medical appointment. When they arrive for that appointment, a four to six hour wait is not uncommon. Even for a pharmacy pick-up.
My father never complains. "He adapts and overcomes."
He has friends who work at his VA Hospital. He sees and hears about the understaffing and overworked conditions. He has sympathy for those who work there everyday and are unable to give the care, attention and facilities they know their patients expect and deserve.
I hope MY HERO will finally be respected by this military medical system.
OK, NPR and all you media types, now I would like to hear a program telling US (the public) who to write to, call, badger, harangue, and harass. This problem can be solved if we all "stay at it" long enough. Help those of us who are willing to keep the ball rolling long after the spotlight dims. (I am a "talk show junkie" but I often have to take extended breaks from them, simply because while all have an opinion as to "the problem", very few offer real steps that the American public can take to help.)
Bloggers: Is there an organization that does a good job at lobbying Washington, D.C.? one that can keep giving email updates on what is/is not going on???? Something like an AFA, Focus on the Family, etc....
HELP those who want to spend time, energy, and perhaps money to "fix things" know where to start....Thanks
If you really want to point fingers at our military medical delimna, then why isn't anyone asking Congress, Congress, who controls the purse strings why the situation has gotten to this point. Thank George Bush for being the President, otherwise the Liberal Dems would not have even looked at the problems we have with our military medical system. Congress has cut military funding so much that it is difficult for our military leaders to operate as they once did (say 15-30 years ago). Defense dollars are always the first to be cut. So what are you whinning about. You get what you pay for. If we're firing the military leaders or replacing them, then it's time to replace our Congress also. But, hey they would never admit they did anything wrong. Born, raised, retire military. No complaints from me for the last 50 plus years.
I would like to remind Steve that for most of Mr. Bush's term he has had a Republican Congress. The Democratic voice and influence had been largely silence under the partisan leaders of both the House and the Senate. Perhaps had Bush administration better planned for this war, the money wasted in Iraq could have been better used to help the wounded back home. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would have "oh my goshed" his way out of this one and blamed the usual mess of war. They did not plan for the war we got; they planned for the war they dreamed up.
Here's something constructive:
When I got sick about 7 years ago, the medical system failed me. Its not just
the veterans medical system that is crumbling. I was lucky because I had the money to cover things that helped me, which were not on the insurance plan.
After I got well, I studied these things, quit my job at U.C. Berkeley, where I was a research scientist, and became state certified as a health eduator. I created a web site and a set of videos that share some of these things. I spent all of my money and many years learning these things, and fought like hell to get well again. Despite fouled up medical system. The world of the sick is very very different from the world of functioning individuals. And until you are sick yourself, its hard to relate. Once you understand, it changes you. Getting well, if you learn something, you share it. That's kind of the deal you make with nature, or God. Here's the webpage.
www.21stcenturymed.org
Its in english, spanish, french.
Now, rich people's medicine is available for everyone, and its as easy as just watching television.
Harvard Medical School's Herbert Benson said "My Hope is that Self Care will stand equal to medical drugs, surgery and other therapies."
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