Christopher Corey
Dr. Sonia Begert
English 102
5 March 2015
Research Project: Veteran’s
Administration
Serving in the United States Armed Forces is an honor in
itself, I can attest to that personally. Shouldn’t our veterans be honored in
the same fashion upon returning home? Shouldn’t their minds be at ease when it
comes to health care, service connected disability claims, and education? The
Veterans Administration (VA) has prevented all of this by misguided and
mishandling of our veteran’s hard earned benefits. A change in leadership and a
complete rebuild on policy and procedures for the
Veterans Administration is due, and I’m here to tell you why. Our veterans and
their families deserve these services hassle free and that is just not
happening.
This particular subject is a rather complex one to
research and a lot of man hours were involved in divulging information on the
subject as each case had varying situations. One particular VA location that
continually came up with multiple cases of death and dereliction of services
was the Columbia, SC facility. “At least 19 veterans have died because of
delays in simple medical screenings like colonoscopies or endoscopies, at
various VA hospitals or clinics, CNN has learned. That's according to an
internal document from the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs, obtained exclusively by CNN that
deals with patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011.”(CNN) This discovery
obviously brings into question the VA branches policy and procedures for
scheduling screening, diagnosis, and various types of appointments. “The
veterans were part of 82 vets who have died or are dying or have suffered
serious injuries as a result of delayed diagnosis or treatment for
colonoscopies or endoscopies.” (CNN) That’s 82 lives lost unnecessarily all
because of laziness and procedural non-compliance. The case study of Barry
Coates is particularly interesting because of the gravity of not receiving a
colonoscopy and living through the outcome to tell us the story about it. Barry
spent most of 2011 in horrendous pain and was experiencing bleeding. He visited
multiple VA locations throughout the year only to be told he was experiencing
hemorrhoids and was prescribed simple pain medications. A side note was added
stating that he may need a colonoscopy but it wasn’t ever much more than that. I
told her that something needed to be done," said Coates. "But nothing
was ever set up ... a consult was never set up. I had already been in pain and
suffering from this problem for over six months and it wasn't getting better. I
told her that if you were in as much pain as I was and had been going through
you wouldn't wait another two months to see what's going on. You would probably
do it this week." Coates did end up waiting for multiple months trying
over and over to get an appointment to only to be put on an increasing list of
backlogged veterans. Eventually he did get that appointment many months later
in which they found he actually had a cancerous tumor the size of a baseball.
This was after a year of the first contact he had with doctors about his
condition. He is now undergoing chemotherapy trying to preserve his life. “It
is unclear whether anyone responsible at the VA has been fired, demoted or even
admonished for the delays in care and treatment. Some of the people responsible
may have even received bonuses in recent years for their work, despite the
delays in care or treatment for the veterans.” (CNN) This is outrageous and
should not be tolerated by anyone at anytime within the organization. This is
perfect example of the mismanagement and corruption taking place that needs to
stop.
There are quite
a few articles that account first-hand the struggles veterans have face
post-service in attaining the benefits they rightfully earned. One of the major
conflicts in this issue is the fact that some veterans’ had to wait so long
just for an appointment that they actually died from a disease or other medical
complication. In today’s world of political correctness this is absurd and
should be addressed. In Gary Peterson’s article “ Veterans’ benefits delayed by
crushing VA backlog.” The story of William Kasten is elaborated upon. William
Kasten waited over 700 days before his VA claim was even accepted into the system
of claims which then begins at least a 9 month process of review. After his
service in the United States Coast Guard William began suffering from
debilitating back pain and depression. Mr. Kasten had gone through several
foreclosures and lost his job and mode of transportation. This veteran was
simply trying to claim the disability repayments that he is entitled to. There
are several cases such as this one that struck an investigation into the
California VA’s 58 regional offices which acknowledge there are “slightly more
than 800,000 pending claims” it is outrageous how many processing claims there
are and this should be fixed immediately. The article continues on to tell the
story of several other veterans with service connected disabilities, particularly
in California, that are suffering in the same situation as William Kasten. Naturally
looking at the amount of pending claims (800,000+ in California alone) one has
wonder what happens to those veterans with severe disabilities and illness’?
According to the article “Hospital Delays are Killing America’s War Veterans”
by Scott Bronstein, Nelli Black, and Drew Griffin. An additional VA hospital in
Columbia, South Carolina has a recorded at least 20 deaths that are directly
related to military service connected complications. A doctor who is employed
at the South Carolina hospital is directly quoted saying “(Veterans) paid the
ultimate price," he said. "People that had appointments had their
appointments canceled and rescheduled much later. ... In some cases, that made
an impact where they went into a later stage (of illness) and therefore lost
the battle to live.” How is this possibly being allowed to continue without
some sort of intervention from the VA’s higher authority? Documented cases
directly related to a delay in treatment go untouched. It is a human right to
receive medical treatment and this is appalling that no judgment call was made
about the patient’s illness and how quickly they needed an appointment...
Even though many veterans have died awaiting treatment these hospitals continue
to receive good reviews and promote their staff.
Another
article related to the VA staff receiving bonuses and promotions in the wake of
a huge scandal is written by Curt Devin of CNN called “Bad VA Care may have
Killed more than 1,000 Veterans, senator’s report says.” This article goes into
depth about treatment delays for veterans resulting in deaths. Although the
connection between the wait time for diagnosis and treatment has not been
officially linked to each other it is under investigation. “The VA has admitted
that 23 patients have died because of delayed care in recent years, but the
report, titled "Friendly Fire: Death, Delay, and Dismay at the VA,"
shows many more patient deaths have been linked to systemic issues affecting VA
hospitals and clinics throughout the U.S. Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and
physician, says that if the VA's budget had been properly handled and the right
management had been in place, many of these deaths could have been avoided.” A
controversial system that promoted and incentivized managers to hide the fact
that patients were waiting months for care is brought to light.” At a
congressional hearing Friday, Gina Farrisee, the VA assistant secretary for
human resources and administration, confirmed that 78% of VA senior managers
qualified for extra pay or other compensation in fiscal year 2013, despite
ongoing delay and malpractice controversies.” This is another example of
mismanagement, honestly how can this be happening while the deaths of veterans
are overlooked. Aaron Glantz hits at
home with his book titled “The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against
America’s Veterans.” This book goes into detail on how America and Veterans
Administration have neglected soldiers and specifically their benefits not
being provided to them. Veterans are felt as they are casted aside for new and
upcoming service members therefore their needs are not met. It provides us with
insight on how the Bush Administration cut back on veterans’ benefits year
after year providing them with fewer options.
This malpractice and mishandling of veterans services
dates back to the early 1930’s and still continues to this day. Christopher Lee
wrote an article titled “Delayed Benefits Frustrate Veterans: Hundreds of
Thousands of Disability Claims Pending at VA; Current Wars to Strain System
further” and it was published by the Washington Post. This article tells the
story of a World War II veteran who contacted the VA nearly every day trying to
collect his benefits that he rightfully earned. The article goes into how the
VA has this cultural attitude of hostility surrounding it. Specifically, how
business is handled over the phone, in person, and on paper; as in paper just
magically gets lost 3 times. This article will provide me information on first
hand encounter and details of the encounter of a war veteran. It goes on to
tell you how there are thousands of cases similar to this veterans and how the
wars currently going on at the time were going to effect the system as more and
more claim pile in from recent war veterans. Thousands of veterans were injured
during the Vietnam War and many have yet to receive a single dime in disability
from the VA. Charles Maynard’s article “Department of Veterans Affair
Compensation and Medical Care Benefits Accorded to Veterans with Major Limb
Loss.” Dives into what benefits these veterans are entitled to and how little
known these benefits are to veterans. This article dives into the relatively
unknown federal benefits available to veterans who have lost a limb in combat.
Over 2000 veterans reported a limb loss during the Vietnam War most of which
reported receiving some sort of care of compensation from the VA. These
benefits are important because they provide health care and financial support.
This article is a great rendition of how the VA should be operating and
providing care to its service members. Not only is this information important
to members of historical wars it’s important to the more recent ones as well. I
discovered an article titled “Are Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Using Mental
Health Services? New Data From a National Random-Sample Survey.” Which
goes into depth on how the war effects service members and what claims would be
common to see from returning war veterans. Many veterans who return home from
serving overseas particularly in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from some form of
PTSD. This article looks into the facts of whether war veterans are using their
mental health benefits or if they have no knowledge of them. Data collected on
this survey provides us with a great idea of how many veterans are suffering
from some sort of mental issue and how many of those go untreated. Chris Kyle’s
story is a perfect example of how veterans are affected mentally and if left
untreated can turn into something much worse.
Higher officials involvement must be something to note as
their influence of the VA’s daily operations had a lot to do with the scandals
occurring. I found an article regarding the VA’s top officials and their
knowledge of illegal practices. Richard Oppel educates us with his article
“Some Top Officials Knew of V.A. Woes, Before the Scandal. This article goes
into details about the politics that were played by the VA’s higher up
officials. Susan Bowers is an executive in charge of dozens of VA hospitals
submitted a report that claimed all of the hospitals she was in charge of were
in certified compliance with policy. She was pressured to submit that report
falsely by other VA officials knowing full well that they were not compliant.
Katie Zezima backs this up with her article “Everything you need to know about
the VA and the Scandals Engulfing it.” An excellent article breaking down
exactly what was happening during the VA’s period of extensive wait times,
delays, and deaths. This article includes the story of uncovering the scandals
and the resignation of the VA secretary Eric Shinseki. A detailed run down of
the VA works and how it has deviated from the procedure and how it was caught
gives you a great idea of exactly what has been going on. “The inspector general's report confirmed press and
whistleblower reports that employees of the VA in Phoenix kept a secret
waiting list to make it appear that veterans were accessing care more quickly
than they were in reality. A doctor at the facility sent letters to the VA's
inspector general in December complaining
about delays in care. It has been claimed that dozens of people on
the waiting list have died, but their deaths have not been conclusively tied to
delays in treatment.” I cannot fathom why some type of government intervention
inspection has not occurred yet, and we read further on. “The
initial allegations in Phoenix sparked the broader scandal. Former Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki called for a review of all VA facilities after
the allegations surfaced. Officials at the Phoenix facility were placed on
leave and President Obama said Friday that many were being fired. Obama
dispatched one of his top advisers. Rob Nabors, to oversee an investigation of
the VA.” If this type of practice is occurring here I’m sure it is not
localized to just Phoenix and that’s when we find in the same article. “USA Today
reported this month that a report by the VA's Office of Medical
Inspector found that clerks at a clinic in Fort Collins were instructed on how
to falsify records so it appeared that doctors were seeing 14 patients a day, a
number within the agency's goal to help reduce the appointment backlog.” Thus
proving that VA practices nationwide need to be re-evaluated for their
policies. A great addition to this research project is the
specific documentation and review by the Inspector General at the Phoenix VA
facilities. This government document reviews specific cases of veteran’s
deaths, wait times for benefits, and the scheduling malpractice of the Phoenix
Health Care System. The Veterans Administration assembled a team of auditors to
review patient medical records who had died while on a wait list to receive
treatment. They also reviewed records of appointments completed and there
expected wait times versus the actual amount of time the patient waited for
treatment. Lastly, they reviewed over 1 million emails and messages to
determine validity of these cases to determine accountability issues. This PDF provides
specific case studies and accurate percentages of veterans who faced these challenges.
It provides unique situations that give us an idea of the different conflicts
veterans and their families face in dealing with the VA. [Figure 1] details
however slight, improvements are being made as more and more of this
information comes to light. (Wikipedia)
I’ve always been trained not to bring an argument or
issue to the table without solutions. Currently the VA and other government
agencies do have a few positive measures in place to ensure veterans success as
a civilian. One example is the Department of Labor “Transition Assistance
Manual.” A guide for transitioning service members to use in helping the
process to civilian life. This guide offers instruction on personal appraisal,
career exploration, strategies for an effective job search, and much more. This
is the guide that is used in the military Transition GPS course which is a
requirement for all military members separating from their branch of service.
This guide details benefits available to service members as well. An additional
guide provided by the same institution is “Employment Workshop Transition from
Military to Civilian Workforce.” Also a guide for participants in a transition
to civilian life course offered for service members. It covers different
scenarios and possible differences in personal interactions members should
expect to see. Through resume writing and knowledge of all your benefits this guide
will give you the tools to be successful and knowledgeable of the transition in
front of you. And lastly I have an article titled “We Aren’t Doing Enough to
Help Veterans Transition to Civilian Life there is much more We Could and
Should be Doing.” This entry gives us information on the policy of a mandatory
40 hour training program to make veterans aware of their benefits upon
separating from the armed forces. The transition from military to civilian life
is difficult and this document provides proof the hardships these military
members face and how the VA is not helping the case. It is the support of these
ideas that should be in effect to minimize veterans not receiving the knowledge
of their benefits and what can be done to improve the process of transitioning
to civilian life. The transition to civilian life is all too important as most veteran’s
welfare and future depend on that. A good initial plan with some guidance from the
VA and military associated services will provide the best possible head start
on the transition.
Lastly, my personal solution is to continue internal
reviews of all VA facilities nationwide in order to improve policies and
procedures and provide the best possible personnel to be employed by the VA. A
Quality Assurance program should be implemented to ensure compliance with the
regulations set forward by the institution’s leadership. With these programs in
full swing veterans services will continually improve to a level of performance
that is expected by our military veterans and their families. Weekly and
monthly reports should be generated and provided VA senior members by the
quality assurance specialist on hand. These reports should be based on patient
information regarding appointments open and closed including time frames. A
diagnosis for every patient should be done within a set number of days and
based on the diagnosis the priority of the condition shall be placed on a
pre-determined scale. This scale should be written and reviewed by a board
committee dedicated to the service of our veterans. Legal consultation of
current cases and future cases should be funded in part, in a timely manner, by
the VA and in full if the VA is found at fault. This can be avoided by the
implementation and execution of much more organized and directed company. These
veterans deserve this service and it’s our duty as a society to ensure that
happens.
[Figure 1]
(Wikipedia)
Works Cited
Wooten,
Adam. "Access to Mental Health Services at Veteran Affairs Community-Based
Outpatient Clinics." (2012). Industrial
and Labor Relations Review 46.4 (Jul. 1993):637-652.Web.15 Jan. 15. http://ezproxy.olympic.edu:2067
Angrist, Joshua.
"The Effect of Veteran's Benefits on Education and Earnings.” Industrial and
Labor Relations Review. 46.4 (Jul.
1993): 637-652. JSTOR. Web.15 Jan. 15.
Beckham, Jean C. “Are
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Using Mental Health Services? New Data From a
National Random-Sample Survey.” Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.) 64.2
(2013): 134–141. PMC. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Bronstein, Scott, Nelli
Black, and Drew Griffin. "Veterans Dying Because of Health Care
Delays." (2014). CNN. Web. 9 Jan 15
Glantz, Aaron. The
War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans. Aaron
Glantz, Berkley; UCP, 2009. Print.
Lee,
Christopher. "Delayed Benefits Frustrate Veterans; Hundreds of Thousands
of Disability Claims Pending at VA; Current Wars Likely to Strain System
further." The Washington Post. Apr 08 2007. ProQuest. Web.
10 Feb. 2015.
http://ezproxy.olympic.edu:2067/docview/410091586/5A010CD65FAD4894PQ/2?accountid=2203.
"We Aren't Doing Enough to Help Veterans Transition to
Civilian Life There Is Much More We Could and Should Be Doing, a Consultancy
Adviser Former Defense Official Says." The Washington Post. Washington Post
Newsweek Interactive. 2014. HighBeam
Research.Web.10 Feb. 2015
http://ezproxy.olympic.edu:2067/docview/1512235115/8E902C333AE7447BPQ/3?accountid=2203.
Maynard,
Charles. "Department of Veterans Affairs Compensation and Medical Care
Benefits Accorded to Veterans with Major Limb Loss." (2010). Journal of
Rehabilitation and Development. 47.4
(2010): 403-408. Web. 08 Jan 15.
Philpott,
Don, Janelle Hill. The Wounded Warrior Handbook: A Resource Guide for
Returning Veterans. Lanham, MD: Government Institutes, 2012. Print.
United States.
Department of Veterans Affairs. Office of Inspector General. “Review of Alleged
Patient Deaths, Patient Wait Times, and Scheduling Practices at the Phoenix VA
Health Care System.” Office of the
Inspector General. Department of Veterans Affairs. 26 Aug. 2014. Web. 10
Feb. 15.
Veterans
Health Administration facilities official wait data. N.d.
Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com. 3 Mar 15
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