When dealing with the VA doctors, by trial and by error, what I have discovered is that dealing with your regular assigned doctor, and trying to get him or her to actually do something is about akin to getting a tooth pulled. I waited about a year and a half before the one that I had would even send me to a specialist.
The way around that is that you have to go in to the emergency clinic when you get really sick, then, they will do the tests necessary to find out what is wrong.
It is NOT preventitive medicine in any stretch of the imagination.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I am an 91 year old vet, but I have never used the VA. Further, its record is frequently so bad that I believe that we would be better off if the agency were done away with and all vets were given insurance cards allowing them access to regular medical care by any doctor and facility. If the vet seeking care were also under medicare, the card should cover all costs above those provided by medicare. .
wordywalt
Level 9
Jan 27, 2019
1
THHA:
Great idea!
My dad's a Vietnam Veteran with PDSD. He was rated 100% disabled in 1996. He kept his health insurance from when he worked at the Post Office as the VA was never very good. I remember once in the early '90s we traveled across the state because they were going to take some shrapnel out of his leg. So we drove 3 hours, sat in a hospital waiting room nearly all day (it was at least 6 hours, and probably more), before they called him in. He was already sweating bullets about having this done, and by this time his nerves were shot. They brought him into an exam room, told him to lift up his pant leg, numbed it a little with a shot, and within seconds started cutting the shrapnel (no hello, how are you, relax and this will be easy and quick--nothing). As soon as there was a little blood, he passed out right on the exam table.
I do remember the doctors got scared that they really screwed this up. They told us we could not drive home that night (it was dark by then), and we got a really ratty motel for the night. They told us we had to call them the next day before leaving to see how he was doing.
greyeyed123
Level 7
Jan 27, 2019
0
THHA:
Wow, that is quite a story . . The VA probably hires a LOT of inexperienced doctors for general practice, and more experienced doctors for emergency services.
That's Socialized medicine for you.
BD66
Level 8
Jan 27, 2019
0
Actually it's not. It's medicine run by the military. Socialized medicine refers to a variety of health care systems, some privatized (Germany), some government run but with competition (the NHS), and none of which constitute a capitalist, profit-driven market like the private insurance system we have in the US, with the highest administrative costs in the world. Take a look at this PBS documentary so you can see what "socialized medicine" actually refers to:
I have heard VA horror stories just like that.
And when we had Vets we were helping it could take weeks to reach the Dr and get info. from the VA. I doubt that has improved either.
Though to be truthful it's becoming kind of weird everywhere for treatment? It isn't just VAs.
But VAs are just known to be awful.
RavenCT
Level 9
Jan 27, 2019
1
In certain areas of the Country some VA med centers are pretty good. When we lived in Lincoln Nebraska, Richard never had complaints about his care or the doctors, other than they wouldn't even talk about weed with him. Once we moved here to Texas it was a different story.Tthe VA system here is horrible to it's Vets. It has seemed to me that things have gotten much worse since the orange anus came on the scene....
@Redheadedgammy Every Vet I talk to with VA care? I worry about.
They are uniquely vulnerable.
I wonder if those folks worked during the shutdown?
@RavenCT It's the very elderly ones that I worry about the most. They are so fragile and need extra help just moving from point A to point B. Some of the shit I've seen at the VA, and how those older Vets are treated has really angered me. I've even gone to the administrators office at the VA hospital to complain about things I've heard and seen while at the hospital. I know of one woman who was fired for her abusive language when speaking with a Veteran. It should happen much more often.
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