The Department of Veterans Affairs, already embroiled in controversy over health care for veterans, reportedly sent a letter recently that offered a doctor’s appointment for a Vietnam veteran who had died two years earlier.
WBZ in Boston reported that Susan Chase, whose husband Doug served in Vietnam, received a letter two weeks ago from her local VA hospital telling Doug he could now schedule an appointment with a primary care doctor. But Doug died in the summer of 2012 of a brain tumor.
Chase told WBZ that she had tried to get her husband care at the hospital in Bedford, Mass., in 2012 after he was diagnosed with the tumor in 2011. But, she said, she never heard back until now.
“It was addressed to my husband and I opened it. I was in complete disbelief,” she said. “It was 22 months too late, I kind of thought I was in the twilight zone when I opened this letter and read it.”
Chase also said that she had been denied funeral benefits by the VA — because Doug was never treated at a VA hospital.
So, why is this a scandal for the President and not for the Congresspersons and/or Senators who failed this constituent?
The illegitimate 43rd POTUS didn’t fix the problems with the VA…so that they could blame it on the next Democratic President. It just took longer than they figured for their scum to rise to the surface of the blame pond.
2 years for an appointment with a primary care doctor, not a specialist, a primary care doctor. For a brain cancer, not just a pimple on the forehead, brain cancer. WOW…just WOW!!! This isn’t something random that happens once in a blue moon, this is endemic in all government managed healthcare, in this and any other Nation that has one.
And there is people out there that wants more of this. Unbelievable!!!
TPM using photos of President Obama such as the one on top of this story shows just how much TPM has become more Drudge News-like everyday. This has become all too typical of TPM. Shoddy and exceptionally low standards. Not that anyone there seems to care.
Disgraceful and tragic. I can’t believe what this poor family endured, including the refusal of funeral support. Sounds like the Vietnam vets are still getting the shitty end of the stick decades later as if they are being punished for that needless war. I sure hope the new guy, if the Repugs will confirm, can turn things around quickly for our military. My father had superior care at the VA in Memphis in the late '70s and early '80s, so it appears VA had it together at one time. I do believe that the incredibly high influx of patients from two war zones had a serious impact. But men like this poor soul don’t have time to wait. Rigorous triage is in order.