Granny Rant
Monday, May 03, 2004
::: Vets get Substandard Care At V.A. Hospitals :::
::: PLUS - Sidetracked - Shocking Prisoner Abuse:::
Disturbing Revelations About Quality of Care at Some U.S. Veteran's Hospitals
This article details another form of torture ... the failure to remain steadfast on the
promise of any semblance of CARE. Vets asking for first visit normally must
wait from 7 months to 2 years.
From blatant abuse to outright neglect to the point of causing death, the above
link details how the Vets Hospital System gets a F on their Report Card.
[..]
With 130,000 young American men and women putting their lives at risk in Iraq today, these conditions are particularly relevant. While current soldiers are treated in military hospitals, when they leave the service and need treatment, many will seek care at Veterans Affairs (as the Veterans Administration is now known) hospitals.
"Once you come back to be a veteran, it's like a black hole, you know nothing," former Army Sgt. Vannessa Turner told ABCNEWS.
Turner was stricken with a mysterious illness while on duty in Iraq this past year. She retired from the military on medical grounds, and when she reported to a VA hospital for treatment, doctors scheduled her for an appointment six months later.
[..]
More Horrors
Vets who had to beg for water and food, men told to pee on towels, horrific
bedsores, filthy bathrooms with what appeared to be human excrement, dirty
linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies, examining tables with
dried blood and medications still on them, open bio-hazard waste cans spilling
over, equipment, used to sterilize surgical instruments, listed on internal hospital
docs as - BROKEN, use of uncertified residents as doctors, neglected wounds to
the point of amputation, allowing patients IVs to run out, dressings not changed,
patients families report staff "standing around idle" but non-responsive and if
families persisted, there was retaliationn. One patient's wound was treated with
maggots to eat away the infection (a practice that has been revived as legit in
recent times) but then the maggots were allowed to crawl in bed with the patient.
The families were afraid to speak out after instances of revenge on the part of the
staff. This situation is as unspeakable as the instances of torture detailed
in the Iraqi Torture Stories below. Indeed, I cannot decide which is more heinous!
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NOTE from Granny
It was my intention to express my outrage over the quality of care reported by an
ABCNEWS hidden-camera investigation ~~ a heartbreaking tale to be sure. BUT
in light of the recent revelations of hideous acts of torture and humiliation by
U.S. and British troops in Iraq, my will to report waivers a bit.
So ... I have combined the two posts ... please
accept my apology if the post is confusing.
GRAN
Americans as Evildoers
The revelations coming out in the past few days sicken and disgust Americans I have
spoken to and claims put forward by our military and the U. S. Government carry the
repeated message of an administration concerned only with reelection rather than
human rights.
CBSNEWS 60 Minutes II
BBC - Torture In Iraq - Photos Spark Outrage
Bush Says "Sorry"
Iraqi inmate: "Treated like dogs"
Rummy Called On Carpet - To Appear Before Congress
Sordid Picture Emerges
More Evidence Of Abuse - 1000 Photos At Wash. Post
Laborers From India Held In Camp
When We Are The Evildoers
Gran
