Veteran dissatisfaction: I couldn't have had a better example myself.
They just didn't care. Welcome to socialized medicine. I lived "they just didn't care" medicine as a training resident at a VA hospital. I was the shepherd and the patients were my sheep. And everything had two speeds. Slow and stop. Thus is the status of veterans' health insurance benefits. Because everywhere you turned road blocks are built into the system to make people not care.
How do you measure frustration? Well, I think this internal medicine resident vs VA nurse Xtranormal video sums it up.
That sounds very much in line with my observations of the VA.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, there are certainly some very hard working dedicated folks at the VA. There are some doctors, nurses, etc., who do in fact have a sense of professionalism enhanced by a sense of gratitude towards the folks who have served our country and worn it's uniform.
When I did my training in the VA, I like to think I was one of these folks. I like to think I cared. I worked hard to do what I could to help my patients.
To paraphrase an old Navy phrase my dad liked to use when I was kid however, I was "Shoveling shit against the tide."
For every hard working dedicated person in the VA, there are 3 slackers who are just there to draw a paycheck for the least amount of effort they can get away with.
The folks who do care are simply outnumbered and outgunned. The result is really really really crappy care.
I used to marvel at the thought that I had the priviledge to meet and treat guys who had stormed the beaches at Normandy and Iwo Jima surviving everything Tojo and Hitler could throw at them, only to die alone and scared in their hospital bed at 2 am because some lazy ass VA nurse couldn't be bothered to give them their medicine.
Again, this is not meant to be an indictment of all VA nurses, etc. Those who are hardworking and dedicated know who you are. God bless you. My negative comments are not directed at you.
Those who are the slackers may never admit it to others or even to themselves, but you jerks know who you are too. God will deal with you someday.
Overall, the VA is a scary scary scary place.
The official line of the VA is that they do a great job. They will brag about all sorts of "objective data" and "performance measures" that prove how great the VA healthcare system is.
The socialist leaning folks in our country hold it out as a great model of what government run health care can be.
Those who have actually worked within the system or have been patients within the system know better however.
We don't need data or performance measures or whatever. We've seen example after example after example of just how bad a healthcare system can be.
Happy, you are right. Folks better start eating right, exercising, stop smoking, etc. They better learn to take care of themselves so they don't need intervention within the healthcare system. Whether we like it or not, government run healthcare is in our future. Rationing is in our future. Denile of needed services is in our future.
In a nutshell, the experience described by the veteren in this post is the sort of care we can all look forward to.
You better just stay healthy. Otherwise, you're screwed.