First up is Michelle Malkin's interview of a VA/Govt. Healthcare patient.
CNSNews;
A Fed-Up Veteran Blasts VA's 'Lie, Delay, Deny', Abyss
June 18, 2014 - 5:31 AM
"They don't care."
As Obama administration officials pivot like haywire jewelry-box ballerinas to divert attention away from the nationwide Veterans Affairs disgrace, a reader who has been fighting the system urged me to urge Capitol Hill and the American public to stay focused.
This former Special Forces soldier and medic served his country for 25 years. He worked in the health care field managing military field medical clinics. "I know how health care is supposed to run, even in austere or low-budget environments," he says. And in his nightmarish, ongoing experience, the VA is an epic, deadly, monstrous failure. He minces no words: "They're getting billions of dollars, and they treat veterans like s-t. There's no accountability, no buy-in, among civilian unionized employees. We mean nothing to them. It's like going to the DMV for your health care."
Over the past four years, the veteran tells me, he has been under direct VA care for two major line-of-duty-related injuries, including one combat-related injury. One of the medical centers that treated him — or rather mistreated him and maltreated him — is the Coatesville, Pa., VA. It's the same facility where four vets died due to medical malpractice, leading to nearly $1.4 million in settlements to vets' families, according to The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The harrowing cases included two fatal failures to monitor patients, improper management of a psychiatric patient, and wrongful diagnosis or misdiagnosis of a patient.
These details are all too familiar to my reader. "I have been misdiagnosed, had a missed diagnosis, and had delays of care lasting months," he says. "My records have been lost, changed, split and mismanaged." He has experienced firsthand the same "slow-walking" of care that millions of other VA patients have encountered and scores have died from — a systemic modus operandi of "lie, delay, deny."
The vet gets a catch in his voice as he relates a horrible anecdote. After refusing to return to the Coatesville facility and seeking treatment at another VA clinic one day, he became nauseous. Instead of allowing him to lie down on a gurney, a nurse made him vomit outside so he wouldn't soil the bed. He believes the office was open not to treat patients, but as a front for nurses to pick up extra shifts. He has encountered similar degrading and condescending treatment across the VA system.
When he appealed for help and advocacy within the system, the veteran was met with a stone wall of "Not My Job"-ism. Through denials of care, contraindicated medications, repeated mistakes and delays of pharmacy items, he endured callousness, humiliation and stigmatization. "When I get angry, they call me 'crazy.'" Classic blame-the-victim tactics from the VA abusers.
Big Government politicians want to throw more funding at the VA, as usual. The veteran offers a scathing reality check: "There is ample money to address the needs of American veterans," he says. "The problem is far deeper and more dangerous than just secret waiting lists. The VA almost killed me; my health is worse now than it was when I entered care; my quality of life and living conditions have been nothing short of horrific as I have waited years for adjudication of my benefits case, which in the end was botched."
Again, the vet refuses to candy-coat the roots of the festering VA scandal: "The problem is not just waiting lists. It is utter fraudulent expenditure of enormous budgets, not on veterans, but on overpaid lazy, surly civilian employees that often make it clear that a) they do not like veterans and b) that the veteran is actually a nuisance. The problem is endemic, at every level, in the VA. The unfortunate fact of the matter is this: Veterans have become incidental to the process at the VA."
The system is "an enormous cash cow, warehousing tens of thousands of overpaid employees" who "keep the gravy-train rolling." The vet has a plea on behalf of all of his brothers and sisters who are drowning in the VA's "lie, delay, deny" abyss:
"Please, don't let this die."
This former Special Forces soldier and medic served his country for 25 years. He worked in the health care field managing military field medical clinics. "I know how health care is supposed to run, even in austere or low-budget environments," he says. And in his nightmarish, ongoing experience, the VA is an epic, deadly, monstrous failure. He minces no words: "They're getting billions of dollars, and they treat veterans like s-t. There's no accountability, no buy-in, among civilian unionized employees. We mean nothing to them. It's like going to the DMV for your health care."
Over the past four years, the veteran tells me, he has been under direct VA care for two major line-of-duty-related injuries, including one combat-related injury. One of the medical centers that treated him — or rather mistreated him and maltreated him — is the Coatesville, Pa., VA. It's the same facility where four vets died due to medical malpractice, leading to nearly $1.4 million in settlements to vets' families, according to The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The harrowing cases included two fatal failures to monitor patients, improper management of a psychiatric patient, and wrongful diagnosis or misdiagnosis of a patient.
These details are all too familiar to my reader. "I have been misdiagnosed, had a missed diagnosis, and had delays of care lasting months," he says. "My records have been lost, changed, split and mismanaged." He has experienced firsthand the same "slow-walking" of care that millions of other VA patients have encountered and scores have died from — a systemic modus operandi of "lie, delay, deny."
The vet gets a catch in his voice as he relates a horrible anecdote. After refusing to return to the Coatesville facility and seeking treatment at another VA clinic one day, he became nauseous. Instead of allowing him to lie down on a gurney, a nurse made him vomit outside so he wouldn't soil the bed. He believes the office was open not to treat patients, but as a front for nurses to pick up extra shifts. He has encountered similar degrading and condescending treatment across the VA system.
When he appealed for help and advocacy within the system, the veteran was met with a stone wall of "Not My Job"-ism. Through denials of care, contraindicated medications, repeated mistakes and delays of pharmacy items, he endured callousness, humiliation and stigmatization. "When I get angry, they call me 'crazy.'" Classic blame-the-victim tactics from the VA abusers.
Big Government politicians want to throw more funding at the VA, as usual. The veteran offers a scathing reality check: "There is ample money to address the needs of American veterans," he says. "The problem is far deeper and more dangerous than just secret waiting lists. The VA almost killed me; my health is worse now than it was when I entered care; my quality of life and living conditions have been nothing short of horrific as I have waited years for adjudication of my benefits case, which in the end was botched."
Again, the vet refuses to candy-coat the roots of the festering VA scandal: "The problem is not just waiting lists. It is utter fraudulent expenditure of enormous budgets, not on veterans, but on overpaid lazy, surly civilian employees that often make it clear that a) they do not like veterans and b) that the veteran is actually a nuisance. The problem is endemic, at every level, in the VA. The unfortunate fact of the matter is this: Veterans have become incidental to the process at the VA."
The system is "an enormous cash cow, warehousing tens of thousands of overpaid employees" who "keep the gravy-train rolling." The vet has a plea on behalf of all of his brothers and sisters who are drowning in the VA's "lie, delay, deny" abyss:
"Please, don't let this die."
Thank You Ms Malkin and CNS.
Now let's hear from Govt. Healthcare Providers:
Healthcare Workers From Around Bay Area Demand Action On Epidemic of Hospital Violence.
May 9, 2014
Now let's hear from Govt. Healthcare Providers:
Healthcare Workers From Around Bay Area Demand Action On Epidemic of Hospital Violence.
May 9, 2014
Attacks at Alameda Health Systems and San Francisco General Hospital Spark Outrage and Calls for Comprehensive Changes to Protect Patients and Caregivers
Oakland, CA—Registered nurses and healthcare workers from across the Bay Area are protesting a growing epidemic of violent assaults against caregivers today, joining with workplace safety experts and concerned community members outside Highland Hospital in Oakland.
The healthcare workers are calling for improved protections for staff and patients at Alameda Health System (AHS), which has seen a jump in incidents of reported workplace violence in recent years, up to 76 different attacks last year. AHS runs Highland, John George, and Fairmont Hospitals along with community health clinics. John George Psychiatric Hospital was the sight of a killing of a doctor – beaten to death in a private examination room – nearly a decade ago. While that assault led to a temporary increase in security, the conditions there and at other Bay Area hospitals has since deteriorated, making healthcare one of the most dangerous occupations. RNs at other Bay Area hospitals have been killed at work in recent years and are calling on the state legislature to take action.
The healthcare workers and community allies are calling on AHS, and all regional health systems, to “Break the Silence—Stop the Violence.” Specifically, they are calling on AHS to; increase security staff and have programs in place to prevent weapons from brought in, including the installation of metal detectors at some sites; enhance staffing for patients with a history of violence; and involve front-line caregivers in the efforts to respond to the epidemic of violence.
The caregivers have been working for months to establish such protections in their contract without success. Their union, SEIU1021, is sharply critical of management’s response, particularly in light of the history AHS has had with substandard prevention programs.
Ariel Edwards, a certified nursing assistant at Fairmont Hospital spoke at the rally and said, “A couple of years ago, I was used as a shield by a doctor against a violent patient. The patient punched me and I had to be taken to the hospital. I’ve since developed vertigo and have nightmares about being assaulted on the job. Management at AHS can do something about it now.”
Charice Johnson, also a certified nursing assistant at Fairmont, said that, “One morning I was helping a patient get out of bed and get ready for the day. He was upset and kicked me in the stomach. At this time, I was pregnant with twins. I’ve been scratched, kicked, and pushed. I’ve been verbally sexually harassed at work. Management needs to take our safety seriously.”
“As nurses and healthcare workers, we have the responsibility of protecting the patients under our care, but management has the responsibility of making sure that we’re safe so that we can focus on helping save lives and helping people get better,” said Dave Fleming, a registered nurse at San Francisco General Hospital, who’s experienced violence on the job. “It’s time management stop ignoring the problem and start making real changes that make our hospitals and clinics safer for everyone.”
“Our health and safety is not supposed to be for sale. That’s why employers are legally required to provide safe workplaces, and to deal with hazards like the spectrum of violence,” added Dorothy Wigmore, the occupational health specialist for Worksafe, a non-profit health and safety organization. “Almost all violent incidents can be predicted and prevented. We’ve known that for years. Yet, for many workers, the message is the opposite: ‘It’s part of your job’ and/or ‘What did you do?’ It’s way past time for employers to deal with this very real and important hazard, especially in health care. Silence is not the answer.”
SEIU 1021 represents 1,500 nurses at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and over 800 nurses and 1,500 respiratory therapists, medical clerks, social workers, certified nursing assistants and other healthcare workers at Alameda Health System’s Highland, John George, and Fairmont Hospitals and community health clinics.
SEIU 1021 represents 1,500 nurses at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and over 800 nurses and 1,500 respiratory therapists, medical clerks, social workers, certified nursing assistants and other healthcare workers at Alameda Health System’s Highland, John George, and Fairmont Hospitals and community health clinics.
KRON 4: Workplace Violence at AHS
SF Weekly: Healthcare Workers Fed Up with Violence at Hospitals
NBC Bay Area: Healthcare Workers Demand More Security at Bay Area Hospitals
SF Weekly: Healthcare Workers Fed Up with Violence at Hospitals
NBC Bay Area: Healthcare Workers Demand More Security at Bay Area Hospitals
Now, is there a Problem getting wrapped around the disparity of views here?
Let's call on Contestant # 3, the National Institutes of Mental Health to piece out a correlation:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#Intro
Mental Disorders in America
"Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people.2 Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness.1 In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada.3 Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity.1
In the U.S., mental disorders are diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV).4"
This is the US Federal Dept of Political Diseases, the NIMH.
26.2% IN ANY GIVEN YEAR.
So if Everyone in America gets a 'Mental Health' checkup, in just 4 years, Everyone Except those applying for work as Police Officers (because they have to PASS as 'Mentally Healthy' in order to Get the job) become Incurably 'Mentally Ill'.
And need 'Treatment' (at $21 hr just for starters) for their Incurables.
Violence (12)
http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/search/label/SEIU
Then the Govt. through Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and his Eminence Emperor Obama will tell us All What to think and How to think, and which flavor of Psych Drug to Brain Damage ourselves with.
And all of our Police Officers will be Exempt, as agents of 'Change'.
And BTW;
The Drugs Don't Work (9)
So, . . . just so we're all clear on this 'Violence' in the Hospital Workplace thing, . .
California Purges Records of Mental Illness' in Nurses.
Discover the SEIU, Who Are They?
Let's Re-Discover Nursing itself, too.
Hospitals Report Only 1% Of Patient Harm Events
Hospital Workers Don't Report 86% of Patient Harm Events.
BTW: We're awfully tired of seeing HC Workers call themselves "caregivers". What they're inflicting on patients isn't caring and they're Not giving Anything: not at $21 an hour.
And the Local Govt. Agencies entrusted with Hospital and Doctor Oversight:
State Med Boards Not Punishing Dangerous Docs.
But we'll all live happily ever after as soon as we dump ObamaCare because of the God Awful Fiasco it is Still hourly being revealed as, . . . and have the Govt. take over even More of Health Care under Single Payer: which is the implosion the whole mess was Designed to trigger from the start.
And on the off chance you've missed it so far:
National Institute of Mental Health: Violence Initiative: Junk Medicine In Jackboots
Your 26.2% Solution NIMH.
Why do you think so many young black men in America wind up in prison?
Check the link. Answer within.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#Intro
Mental Disorders in America
"Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people.2 Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness.1 In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada.3 Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity.1
In the U.S., mental disorders are diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV).4"
This is the US Federal Dept of Political Diseases, the NIMH.
26.2% IN ANY GIVEN YEAR.
So if Everyone in America gets a 'Mental Health' checkup, in just 4 years, Everyone Except those applying for work as Police Officers (because they have to PASS as 'Mentally Healthy' in order to Get the job) become Incurably 'Mentally Ill'.
And need 'Treatment' (at $21 hr just for starters) for their Incurables.
Violence (12)
http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/search/label/SEIU
SEIU Workers Demand San Francisco Raise Minimum Wage For CITY Workers To $21 An Hour
Then the Govt. through Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and his Eminence Emperor Obama will tell us All What to think and How to think, and which flavor of Psych Drug to Brain Damage ourselves with.
And all of our Police Officers will be Exempt, as agents of 'Change'.
And BTW;
The Drugs Don't Work (9)
So, . . . just so we're all clear on this 'Violence' in the Hospital Workplace thing, . .
California Purges Records of Mental Illness' in Nurses.
Discover the SEIU, Who Are They?
Let's Re-Discover Nursing itself, too.
Hospitals Report Only 1% Of Patient Harm Events
Hospital Workers Don't Report 86% of Patient Harm Events.
BTW: We're awfully tired of seeing HC Workers call themselves "caregivers". What they're inflicting on patients isn't caring and they're Not giving Anything: not at $21 an hour.
And the Local Govt. Agencies entrusted with Hospital and Doctor Oversight:
State Med Boards Not Punishing Dangerous Docs.
But we'll all live happily ever after as soon as we dump ObamaCare because of the God Awful Fiasco it is Still hourly being revealed as, . . . and have the Govt. take over even More of Health Care under Single Payer: which is the implosion the whole mess was Designed to trigger from the start.
And on the off chance you've missed it so far:
National Institute of Mental Health: Violence Initiative: Junk Medicine In Jackboots
Your 26.2% Solution NIMH.
Why do you think so many young black men in America wind up in prison?
Check the link. Answer within.
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