Gen­er­a­tions of Vet­er­ans Share a Com­mon Cause

Once again the Vet­er­ans Admin­is­tra­tion is in the news.  This week a doc­tor in the   Philadel­phia VA hos­pi­tal admits to botch­ing prostate surg­eries, and the Nuclear Reg­u­la­tory Com­mis­sion found 92 out of 116 can­cer patients received the wrong dose.

In addi­tion, the Vet­er­ans’ Affairs Over­sight and Inves­ti­ga­tions Sub­com­mit­tee has recently reported that due to the improper use and clean­ing of Colono­scopies scopes in Ten­nessee, Geor­gia, and Florida, and out of the 10,000 Vet­er­ans exposed and tested so far, six vet­er­ans checks tested pos­i­tive for HIV, 34 tested pos­i­tive for hepati­tis C, and 13 tested pos­i­tive for hepati­tis B.

And let us not for­get the hor­ren­dous con­di­tions at Wal­ter Reed to which I can per­son­ally attest, after hav­ing worked for 4 years in the Wal­ter Reed Oncol­ogy Phar­macy.  I had to pre­pare Can­cer Patients Chemother­apy IV solu­tions in sub­stan­dard con­di­tions, and not in the ster­ile clean room envi­ron­ment found in most hos­pi­tals. Due to lim­ited resources we had to do the best we could with a make shift phar­macy, in what used to be a treat­ment room, with crack­ing paint, dilap­i­dated equip­ment, and dusty shelv­ing units used to store med­ical supplies.

So, as a Vet­eran I ask you, do you really want a gov­ern­ment run health care plan?