Threats from Subcontractors, Dirty Needles, Former Sex Offenders — What’s Going on at the VA?
EmailAnother nightmare story about compromised personal data at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA’s Inspector General testified before Congress yesterday that in February 2005 an "offshore subcontractor" contacted the Office of Inspector General hotline and threatened to put the medical records of 30,000 VA patients on the internet if the agency didn’t pay him the $28,000 he was owed. The Inspector General said the VA paid, and the threat went away. But what shocked members of the committee was the fact that VA medical records were apparently outsourced offshore in the first place. According to ranking Democrat Lane Evens, members had been told in the past by the VA that there was no evidence of offshoring of medical transcription services. Today another hearing takes place and is expected to yield more information from the Office of the Inspector General. The Inspector General does give the VA high marks in many areas, but staffers from both the majority and minority point to a very recent problem involving a needle, the transrectal ultrasound transducer, that was used to check for prostate cancer. The Inspector General said it was not properly cleaned in part because the "special brush" that is needed to clean it was not included in the kit. "VA is now in the process of notifying those exposed to the improperly cleaned and sterilized transrectal ultrasound transducer that they may be at risk of serious illness," he said. The chairman of the oversight subcommittee holding today’s hearing wrote a June 2nd letter asking the VA to explain its policy of hiring convicted sex offenders. Rep. Bilirakis wants a list of all convicted sex offenders employed by the VA, the location of their work, the position each holds and the responsibilities each have. He is not asking for names. This follows Florida newspaper reports that a facility in that state had hired 3 convicted sex offenders. It could be that all of this would have gone with little notice if the VA data theft had not happened, and it could be that staffers are pushing it harder than they should. But there are some serious questions being raised, and after all, hundreds of thousands of fighting men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan will soon be using VA facilities.
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THE RECORD OF THE VA SINCE THE 2nd WW IS APPALING, MINIMUM TREATMENT BASIC EQUIPMENT & A WAITING LIST FOR IT TO BE USED LESS THAN 3rd WORLD BUILDINGS & HYGIENE FACILITIES, & SO MANY ENQUIRES WIH THE REULTS QUIETLY BURIEDAN AMERICAN SOLDIER IS BETTER KIA THAN WOUNDED UNLESS HE HAS ACCESS TO LARGE PERSONAL FUNDS FOR TREATMENT
Posted by: MAJOR R BELL | June 15, 2006, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
I use the VA in Albuquerque, NM.
It is better by far than any civilian doctor or hospital I have ever been to! All I Have is good words for the VA!!
Posted by: Gerald White | June 15, 2006, 8:22 pm 8:22 pm
The people at the VA are (mostly) good people working hard for Veterans like myself. The leadership is apalling and their policies are sometimes idioic.
Posted by: AF Vet | June 16, 2006, 12:32 am 12:32 am
I’ve heard people say the Seattle VA Medical Center is the largest health care provider in five states.
Everytime I go to the Seatle VAMC, there are so many veterans there for services.
Sometimes people just like to complain, but so far, the VAMC staff and services have been very excellent for me.
The staff probably have too many patients to see, and have to limit their time spent with each patient. Other than that, nearly all of the staff members work hard to do a good job. I am thankful they are there for us veterans.
Last, anytime someone feels poorly about their situation in life, or how life is treating them, all they need to do is spend 20 minutes in a VA Medical Center waiting room. They will leave realizing there are many more folks with concerns a lot more serious than their own.
Posted by: Another Air Force Veteran | June 16, 2006, 2:14 am 2:14 am
It’s a shame that ethics has depleted in our society, and people that are suppose to be leaders are conducting them selves in manners to be selfish.
Regardless of any position a person holds it is their responsibility to be leadership members wanting to keep the ethics, morals and principals, not tap dance around it, create and make new laws just to cover their buddy’s rear-end.
God Bless.
Posted by: Victoria Rum | June 16, 2006, 7:53 am 7:53 am
I am 100% service-connected disabled. I am extremely grateful even though it was not recognized until 17 yrs. after the damage was done. I have seen the consolidation of bureaucracies that have led to many problems within the VA. They no longer play by their own rules distributed in their literature. Services have severely declined and they now refuse to pay for conditions aggravating diagnosed disabilities as they promise. What you read in their “rule book” is not what happens in real life. Do not expect them to follow their own published benefits pamphlet.If they deem it non aggravating to the original wound you are not covered anywhere but in their system for which a wait for cataract surgery took over a year before I went to a specialist and my eyesight was restored at a personal cost of over $3k. They previously covered all my damaged parts and aggravating conditions. No more(i.e. left foot destroyed, right foot not covered. How can one have a foot injury and not impact the other foot in some way?). Their interpretations are now so narrow and have rendered many vets ineligible for treatment for related and aggravating conditions they deserve. This administration has destroyed the VA Medical System. They have an agenda to create the impression that anything that looks like social medicine will not work. The AMA weighs in heavily.
Posted by: michael | June 16, 2006, 1:31 pm 1:31 pm
I am a retired service-connected diabled Air Force Senior NCO who often uses the local San Jose CA clinic. I have had mostly good experiences with them and have received very good treatment.
Posted by: bill | June 16, 2006, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm
we already have vietnam vets who are being treated by those people and they have to go through the act of congress just to get the help they need I hope that our boys coming home get better treatment than they did
Posted by: Rhonda Lane | June 19, 2006, 2:05 am 2:05 am
I am tired of reading how our vets are mistreated after they come home from war. They deserve the very best and by God, if I can do anything about it, I will.
Sincerely,
Janet Ormsby
Posted by: Janet Ormsby | June 20, 2006, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm