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VETERANS' GROUP HANDING OUT BAD ADVICE --

Irresponsible scare tactics put veterans'

health at risk.

 

 

Commentary below:

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This morning I received an email from a small veterans' group that said, in part, "Urgent Veteran's Medical Alert."

What was that alert?

In the body of the email I read that this group "warns veterans to not seek emergency medical attention from a Veteran Affairs hospital after hours."

They went on to say that some veterans had been denied emergency care and had died "prematurely."

In an attached audio file they "directly" blamed the VA for the deaths of a number of veterans.

This is the height of irresponsibility!

First...there is no way to prove that the VA is "directly" responsible for the deaths of veterans who could not receive emergency care.  This type of language is inaccurate and provocative.

Second...there is no way for this group to know if the veterans died "prematurely."  Again, inaccurate.

Third...it is unthinkable that this group would tell veterans not to go to a VA hospital "after hours."  What is after hours?  Each VA facility is different.  This type of scare tactic should not be tolerated.

All of this stems from incidents at the Spokane, Washington VA facility.  (Story here with backlink...
http://vawatchdog.org/nfNOV06/nf112206-1.htm )

The problems at Spokane stemmed from underfunding (not having a 24/7 ER) and poor communication (veterans not understanding available services).

It is the responsibility of every veteran to know the available services at their VA facility.  In my area, I have 24/7 ER care.  It is not always so.  In some areas, emergencies have to be handled at private hospitals with the veteran seeking reimbursement for that care.

If you receive this email, just consider it "bad advice."

Why is this group emailing out such nonsense?  I wish I knew?  Seeking attention?  Seeking members?  Who knows?  But I do know this...this type of "bad advice" only serves to hurt veterans and make them fear a system that is there to help them.  The VA isn't perfect...but it's the best healthcare system in the country and we should be encouraging all veterans to use it to the fullest.

Now, here's some good advice.

Know what services are available at your VA facility.  Make sure you know if certain services are not available during certain hours or on certain days.  Your health, and maybe your life, depends on knowing this information and planning accordingly.

We know that VA underfunding has caused cutbacks in services in some areas.  That's why we keep pushing for mandatory VA funding.  But, even with a fully-funded VA, not all facilities will have all services.

Below are some thoughts on this matter from Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland.

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Commentary by Jim Strickland:

 

When you dial in to any Veterans Health Administration facility you always hear a voice prompt. Among the first words you hear are, "If you have an emergency hang up and dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room". That seems sensible to me, most VHA facilities are not well prepared to handle emergency patients. For that matter, many civilian hospitals have abandoned the Emergency Room business and acutely ill patients are steered to facilities that are designated as trauma centers and fully equipped and staffed to save a life.

There are two reasons for this modern day trend. First is the economic impact of keeping the ER doors open. If done right, an emergency department is the most expensive service in a hospital. More importantly are outcomes. Hospitals with high volume emergency departments are simply better at saving lives. Practice does make perfect.

I've read some recent stories of how bad it is that Veterans are dying in parking lots outside VA hospitals. Of course that's tragic. But why does it happen?

The facts are that most Veterans Heath Administration hospitals don't have "emergency rooms". They have "urgent care departments". In health care parlance, the difference between "urgent" and "emergent" is measured in light years. A bad case of flu is urgent, a heart attack emergent. A simple fracture of a leg is urgent, a leg that has been 90% amputated in an accident is emergent. You get the idea.

Emergency departments have to be open and appropriately staffed 24 hours each day. Urgent care centers, whether they are run by a civilian business or by the VA have clearly posted hours when they conduct business. If you arrive at a place that calls itself an Emergency Department, you have a right to expect that it will care for you at any time. Should you choose to go to an Urgent Care Center after its posted business hours, you have no right to expect anything more than you would get at a mall when it's closed.

The thought that you're at a hospital and that a doctor or a nurse should come and take care of you is way off track. What would happen to the patients they're assigned to? Their obligation is to others, not to those who choose to ignore all the rules.

In one of the reports I read, an elderly veteran who was chronically ill suddenly became worse and asked a friend to drive him to the urgent care center at his VAMC. He arrived after hours and there was nobody there to treat him. EMS was called, an ambulance carried him to an ER where he died.

I'm aware of recent Internet chatter putting the blame for his death and other, similar issues squarely on the shoulders of the VA. I disagree. In this and similar instances, the Veterans themselves made significant mistakes.

VHA can't be faulted on a lack of signage. I've often gazed in wonder at all the instructive signs and notices posted everywhere. In my VAMC it's very clear that we have an urgent care center with designated hours. We don't have an ER and signage and brochures and flyers make it very clear where I should go in an emergency. If I choose to ignore those signs, that's not the fault of VA.

If you are chronically ill with a potentially deadly illness, you should have a plan. It seems reasonable to have made a decision in advance that if an emergency occurs, what will you do? If you have a chronic illness and you haven't made a plan of where to go when a serious condition occurs, VA is not to blame.

Finally, the worst choice that one may make in an emergency...a serious illness or injury...is to have a friend drive you somewhere. Once you have decided you are sick enough to require emergency treatment, you dial 911 and wait for the ambulance. There is no other rational, reasonable choice. If the patient featured in the headline story about that terrible VAMC had called an ambulance he would have had care in minutes and been taken immediately to a proper emergency room.

The VA healthcare we receive today is the benchmark for all other health care systems in America. It has been repeatedly recognized as the best in America.

To suggest that somehow the VHA is at fault in these instances or that VHA is not completing its mission is irresponsible. This is only more VA bashing rhetoric. To imply that Veterans aren't smart enough to understand how to use the best health care system in America denigrates us all.

Rather than trying to convince Veterans to fear their system, we should be telling ourselves to be proud! We deserve the best and with the Veterans Health Administration, we get it.

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Larry Scott  --