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VETERAN SAYS TAMPA VA DELAYED NEEDED
SPINAL
SURGERY -- Vet has now scheduled surgery at
private
hospital. Says the cost will bankrupt him.
Air Force vet Robert Fields
will have surgery at a hospital in Brandon rather than at
Haley. (photo: ATOYIA DEANS | Times) |
William Levesque writes for the St. Petersburg
Time and specializes in veterans' issues. For more excellent
articles by Levesque, click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sesse
arch.php?q=levesque&op=and
Story here...
http://www.tampabay.com/
news/military/veterans/article979254.ece
Story below:
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-------------------------
Vet gives up on surgery at VA's Haley
By William R. Levesque
Times Staff Writer
TAMPA — Veteran Robert Fields says he has put up with intense pain and the
threat of death or paralysis since August waiting for the James A. Haley
VA Medical Center to schedule corrective spinal surgery.
Now, he has given up.
Unable to schedule surgery at Haley, Fields said he will instead undergo a
potentially life-saving operation for a rare condition, ankylosing
spondylitis, at a non-VA hospital in Brandon today.
The cost of surgery, Fields said, may bankrupt him.
In what may be the latest sign of a veterans hospital seemingly bursting
at the seams, Fields said Haley has ignored his repeated pleas to schedule
the surgery.
At one point, Fields said he was told neurologists were simply too busy to
immediately fit him into their schedule. So he waited. And waited.
Fields said he has tried to schedule surgery since Aug. 28, when he said
his primary care physician with the Department of Veterans Affairs first
told him he needed emergency surgery for a deteriorating spine.
"The excuses are always there," said Fields, who served in the Air Force
from 1972 to 1977. "It's the way they treat veterans now. Financially, I
can't afford to do what I am doing. But I can't wait any longer. I can't
stand the pain anymore."
Carolyn Clark, a Haley spokeswoman, confirmed that Fields requires
neurological surgery on the spine but denied that the VA delayed
scheduling the procedure.
She said on Wednesday that it is Fields' fault the surgery hasn't been
performed sooner. Clark said Fields had a date scheduled in January but
canceled because of a death in the family.
While the hospital is busy, Clark said, that hasn't affected patient care.
The St. Petersburg Times detailed three cases last year in which Haley
patients died after either being misdiagnosed or deprived of vital
equipment or supplies.
"I don't want to get into blaming," Clark said, speaking of Fields. "We
don't blame people. ... Everything is going to be taken care of."
Fields, however, said that Clark is wrong and that the VA has never set a
date. He said a nurse at Haley called him at 9 a.m. Wednesday — the day
after the Times called Haley asking about his case — seeking to schedule
the operation.
At this point, Fields said, he still plans to have the surgery outside the
VA. He said he doesn't trust the VA to quickly schedule the operation.
 "It's
pretty frustrating that they're blaming me," he said. "The vet is always
the wrong party, no matter what."
Fields isn't sure of the total cost of the surgery, scheduled at the
Brandon Regional Medical Center, though much of it will be covered by
Medicare. But he nonetheless faces steep co-pays, Fields said, and his
long illness depleted his savings because it left him unable to work at
his business selling pet birds.
His Medicare co-pay for a hospital room, for example, is $100 a day.
Fields could be hospitalized a week or longer.
Ankylosing spondylitis, sometimes called bamboo spine, is an arthritic
condition that leads to a rigidity of the spine.
In the worst cases, even a simple fall or minor car accident can lead to
major neurological damage, including paralysis and death, said Dr. Michael
Mac Millan, chief of the division of spinal surgery at the University of
Florida.
"The lack of motion in the spine makes it predisposed to fractures," said
Mac Millan, who is not Fields' doctor and has not reviewed his case.
"Relatively trivial trauma can cause the spine to break."
Since August, Fields said he has mostly been confined to his South Tampa
home, wearing a hard neck collar 24 hours a day, under doctor's orders to
keep his movements to a minimum.
Fields said he rarely has the opportunity to see a physician at Haley.
Though his case was referred to neurologists in August, Fields said, he
has seen a doctor in that section just once — for less than 10 minutes in
November.
Fields said the VA keeps him on a variety of pain medications sent to his
home by mail without even a doctor's visit.
But Fields said he is reluctant to continue this. "I don't want to become
a VA junkie," he said.
Fields said corrective surgery is high risk, particularly because he also
suffers from reactive airway disease.
"But he just can't continue living as is," said Sandy Mathews, Fields'
girlfriend, who shares his home. "The problem isn't going to get better.
Waiting is not an option."
The couple formerly operated the bird business together. But it went out
of business last year, and Fields said he barely pays his bills with
$1,400 a month from Social Security and a VA pension.
"Financially, it's going to kill us," Fields said of his surgery. "But I
have no choice."
William R. Levesque can be reached at (813) 269-5306
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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