NYT: Congress Hears of Neglect in Veterans' Care

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/washington/05cnd-medical.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1173147942-/ZTwvctUnYtCAR+Fcgef6g

Congress Hears of Neglect in Veterans' Care

By JOHN HOLUSHA
Published: March 5, 2007
Reports of bureaucratic entanglement and indifference on the part of the military’s medical care system, rather than the condition of buildings in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, dominated a Congressional hearing today on how wounded veterans are treated.

“These problems go well beyond the walls of Walter Reed,” said Representative John F. Tierney, Democrat of Massachusetts, the chairman of a House oversight subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs. He said that as larger numbers of soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries, “these problems are going to get worse, not better.”

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“It wasn’t for anybody to live in a room like that,” Specialist Duncan said. “Most wounded soldiers, you know, you have just come out of recovery, you have weakened immune systems — the black mold can do damage to people.” In short, he said, “I wouldn’t live there if I had to.”

Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, displayed a sheaf of news articles and official investigation reports, describing poor conditions in military medical treatment facilities, to rebut claims by top commanders and Defense Department officials that they did not know what was happening at the hospital.

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