Meh, my job sucks a lot sometimes.

[Cleita]

First, because of patient confidentiality I can't say much. I work in a medical office. However, we are getting Iraqi vets. Today we got a man who isn't thirty but can't get the pain relief he needs from the VA from his injuries from Iraq. I just look at the record, that I file, and wonder why a young man like that had his life ruined by THEM.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. He Wasn't Smart Enough To be Born Rich

So God hates him.

:sarcasm:

It really is totally fucked up.

[Oregone]

5. But even dumb poor people can be smart enough not to become the armed tools of the rich

But yeah, I get what you are saying.

[baldguy]

2. Exxon/Mobil made a record profit last year.

Isn't that worth the lives of our servicemen & women?

:puke: :sarcasm:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. The VA is still doing that, huh?

My husband was denied pain medication by them (as a 100% disabled vet) from 1983 until 2005, two years before he died. His condition was never going to change because his spine was mostly metal from surgeries, but omg, he might get addicted to it! :sarcasm: Well duh, there was no way not to be, except to be in writhing pain 24/7 for years on end. Each time he went into the VA's pain program to get it paid for (@ 30% of our income), after a month or two they'd force him to detox completely, and then start trying all kinds of pointless alternate methods that didn't work and caused constant migraines to boot. They did this constantly. It took such a toll on him that we ended up just paying for it all those years.

Yeah, they're temendously negative on pain medication - especially to combat vets with PTSD - they like to push their buttons. Then, they can be labeled "dangerous" and warehoused or disposed of any way they want.

My husband survived their gauntlet because Barb Mikulski was a brand new Representative then (later Senator), who sent her own staff into the hospitals several times and caught them doing their games redhanded - like medical staff stealing pain meds and blaming it on patients, then selling it. She cleaned them out like a roto-rooter for that!

[bertman]

6. Then I say Milkulski for head of the VA. This kind of shit is so horrible. Just today I

was telling a friend about two guys I know who served in Vietnam who are both now on the 100% disabled list. I don't know their case histories but I do know that I never saw anything about either of them that would lead me to view them as disabled. But what do I know?

Disclaimer: I am a Vietnam vet and I want ALL vets to get the proper medical care, medications, mental health support, job training, etc. that they deserve.

But I don't want to see some scamming while others are suffering.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband and what you and he went through, Waiting For Everyman.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. It's happening to us everyday schlubs, too.

All we can do is fight on and try and live another day and improve our situations as much as we can by ourselves, or with our limited support systems of friends and family. My insurance company and the doctors sure as hell can't get it right.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

8. Ruining lives

it's the American way!

[Lerkfish]

9. if we had socialized medicine

EVERYONE would get health care . then the need for a VA would evaporate, along with all its horrific abuses.

[pipi_k]

10. Iraqi vets and the sadness...

My youngest stepdaughter is a psychologist who was, before moving back East last month, working in a Vet's hospital out in CA.

She never mentioned any names, of course, but we heard a few stories about the trauma these guys were dealing with. She was specializing in PTSD and saw plenty of young people whose lives became hell even though they were not physically injured.

One young man was traumatized when his commanding officer made him go and pick up the remains of his best buddy who was blown to pieces by a roadside bomb. I couldn't stand to hear these stories without crying.

And I hear about Vets being homeless, going without needed medical care, etc.

It's absolutely shameful. And it all happened on the watch of the man and the Party that pimped "Patriotism" and "Support our troops" shit and virtually accused people who didn't agree with the war as being TRAITORS.


Disgusting bastards.

[sakabatou]

11. Support the troops

What a crock of shit from the * admin.