We can waste billions of dollars on stimulus programs that don’t work and on universal health care that no one wants, yet allow our wounded veterans to wallow untended in their own excrement because of staffing difficulties? This isn’t a disgrace, it’s a crime–and it’s been going on for years. The culpable parties need to be held accountable. And so do we, for not demanding of our representatives remedial actions that ensure that such abuses are stopped and never happen again.
St. Louis VA Center Called “National Disgrace” (ksdk.com)
[…] Staffing they said is so bad veterans can sit in soiled linens for days. One recent incident involved a Medal of Honor recipient, the highest military decoration awarded.
“He’s sitting in his own stool, his own feces. If that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what will in this life,” Gordon said.
Witness Slams ‘Nightmares’ Of Army Medical System (CNN, March, 2007)
[…] A series of stories in The Washington Post in February documented a variety of problems at “Building 18,” a one-time motel converted to a long-term outpatient dormitory at the Washington hospital. The newspaper found troops who lost limbs and suffered traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress were quartered for months in moldy and rodent-infested rooms with inadequate follow-up care.
Ron Kovic, author of Born on The 4th Of July, describes his experience in the paraplegic ward of a Bronx VA hospital in 1968:
[…] overcrowded, understaffed, rats on the ward, a flood of memories and images, I can never forget; urine bags overflowing onto the floor. It seemed more like a slum than a hospital. Paralyzed men lying in their own excrement, pushing call buttons for aides who never came…
Please contact your representatives & demand proper care for our wounded veterans:
E-mail addresses and fax numbers for the U.S. Congress and Governors
Be Sure You’re Right, Then Go Ahead 
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I have heard stories along these lines due to socialized medical care in Britain.
Patients drinking the water from flower vases because they can’t get a nurse to attend to them.
Sounds like our own VA Hospitals are an example of what we can expect under Obamacare.
Great Post Bob, this is disgusting, deplorable, and absolutely uncalled for.
Our representatives should indeed be notified of this situation.
Obama, as the President of the United States, should be outraged.
I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
I know there are some decent VA hospitals, but one instance of ‘care’ as in the examples above is one too many. Some heads need to roll.
Sadly, a welcome post. We almost lost our VA hospital down in Canandaigua. When I finish my job next week, I will get on this. My brothers and late father – all Vets.
The VA medical center in Salt Lake City is well staffed and provides excellent care to veterans. I am sure there are VA facilities that do not provide the same level of care, but that is usually the function of a manager or leader falling down on the job. Those who are responsible should be fired forthwith and replaced by someone who sets high standards and lives up to them. Leadership is the key here, and the guts to rid the system of those who ill serve their charges. Those who allow vets to stew in their own juices should be taken out and shot. Period. Problem solved. Next?
JP
Glad to hear about the VA in Salt Lake City, JP. Thing is, these type of problems have been reported continuously for years. Maybe isolated cases, but they happen too often. Having never overnighted in any kind of a hospital, I have no first-hand knowledge about ’em. Vets I’ve spoken with have mixed feelings about their treatment, and no one has ever experienced anything like the St. Louis debacle; still, one instance of maltreatment is one too many in my book.