MrsVeteransWife

Berta- Here is another mini scandal. This is about a Veteran who has to appear in federal court on April 18, 2017 because he was displaying US flags on VA property/and or took a picture on VA property in his efforts to bring public attention to Veteran homelessness. It also looks like the VA wants to allow a public dog park in the nearby VA park or property. I don't have all the details yet and I don't want to misrepresent anything. I would hope lots of people email david.shulkin at va dot gov about this travesty of "justice". Is that VA cop smiling or smirking? If you care to look, the video is on youtube, and will pop right up if you search for yeFnRQvqj6c.

We just received the following reply from the Secty's office: "Secretary Shulkin has received your email dated April 14, 2017. He has forwarded your email to VHA leadership for review and consideration. If you would like us to look further into your husband’s specific situation, please provide us with your husband’s full name, last four of his SSN, phone number or email address, and the VA facility at which your husband receives his care. Thank you for your communication." Does anyone on hadit have any suggestions?

Thanks so much, we just posted a few edits and she will send this off soon. We appreciate your comments.

This is a letter my sister sent to Secretary Shulkin. I wonder if it might be worth posting? ---- Dear Secretary Shulkin, I want to tell you about a devastating consequence of the VA 40-mile 30-day rule. We live less than 40-miles from a VA clinic which has cardiologists on staff however my husband needed an interventional cardiologist to perform a procedure. My husband is a service-connected agent orange Vietnam Veteran who honorably served in 3 campaigns. He has been enrolled in VA healthcare since early 2015. He was fairly healthy until 2015. He trusted that the VA was providing good care but was having second thoughts due to his increasing symptoms. He went outside the VA for a second opinion on his service-connected heart disease. The non-VA doctor wrote orders for surgery. He took those orders to the local VA clinic cardiologist who told him to wait a while because the procedure "would not save his life". 3 weeks later, my husband had a significant heart attack with terrible complications and permanent injury. My suggestion is the following: A Veteran who is service-connected for 1 disease that is rated 60% or higher disabling is "more likely than not" cognizant of the fact that he is in less than perfect health; the Veteran should be allowed to use the VA Choice insurance without having to get clinic approval. Not only did my husband have to wait "29-days" to be seen at the clinic, he was told by the VA cardiologist that the above-mentioned procedure would not prevent a heart attack or save his life. Interestingly, when he was admitted into the hospital for the recent heart attack, the E.R. interventional cardiologist performed the exact same procedure that the VA doctor declined to proceed with. Bottom line, if he didn't have to get local VA clinic approval, he would have had the procedure 8 weeks before the massive heart attack: there certainly would have been less permanent injury. Unintended consequences? Not every clinic has all the necessary doctors but the rule clearly requires more than 40-mile residency from any VA clinic to use VA Choice. Some clinics are essentially nothing more than a pharmacy with a blood draw lab. How can they possibly treat a heart attack? Why are we using emergency rooms for care that optimally should be preemptively managed in a controlled, non-emergency environment? I surely hope the rule will be changed. No Veteran deserves to be treated or malpracticed upon like this. It's a disgrace. These brave men and women reported for duty, countless numbers were unwillingly drafted and they still reported for duty: now it's the VA's turn to turn up the quality, access to, and EASE of care. There was no proactive "choice" for my husband even though he had a second opinion. The VA Choice program is not working as intended as there is no choice unless you live 40.0+ miles away or your appointment is scheduled 30+ days out. Our clinic is scheduling 29-days for appointments. Interesting coincidence? Many doctors are not interested in working for the VA but they will gladly see VA patients in their private offices. Where we live, there is no shortage of private doctors who love to treat Veterans: the doctors express a sense of gratitude for the Veterans service and sacrifice. Our local clinic is funded to the tune of well OVER $64,000 per Veteran per year including Veterans who don't visit but are enrolled, and also including the "frequent fliers". The clinic is in a new, beautiful, sparkly-clean, grand building but it has a lot of empty offices and a lack/shortage of specialty doctors who are surely needed. The clinic has state-of-the-art equipment but not enough doctors and nurses to alleviate the scheduling backlog. My husband has received a lot of excellent care at the local clinic but he has also experienced terrible care by a very few medical professionals at the same clinic. There are certain statistically known medical conditions which are affecting a large percentage of aging Veterans i.e. these are family-altering and life-altering diseases. Veterans with these known presumptive diseases should be allowed "choice" which insures that they get prompt, dignified, high quality medical care (which they are entitled to as part of the enlistment deal). Whether they choose VA or private should be up to them. Thank you for your time. Please, please, please change the rule and save some Veteran and his family from these unintended consequences. Respectfully,