Auth For Emergency Trmt Non Va- Now Getting Big Bill

[SCIDVET]

Dear Hadit Members:

1) Thanks very much for help with prior issues, still waiting for response.

2) Seeking help understanding how to get VA to cover emergency treatment in NON VA facility- 150 miles from VA facility, hometown, for SC problem, acute.

Here is the highly abridged version: Bleeding orally and rectally, losing bile, dizzy. Call VA instead of 911. VA says am authorized to go to

a) call 911

b) get ambulance

c) be seen at local private facility (3 miles) while the VA hosp is 150 or so miles.

After about 6 months, I get no bill, just a notice being turned over to collections for about 3000 dollars. Apparently the VA did pay for the ambulance.

The emergency room found (via CT) an ulcer. Was advised to "Lay off the NSAIDS" (I have taken at least a big wheelbarrow of NSAIDS (ie, motrin, aspirin) for the service connected disabilities.

I am asking if anyone knows the law that I have a shred of in my mind- it goes something like this:

Emergency medical care in a non-va facility can be granted if the vet is more than 60 miles from a VA facility.....

( I cannot remember the rest, did the google, Yahoo, and also the super- post by...forgot the name but has websites and links all on one page (post) here at hadit. Searching through Hadit doesnt work (I dont know how, I guess) If I type "Emergency medical care in Non" I get all hits with the word Medical first. Quotes dont work, (I know...something about boolean) (thats all I know)

The rest of this post is about the problems I and surely you, vets have with treatment. I post it because I always seem to end up being the one to say "The emporer has no clothes". This is my way of doing so:

I do not see the VA hospital people, a) because I cannot get there (cannot sit up in DAV van, and be buckled in)(therefore they will not transport) and B) Every damn time they DID treat me, they (the non-expert, Oregon, doctors) re-characterise what is wrong, despite my religiously bringing in a foot of specialist (VA!) documents and enough X-rays, CT, MRI, scans to be two inches tall (PS VETS! CT is like many xrays at once- they do NOT keep track of how much radiation you recieve over the years! Careful!)

(Okay, calming down now...) So I go without care to save my claim, AND my health (Some of you remember me reporting a bad infection I got because the student-healthcare-provider injected air into my.. ahem.. private part... and then when I said "Air is coming out of my penis" the response was "No Air Came Out Of Your Penis Mr Veteran".

Perhaps the reader is thinking "Just one mistake does not make a #&@*ing crappy healthcare system" and you are right... except I could write...pages and pages, submit tape recordings, all showing how every

*$#damn time I am treated, there was either injury, mistakes, damage, medical error, administrative error, and oftentimes several at once.

So you say "Why you" and the answer is straightforward: When the actual injury is something caused by treatment (the word for this is "Iatrogenic") the VA doctors (except at Spinal Cord Injury Clinic, Long Beach) invariably just....haze their IQ to that of a monkey, and sort of change the subject. Therefore, because of this feigned or psychosomatic ignorance, the true injury the doctor treats is never seen. This way a mistake is always made during...even casual...treatment. Every Time.

I fear for my own life going to VA. I am no different from any of you, except I was seen by true, great, expert, SCI doctors in VA system- and every detail they worked over is crystal clear, permanent. With this concrete firewall of information and knowledge, when I go to the Oregon VA, their mistakes are so easy to catch.

Message to vets who feel guilty seeking redress or help with Crappy VA system:

I predicted 20 years ago that the way the VA goes, so goes civilian health care. So it HAS gone- HMOs, delays in treatment, being treated for a long time, with never a diagnosis being made, massive injustices in Medicare (like paying for 10 years and being told you do not qualify because you are a service connected veteran) (and MORE)

My point is do not be ashamed or timid or "Tough ex-military type" because you do not want to take more than other vets. Look another way: If all vets demanded good quality, consistent, timely, treatment, we would eventually get it.

Brief example of what I mean: When I first (in 1983) went to VA for medical help, benefits, they said "How are you doing Mr Veteran, is the problem bothering you a lot?" (Shaking my hand) my response was "I'll live" (playing the part I thought was expected, that the pain and disability had not made me an invalid mentally, despite the physical). Suddenly, all records were lost, five years later, they reappear, and I find the sole piece of evidence used to turn down my claim for treatment (for an iatrogenic spinal cord disease inservice cause) is the re-statement by the doctor (changing my words) "Veteran believes the problem is something he can live with". So what? This sentence I SUPPOSEDLY said was used again, again, again, to deny and color my problem as something minor. (What happened to a vet being unable to make a medical statement, decision, or diagnosis? Oh! Thats if the vet says something HELPFUL to his claim)

Sorry. Ranting, perhaps it will help one of you.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts or advice my thanks up front. I will try to find my way back to this post.

Thanks

SCIDvet

[Guest allanopie]

"can" be granted, is the key word. If the VA law says "must", that is interpreted y VA as, it's "their" choice and vets may see decades of lingering through the process before they have day in court to force compliance from them.

I don't remember how long ago, but a few yrs ago the VA changed their policy on sending medication & I forgot to order my meds. By the time I remembered I had to order them, I was completely out. I called the VA Dr & the pharmacy. It was nearly a month later before I Findley received them. I called several times, but that didn't matter.I was told I would just have to wait.

After a couple weeks, the sudden withdrawal of, lorazapam, morphine, trazadone, zoloft, thyroxine, gabapentin, etc put me in a bad mental state. I drove the 150 miles to the VAMC ER room. They simply blew me off with, "well, the pharmacy is closed I I can't break the door down for your drugs" & refused to treat me. I drove another 350 miles through the night & ended up at an ER on the coast.

The VA said they would pay the bill, but its gone to the creditors now. I have 35 yrs of excellent credit that will soon be wiped out due to the fact that the DVA stiffs everyone.

Don't look for it to be paid, is all I can tell you.

It took me nearly 2 yrs to get them to pay for a lab test, "they" requested and even sent a voucher with it.

allan

[SCIDVET]

Dear Allanopie,

Thanks for taking the time. Your response is a bit like a bucket of cold water in the face, and I humbly accept that must be what I needed.

If I remember, you were the one with the massive set of links I found on Hadit- that is really some good stuff there, even the issue (the ER room authorization) was there (just a paragraph, but helpful nonetheless)

WEll, before I get off on a rant, I will wish you well, and that justice finds you someday, and good fortune too.

SCIDvet aka Mike

"can" be granted, is the key word. If the VA law says "must", that is interpreted y VA as, it's "their" choice and vets may see decades of lingering through the process before they have day in court to force compliance from them.

I don't remember how long ago, but a few yrs ago the VA changed their policy on sending medication & I forgot to order my meds. By the time I remembered I had to order them, I was completely out. I called the VA Dr & the pharmacy. It was nearly a month later before I Findley received them. I called several times, but that didn't matter.I was told I would just have to wait.

After a couple weeks, the sudden withdrawal of, lorazapam, morphine, trazadone, zoloft, thyroxine, gabapentin, etc put me in a bad mental state. I drove the 150 miles to the VAMC ER room. They simply blew me off with, "well, the pharmacy is closed I I can't break the door down for your drugs" & refused to treat me. I drove another 350 miles through the night & ended up at an ER on the coast.

The VA said they would pay the bill, but its gone to the creditors now. I have 35 yrs of excellent credit that will soon be wiped out due to the fact that the DVA stiffs everyone.

Don't look for it to be paid, is all I can tell you.

It took me nearly 2 yrs to get them to pay for a lab test, "they" requested and even sent a voucher with it.

allan

[Starr]

Mike,

You need to contact Mr. Bill Dozier at 202-543-2239. Very nice man, and he is concerned about veterans' health care. I'm not sure what his position is, but he helped my husband in getting VA to pay an ER bill for a service-connected condition. Good luck.

[Guest allanopie]

Hello Mike,

With this administration, things may get worse. If the Dems get it back in 08, more than likly it will be business as usual forcing us to pay for the war.

Watch your 6 when dealing with VA. They have ways of wounding the spirit.

my best to you............allan