Almost 845 Million Ftca Payouts In Ten Years

[Berta]

In part:

“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid out roughly $845 million in malpractice cases during the past 10 years — a period that has seen the agency face scrutiny for giving bonuses to medical professionals who provided or oversaw substandard care. “-

http://www.wsbtv.com/VA-lawsuits/

See more at: http://www.wsbtv.com/VA-lawsuits/#sthash.jXuWUP15.dpuf

[Navy04]

Berta,

I could only wish I was as Knowledgeable as you in the VA and Disability field. I am well educated, but you got me beat by a mile.

[Berta]

OH gee navy04, if you knew me almost 3 decades ago, I didn't have a single clue on what the VA and the claims system was all about.

I had been awarded a wartime pension on my Army husband's death but the letter said I made too much money to get any monetary benefit from that award. I never knew I had to produce evidence of a SC death.The VVA told me to file the claim for DIC.I never appealed and now I know the DIC claim then in 1981 ,might have had a very valid basis.

But when I married another veteran ( Rod was 30% for SC PTSD when I married him) and when I worked as a volunteer at a vet center long ago, those things made me realize the claims process for vets really sucks.

Rod asked me, 19 years ago, to promise to help his disabled veteran brothers and sisters if he died...and he suddenly died 4 hours after saying that..... he had called the VA that AM only to find his pending claims had not moved since his last call, when a 800# rep told him, wait 3 more months and then when you call us back, we should have a decision by then.But his claims had not moved at all.

Actually things were better in those days in some respects.......with the VA....then they are now.....

When I received an accrued award for one of his claims, I took the NVLSP course on Basic Training for VA benefits and I try to honor the promise I made to him.

All of you here,in my opinion, are the smartest people in town!

As miserable as the claims process is, it becomes a valuable education for us ,and we can help other claimants with our experiences as much as our knowledge of the process.

Hadit is always part of my learning experience.

Many here have adult children who are veterans as well as other family members, so the gift of knowledge we gain from our own VA ordeals,

is truly a gift when we can help them too.

I wish they had contacted me for that article..........but my FTCA settlement was never reported properly by the VA to the National Practitioners Data Bank that collects this info for each state's Health and Human Services discipline list of negligent doctors, VA or non VA,that can be accessed on line by the public.

We have the right to know of any disciplinary actions against any doctor we see who had been negligent in the past..

The OGC gave me some Bull crap reason my settlement was not reported to the NPDB, and it involves multiple VA doctors, but someday that will all definitely come out anyhow.

I always said I would write a book someday about the bad part of the VA. But I also would want to write a book about the Good part of VA and that book would be bigger than the bad part book.

It just bothers me that VA has had many skeletons in their closets, like the fiduciary mess and Shreddergate and the Perez memo etc etc because no one wants to be accountable enough to prevent more problems.

And our grateful nation often doesn't give a hoot in Hell about how our vets are really treated.

[Navy04]

I hope my SSD and my FDC go fast. I will be in bad shape by the spring if I don't get a good response. You are a great person and Im sorry to hear you lose your husbands. My wife and I are young and neither of us have had parents or family since we were Teenagers. It has been a hard 10 years for us. I thought when the Navy retired me in Feb this year that the VA and SSD process would be easier. Sad to say, I am very disappointed. God bless you and I hope that in your later years you are very happy in your life.

[jbasser]

Hang in there Navy. The whole thing is going to work out for you.

Berta, there is a pattern here as many vets are treated as test dummies.

I once went to a Appointment with Pulmonary and after the Doc examined me, It was time for a teaching moment for his trainees. I didn't mind it.

When the Lung is paralyzed, it makes a certain thud when you tap on the back listening through a stethascope..

We have a case here where a Nurse kept applying ice to a mans groin and his 11th digit had to be amputated.

Mass produced medicine. Triage. It really sucks.

J

[Navy04]

Thanks J for the kind words.

[carlie]

In part:

“The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid out roughly $845 million in malpractice cases during the past 10 years —

And I got a little bit of it !