TBI scandal (unqualified VA docs) update

[Berta]

http://www.disabledveterans.org/2016/05/05/veterans-affairs-tbi-scandal-affected-25000-veterans/

 

What a disgrace.   I am sure Tbird has this already and will post too...I just don't want any TBI vet to miss it because

they might well be one the 25,000.

[Chuck75]

"What a disgrace" 

It's worse than that! It's just another prime example of what is wrong with the VA's C&P exam system and practices.

The intent often seems to be to minimize the severity of a condition/disability, rather than to determine the exact

level of it. Money. money, money. It's all about money!

[RAPIDFIRE]

We'll, not really a poster here. Pls. bear w/me. Marine combat Afghan vet. Part of orig, task force. 01-02. enemy planted explosives in metal, they triggered/blew up (huge IED, still see it, the pieces of hands and fingers way in the air, all too graphic), I was near blast, suffered TBI, never treated for it. I was also in the blast areas for large detonations by EOD, daily everyday, some would even knock you down, yeah there was a lot of stuff, ground would shake like an earthquake. I was then curious why I would often get dizzy spells and feel like I am moving in place (I had no idea what TBI or PTSD was, these things were not mentioned of or about that early on in war or until several years more). Later in life, I have learned this to be vertigo. I also had bits of sand and shrapnel in me, all over during this time from explosions, I used to sit and pick it out. So, finally I went to get treated and help and hopefully rated for it (there is such a thing as a TBI clinic, never knew existed and no docs ever cared to get me seen, eyes roll :/ Chinese kid in lab coat (turns out to be a Physicians Attendant, PA), high fives his co-worker (another Asian, Dr.) on the way to the room, at that point I was already ready to leave, I have been through this all enough times. Yup, you could just see in this kids eyes how he wanted to F* me and continues to tell me (in his soft broken English girly tone), nah, TBI is this and that and it would have went away by now and gave me a complete physical exam (a rating exam, this was NOT a C&P appt.) for no reason (test pig, as I am sure he was going to do ratings and screw people). He had so much enjoyment, just to F* me. He looked at an old MRI brain scan result notes I had done for sinus pressure prob. four years earlier. So, at the end, nearly shedding tears as I am so disgusted with these privileged kid Dr.'s at the VA. Field reports and after-actions all were never recorded right and most drives deleted or burned in rotation (yeah, accidentally, sure) along with a lot of incompetence, nothing in my medical records just another day in in war then. Anyway, I am older and tired of this nonsense. You can reply back and tell me what I need to do and this and that, but if nobody is doing what they are supposed to be doing and nobody cares and there is NO  repercussions and nobody gets held accountable, then nothing matters anyway, it is the vicious cycle within the VA which keeps recycling itself. It is not the system that is bad, it is the people like this Asian kid, one of many, many I could write about. Now, so to speak, I have to continue to live with this, having no idea how to treat it. I am already 100% SC, so not like this would have been anything more for me, I just wanted treated to help keep this under control. And trust me, that 100 was fighting tooth and nail for the last 13 years! This TBI matter will only go back to 2007, ugghhhh. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by RAPIDFIRE

[broncovet]

Its always the same.   First, VA denies the allegations.  Next, VA admits it hapened, but that it is not widespread but an isolated incident.  

Finally, VA goes to damage control, where they admit it happened, but put controls in place so it wont happen again.  (See Shreddergate's I, II, and III).  

Lastly, of course, after the heat dies down, they repeat it, sometimes with a new twist.  

Chris Attig has been complaining about inadequate exams for several years.  

I personally had a C and P exam in 2015, where the examiner admitted she knew little about sleep apnea, but, she had brushed up on it.   (This means she read the what the internet had to say on sleep apnea.  She tried to impress me she knew the difference between central and obstructive sleep apnea.  Of course that was irrelevant, I had already been diagnosed with OSA.)    

 

 

[Berta]

Yeah, it is just like the spin the OIG put on that Hep C vet who died recently. I am sure it is here in the blog stuff Tbird puts from Ben Krause's site,

disabledveterans.org.

 

http://www.disabledveterans.org/2016/05/16/ig-poor-va-care-linked-hepatitis-c-veteran-death/

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by Berta

[retiredat44]

I was near a bomb blast, but never went to the doctor even though it blew us down to the ground. That morning is was just across the street on the other side of a row of trees at the fuel storage area. I was with another guy I worked with there.

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/01/world/blast-hurts-20-at-us-base-in-germany.html

 

BLAST HURTS 20 AT U.S. BASE IN GERMANY

Special to the New York Times

Published: September 1, 1981

===========

 

I also did a lot of volunteer work and was  in a small group who went through the building a few hours later to access damage.

I never seeked medical attention even though it knocked us down from the shock wave. If I knew then what I knew now I would have reported more injures on active duty.