ptsd New Doctor Said , "file A Complaint"

[Guest jangrin]

Good Morning Everyone,

Finally, after waiting five long months, Chuckles had his first doctors appointment since our move. The VA Clinic that is now our primary care provider, has 2 doctors and one nurse as well as one nurse for the lab and one family counselor for the mental health clinic and group sessions for mental health and PTSD.

We asked, "how many patients does this clinic service"? The doctor replied, did you have a long wait for your appointment?, and then she told us that she and the other doctor supervised the care for between 4,000 and 5,000 patients. And to please feel free to file a complaint.

She asked how long we had been waiting for service connection and just shook her head when we replied over a year She scheduled blood work right away for yearly check-up on Chuckles DMII and is going to evaluate Chuckles medications, she increased the HBP meds and scheduled a new EKG.

We, JUST WANTED TO PASS ON THIS INFO AS WELL:

She also told us that in the event of an emergency, do not try and come to the clinic or drive the 60 miles to the VARO. SHe said, all verterans should go immediately to the nearest emergency hospital. Tell, the hospital that you are a veteran and you get care from VA and as soon as you are stable you need to be moved to the VA medical center. She said too many veterans are worried about the money instead of their lives. The VA will pay for care in emergencies.

I know we will be filing a complaint about the understaffed facility.

Jangrin

Edited March 15, 2007 by jangrin

[Pete53]

Most Primary Docs at VA see 1800 plus patients a month. If you do the math for breaks and lunch and they have less than 5 minutes per patient.

Its not all that easy to get the VA to pay for emergencies also.

[john999]

This is the World Class treatment we hear about when you get five minutes every six months with an overworked primary care doctor.

[Berta]

John- GREAT POINT!

I too wonder what the heck World Class health care is when some of the talking VA heads say this-

Some of it is Third World Class -in my opinion-

Then again VA saves lives everyday and has considerable good and dedicated medical people- but that should be the criteria for everyone on VA medical staffs.

The best and brightest at VA- and they DO have some excellent docs and nurses etc- are so overworked I bet- that even they cannot give more time to patients than they should.

[sixthscents]

Man, I aint moving no matter what. My CBOC is great, I can get in short notice if necessary, and you never see more that 1 or 2 people in the waiting room

The VAMC's Alvin C. and Nashville are MUCH busier, but still while its an all day affair of blood tests, appointments, pharmacy and travel... its actually pretty quick.

I have sat for 3 hours plus in a civilian doctors office before, anf NEVER get in at the scheduled time... so I guess its just a matter of where you are at.

[sixthscents]

Ya know something....

Tennessee only has 1 small active duty base. So, they only have a few Veterans being discharged here. Oh Ft. Campbell has some impact but I bet more of its in Kentucky...

I bet thats why claims seem to move quicker here as well

huh... it makes sense, OHIO stinks, but look at all the active duty posts bases etc, same with NY... I wonder if there is a pattern?

[Jay Johnson]

I can say this enough, WE NEED SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!! It works better than ours in EVERY other country on the planet and it would be a HUGE help to veterans/military families....it would mean no more tricare, no more champva, no more VA medical treatment in general; just copays based on the level of service connection! It would also free up BILLIONS from the military and VA budget for compensation....in other words, they could actually afford to pay vets whatthey deserve and hire enough claims adjusters to meet demand (crazy concept, I know).

If you really want to put an end to this nonsense push your elected officials to formulate some type of socialized medicine, be it a single payer insurance program or a government run system like canada.....either way, it's 100000000% better than what we currently use.