Intrinsic Problems With Veterans' and Military Health Care

The Walter Reed Hospital scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. And amazingly, although most of us have heard the horror stories that emanate from military and veterans hospitals and health centers, apparently President Bush has not.

According to Think Progress, a non-partisan "think tank":

"During yesterday’s White House press briefing, Tony Snow tried to play down the neglect uncovered at Walter Reed by portraying it as old news. President Bush “certainly has been aware of the conditions in the wards where he has visited, Snow said, affirming that the administration was aware of Walter Reed’s conditions “before the articles appeared in the paper.”

The White House has since backtracked from Snow’s comments. In a small addendum added to the bottom of yesterday’s briefing transcript on the White House website, a note now reads that Bush “first learned of the troubling allegations regarding Walter Reed from the stories this weekend in the Washington Post,” and that he is “deeply concerned” by the conditions:

Following the reversal, Snow told the Washington Post that “he did not know why the president, who has visited the facility many times in the past five years, had not heard about these problems before.”

Asked yesterday if Bush may talk about this scandal at some point in the future, Snow answered, “No.“

I've heard apologists for the administration claim that this is merely yet another way for the evil Democrats to try to find a chink in the armor of the Bush Administration. The truth is, either the conditions are poor or they are not. If they are not, then the truth will be most apparent. It's simply not that easy to dismiss.

However, it's very possible that President Bush genuinely didn't know. After all, he was raised by a father who didn't even know what a grocery scanner looked like until he made a public appearance at a supermarket during his Presidential campaign. And we all are fully aware that this is due to the rarified environment that this family exists in. It's quite possible that President Bush has never had a plebian friend or family member that has suffered at the hands of the V. A. (Veterans Administration). And yet, if he was at all informed as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services, he would be aware of the complaints.

Problems abound. A very good friend who is a well-known surgeon in the Tampa Bay Area once practiced at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System. I vividly remember when he left in disgust due to the terrible S.N.A.F.U. s that repeatedly occurred. He was warned to stay silent and cover it up. Instead, he chose to walk away from a losing battle. It's a shame, because the veterans were deprived of a top-notch surgeon who was staying on due to his love of the troops, yet had to leave when his principles were conflicted.

One of my best friends is a military veteran. Due to the stories she's heard and the experiences that she has had, she would rather go to a Medicaid free clinic than set foot in Bay Pines.

When my ex-husband contracted a strange disease with unusual symptoms (which he incurred as a direct result of his military service), he was repeatedly misdiagnosed by military doctors until he left and procured the services of a specialist who correctly diagnosed and treated the problem. Apparently the government wasn't too eager to admit to subjecting their troops to such hazards and they quietly gave him an honorable (not medical) discharge so that he could leave the service and get better without drawing any attention to the environment he had been subjected to.

A very close family member serves in the Air Force. When his wife was having complications with her pregnancy, they had heard enough horror stories about military base hospitals that they chose to place her in a standard hospital. He was very firm about it, saying that he'd never dream of subjecting his loved ones to the tender ministrations of the military medical system.

I've heard conservative talk show pundits claim that this is an example of what socialized health care would become if we instituted it in the U.S.A.

Nonsense!

The truth is, the military medical system is this horrendous because it is allowed to be. It remains in conflict with a dual responsibility both to the military and it's patients. When there is a direct conflict of interest, the military medical system answers to the people that pay the bills; the armed services. The patients come a distant second. Also, many soldiers and internal employees and doctors that complain are either repeatedly ignored or subjected to harassment. Such complaints are often seen as divisive and disloyal.

Of course when it comes to socialized health care, these complications wouldn't exist (though other complications would surely arise). To compare the military health establishment to socialized medicine is to compare Jerry Lewis to Bill Gates: We are dealing with apples and oranges.

Until the administration views military health care as enthusiastically as it views war, our troops and veterans will never get the treatment which they deserve.

There's a sign we've all seen in shops which sell fragile items: You break, you buy. As Commander-in-Chief, President Bush needs to take full responsibility and fix these problems immediately. The military and the government have created a system with more cracks than Humpty Dumpty. Let's hope that they can put it back together again.