Mistreated by the VA system
A LETTER to SocialistWorker.org written by a Vietnam vet indicated that his experience with health care from the Veterans Administration (VA) was good. I am a Vietnam vet, too, but I don't have the same feeling.
I saw my doctor at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center (VAMC). He told me he could no longer be my primary care doctor, because he was classified as a specialist and was not part of a patient-aligned care team (PACT). The doctor I have seen for 20 years is no longer my "regular doctor."
I now have to see an 80-year-old doctor who is new to the VA system and has over 1,000 patients. That's improving my health care? "The best care anywhere?" I was a medic. Don't BS me.
When I first entered the VA system 25 years ago, it wasn't that bad once you learned how the system worked.
The VA is my primary source of medical care. I am often troubled by the way veterans are treated by people who insist they mean well.
My first contact with the VA was for an Agent Orange exam in 1985. In those days, a person could dial a phone number and get a real person at the clinic and get information. They might even talk to their doctor, or the doctor would call them back. When I recently saw a primary doctor, he said that would be impossible today because he had too many patients. That's not my fault. It's the VA's fault for not adequately utilizing its medical and nursing staff.
The primary care model seems adequate if you have enough doctors and nurses to pull it off. There are not enough personnel to make things work well.
I have trouble understanding the priorities used to determine care. I avoided medical care until I was 40 years old because I didn't want to be a burden on the system.
IT IS getting access to care that concerns me. I am having the worst time getting medical care from the VAMC. Why?
I have diabetes. At one time, I could see a nurse practitioner every month. She could do most of the things a doctor could do, and if there were any major concerns she would inform my doctor. The process seemed to work well.
I credit this nurse with saving my life. One study she read indicated patients, like myself, should get a stress test for heart problems. I got the test and it indicated a blockage was beginning in my heart. A cardiologist blew this test off and said it was nothing.
A couple of years later I was being operated on for this "nothing"--a triple bypass. I wouldn't have found out this heart problem without this test ordered by that nurse. I don't think anyone would have thought of doing any testing until I dropped over dead one day.
I have never had any type of follow-up with a heart doctor. Apparently, it will come when I drop over dead.
My wife's uncle has been going to the VA clinic in Rochester, Minn. He has run into the worst doctors in the world down there. He had been told that his shaking hands were due to medication. Last year, after being taken to the Mayo Clinic, he was told it was Parkinson's and not a medication. He was misdiagnosed. I'm sure he's not the first, and won't be the last, patient at the VA to be mistreated.
I am classified as 100 percent service-connected. At one time, being 100 percent service-connected meant something. Today, not so much.
I see the writing on the wall. As an aging veteran, I will begin to receive less care, as I am expendable. I want more involvement in selecting who treats me, and access to this care and treatment.
I feel I am insignificant and a pawn in the VA medical care system. I feel abandoned at times, and the system seems to be very parental and treat veterans as if we have the IQs of preschool children or advanced apes.
Tim Connelly, Richfield, Minn.
