Republicans

Unrepentant VA Still Blames Problems On Politics (i.e. Republicans)

Republicans

Benjamin KrauseRepublicans and negative press are apparently still to blame for VA’s continued negative reputation… and not the ongoing wait-list or other scandals that continue to fester that go unresolved for years.

One insider said Dr. Richard Stone, Deputy Principal Under Secretary for Health, openly complained at a VA conference this week about the negative press surrounding the wait list scandal and claimed it was all a product of political games.

DR. STONE RIFFS ON POLITICAL MOTIVATION (I.E. REPUBLICANS)

According to one attendee’s notes posted to a VA Google list-serve leaked to me, he whined about the negative press and claimed it was “politically motivated”. The notes read:

“[Stone] emphasized how operations at the VA changed after the Phoenix VAMC waitlist scandal broke in the news in August 2014. He said the media ran with that story; instead of describing the Phoenix waitlist incident as a scandal involving a few unethical VA employees, they presented it is another indication of widespread problems in the entire VA system. He noted that the VA has received constant negative coverage since that incident, even though the concerns attributed to the VA  are problems endemic to the entire US healthcare system. He reported that the VA outperforms the private sector on numerous measures, but such accomplishments are never reported by the media, He said there are many who suggest that the constant maligning of the VA is politically-motivated, and he recommended that we check out articles recently published in Washington Monthly so that we can make up our own minds.

“He emphasized, again, that the environment at the VAMC changed after August 2014. Access has become  major object of scrutiny. He said despite many successes–good quality of care, involvement in breakthrough research, and even the fact that more than 80% of Veterans say they are satisfied with the timeliness of services at the VA–none of these matter unless we fix access.”

Dr. Stone cited the below articles as proof of his argument:

Geez, have you ever heard the one that VA health care is higher quality than non-VA health care?

RELATED: Hillary Says Negative VA Press Fault Of Republicans, Wait-List Contrived Problem

VA public relations professionals constantly pump VA executives with this nonsense – The obvious goal of which is to convince the American taxpayer that all is well within VA. That worked for years until 2014. It took the enormity of the wait-list scandal and news reports of blatant disregard for ethics and the law to finally open the eyes of the public to the atrocities being committed within VA walls nationwide.

Now, these same VA executives whine seemingly nonstop about how they lack credibility all the while pointing the finger at Republican politics or crazy veterans unhappy with being defrauded.

Boo-hoo Dr. Stone.

His argument sure sounds a lot like that of Hillary Clinton and the AFGE Union over the past year, doesn’t it?

VA PROBLEMS ARE VAST REPUBLICAN CONSPIRACY

His rhetoric mirrored that of Hilary Clinton in her interview with Rachel Maddow where the politician claimed the wait list scandal and negative press was a fiction of the political system. Clinton went on to insinuate the problems were much-ado-about-nothing.

This week, VA is holding its regular Compensation & Pension conference where VA leadership and other stakeholders commiserate about changes to the benefits system.

One insider leaked me notes posted to a Google listserve that gave some disappointing insight into how unrepentant VA truly is. Instead of owning the result of their fraudulent scheme, they blame politicians for benefiting on the negative news.

Of course, in this election cycle, any such claim is generally directed at the Republican Party, which has been more outspoken about problems within the agency over these past eight years.

And why not? Borrowing from Maddow, the deficits within VA are perfect fodder for an election win and the Democratic Party has totally failed to rein in this behemoth and its AFGE Union.

But will Republicans change VA for the benefit of veterans or their government contractor friends?

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53 Comments

  1. So much BS. Unless you have been receiving VA healthcare you have no idea of what it is like. I have been in the system since 1976. I am a disabled Veteran USMC. The VA is worse than it has ever been and it has never been that good. I have survived due to having private healthcare insurance. Getting the proper medical care I needed in a timely manner when I got cancer saved me. I always went to the VA first but ended up using private health care insurance.

    1. I’ve been at both good and bad facilities. I’m not surprised that 4 vets committed suicide at the Long Beach VA before it was closed. But I’ve seen others get great care from the VA for serious conditions.

      I liked the Downtown Clinic in Los Angeles and the in patient care I received at the West Los Angeles VA until they lost my record because I wrote a letter about some deficiencies in record keeping.

      1. Is it just me, or does anyone else out there see a pattern here. Agree then disagree. Good and Bad, middle of the road, on the fence, personalize it (it happened to me), BUT ……. then the conclusion is always in favor of the VA. Just saying…….

  2. Rich draft dodgers running our country then saying they don’t like our senator from Arizona who is a former POW because he was caught. What kind of person is that who never even served to make a comment like that? Sad.

    1. BECAUSE THEY HATE US….. that’s why. We did what they were too lazy and cowardly to do. They watched the war on CNN drinking beer and munching on popcorn like it was entertainment while our battle buddies were dropping like flies, coming home in bodybags and wheelchairs with no arms and no legs. Don’t get me started…..

      You know, I used to think these people were just IGNORANT, but then it became clear to me that they were doing this shit on purpose. They KNEW what they were doing. They had an agenda. It was done on purpose, not out of stupidity. They have alternative reasons for doing and saying things like this. Its like a Jeti mind trick or something. If you say something FALSE long enough, it beccomes TRUTH.

      Hear me out. What do you think the job of a shill is? Disinformation. They push lies as truth. Its like an “intervention”. A gang of them group together to convince you your wrong when you are really RIGHT.
      They debate you. They agree then disagree, come on now, some of you took “Speech” in college. Its a debate pushing their agenda. What’s their agenda? Sadly, its YOU, the veteran. They want to convince you they’re helping you as they send you to your grave.

      They don’t want to cure you because they have to study you and to do that, they have to let disease and injury run its course. That’s why they tell you nothing is wrong and send you home. They know what’s wrong. They’re NOT stupid. They want to let it run its course so they can gather data on your condition. Have you ever had a VA doctor tell you nothing’s wrong, but they want to see you again and run more tests? Did they run more tests and tell you nothing’s wrong but want to see you again and again and keep seeing you to check up on the progress of the disease they know you have but won’t tell you because they want to study it? You actually think its because they CARE. Wrong. They want to study you. You are nothing but a laboratory rat and your life is DATA for their research project.

      These people know what they are doing and its pure EVIL. Don’t believe me, just go to youtube and search cancer research and you will find out WHY Houston has the leading cancer center in the world. It’s because they gave cancer to unsuspecting people on purpose, just to study them. They gathered the data from these suffering and dying patients for their own benefit. They have a cure for cancer but your not getting it because cancer is making them too much MONEY.

      A group of natural medicine doctors figured out the cure and they and their families were murdered. Google that if you don’t already know. I’m telling you people, this is getting UGLY and I can’t sit back and watch it any longer. People have to be warned. You know what Obamacare is really all about?
      The VA system worked so well killing veterans that they want to use that same system in the private sector to kill the rest of the population. Google “Georgia guidestones”.

      People like Alex Jones and Steve Quayle and other watchmen on the wall are trying to warn perople , especially Christians and it seems like veterans are in the dark about all this. Please wake up. If not for yourself, for your family or your military family, but just do it. Get on the internet, while we still have it and do a little self-research and find out all these things for yourself, don’t believe me. You need to convince yourself, that’s your job. My job is to point it out and put you in the right direction.

      Much Luv,
      Sandy

  3. Here’s something else I’ve been trying to write up for us. Just can’t seem to get the wording right. Anyway, here goes!

    VA has many “so-called veterans” working at VARO’s and VAMC’s nationwide. Mostly, those who were in admin (clerks, finance or that kind of military field). From my observation, few were in the medical field.
    That being said. I believe these vets have fogotten two VERY important aspects of their “military time”!
    1.) they took an “OATH” which has NO expiration date
    (I feel this one is even more important) –
    2.) “COVER YOUR BROTHER’S and SISTER’S BACKS, ALWAYS!”

    Most of us on here, and many other sites, have heard a plethora of excuses from these (alleged) veterans. As to WHY they won’t tell the truth behind many of the egregious acts committed by VA! Act’s they have witnessed, then kept quiet about!

    To anyone who comes on here, and is claiming to be a veteran, yet won’t tell the truth. Then trys to berate us!
    Be advised, you may have served your country – BUT, YOU CERTAINLY ARE NO “TRUE VETERAN” IN STANDING!

    Hope I got my message across to everyone!

    1. Yes, we had grifters in the military. (comsha artists). Guess where they are now?

  4. There’s a great radio station here 96.5 FM.
    Just now there was a report on PTSD. Seems (they) admit “…10-20% of the new vets returning…” have it. And “…Vietnam Vets have had it ALL their lives!”
    Yea think!?
    The station said we could get this info “…from [their] 96.5 news app!”
    Hope this is of interest to y’all !?

  5. VETERANS ARE MISSING THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE ENTIRE VA SYSTEM……it is to decrease the veteran population by either denying proper medical care and benefits or by medicating them to death with the wrong treatments and the wrong medications.

    Obviously, Veterans are disposable assets that are no longer needed and they are taking money and resources away from the rich and elite, therefore, they must be eliminated by any means necessary.

    We are nothing but cattle to them and the herd is being culled. GET A CLUE. After all, the less for us, the more for them. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

    The young veterans are s-l-o-w-l-y waking up. The elderly veterans still don’t get it because they cannot imagine that this is actually happening. The concept that your own government wants you dead is so evil that it never crossed their minds. Few people can even think that would happen let alone look around and see it happening everywhere to veterans.

    I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t imagine it until it started happening to me. I saw a pattern of VA doctors ignoring important health issues, giving me the wrong medicine, doing the wrong tests, telling me to take more of medication that didn’t work in the first place, which would have over-dosed me.

    I suspected it, but it was only when I went to civilian non-VA (real doctors) and they confirmed my suspicions by telling me that the VA doctor gave me the wrong blood pressure medicine and if I had followed the VA doctor instructions and took double the dose, I would have stroked out.

    Civilian doctors confirmed a torn rotator cuff that the VA told me was a muscle spasm.

    The list goes on and on and on. I finally woke up one day and saw that the VA doctors and the entire VA system is WRONG and if I continued to trust them, I would not be here today writing this.

    1. If only all of our members of Congress in each and every State had to use the VAMC solely for their medical care along with their immediate families….the VA Problems would be solved at the next few sessions of Congress out of self-interest alone.

      That’s the problem. We have no real accountability. I have as much faith in the VA OIG as I do looking out the window and expecting to spot a flying monkey. They are bedfellows with the VA just as most if not all of the VSO’s are and VA Union.

      The VA needs a complete enema because the pipes are clogged with human waste and corruption.

    2. @Sandy Hale, I agree 110% with your comment.
      I know this is true in a majority of cases.
      How do I know this? Because, in my opinion, VA physicians tried to kill me – TWICE! Ain’t gonna be a third time.
      Do y’all remember my “Brother” which passed away awhile ago? I have no doubt the VA killed him!
      Wrong diagnoses, which VA gave him the wrong medications!
      They kept telling him, and his wife, he had full blown diabetes. Only, what he had was pancreatic cancer!
      They could have stopped it, only didn’t! They wouldn’t even admit to it until it was into “Stage 4”!

      There’s so much anger!
      Rant out –

      1. @crazyelf- Thanks for that affirmation. Was afraid I made a rash call. Putting Troll Spray around the perimeter. It’s a concentrated aerosol form of “Accountability” and they hate that. 🙂

    3. You’re right. It’s called New World Order. There has to be “pockets of people” that can be eliminated – that are a waste of time. The very richest people in the world, 62 of them, and not only the U.S., dictates the balancing scheme to all governments to suit their needs. The veterans are a very juicy “pocket” to stick forks into.

  6. Yeah, thank you for the great digging on this, Benjamin.

    I also want t state that I indeed have private healthcare/Medicare on my own dime rather than using the VA and am happy with it other than what has started to occur over last 4 years is the Psych Dept. at this State University Medical Center has had a major loss in full time faculty and they have jumped TO work for the VA. They have not rehired/filled those positions.
    The VA is supposed to be fueled BY research in private research sector but on the Psych end of things, it’s very much other way around now in that the Med. Center Psych dept. has become every bit a mad as the VA is, almost indiscernible. I am going with only my private cognitive therapist and divorcing myself from these toxic brain soup chemicals. Had enough and doing my music stuff keeps me more sedate than anything else.

    However, I mainly do not use the VA because in a few of my chronic health issues the VA’s Pharmacy Drug Formulary is a solid 10-15 years behind the private sector and I would not be alive right now had I continued to allow their junk science to throw medicinal darts at me until they found one that worked.
    My private Dr. back then and my private insurance back then, paid for very expensive genetic tests called Genotype and Phenotypes, which determined exactly the very rare strain that required a very specific combo of drugs.
    When I took that paperwork to the VA, it was *immediately* discounted, just the same way the VA Psych Dr. took my private records and pushed them off into her trash can from her desk…yeah, those freaking things happened to me, so it’s just not right for any Vet to not feel safe going to a VAMC when the very VA doctors do NOT respect independent medical opinions or even real medical tests from a research Dr. with a vitae longer than any VA Dr.
    Those that are peachy about their VA care and have never heard anyone complain, you must not talk to too many Vets while at the VA or otherwise, as these scandals are not a materialization. They are facts.
    Rant out.

    (some great comments on here today)

  7. I forgot to add…I don’t know who is leaking information to you Ben, and I don’t care, but I hope they know some veterans like me believe they are truly heroes for doing so, and I hope they continue.

    Not only is it forcing VA to recognize they have forgotten their motto…”To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan”, but it causes weasels like Riggsy, little Dick Stoner and Shulkin to squirm.

    Keep up the good work whoever you are, and thanks for having our backs.

  8. Yesterday, Robin Mitchell put the newest, 19 Apr. 2016, committee meeting on here. I would suggest y’all take a chance and watch it (video) on Utube!
    titled;

    “A continued assessment of delays in veterans access to health care”

    Shulkin is caught in a few lies. As are others facing the committee!

    Here’s my take on all this crap.
    1.) Most, (90%+), not all, VA’s are run under par in healthcare for vets. Some have seen the ship sinking and ain’t waiting around to see if there’s enough life boats!
    FACT: VA is in trouble trying to hire “Quality Healthcare Providers” due to all the negative press! Therefore, it’s been suggested VA “Scrapes the bottom of the barrel” when hiring healthcare professionals!
    FACT: Many GREAT physicians have quit, after a short period, because of the inability to “perform” FOR the veterans!
    According to the GAO or IG reports, “…59 VA employees are under criminal investigation!”
    FACT: Only four have been fired.
    FACT:Others have been able to retire while being investigated!
    FACT: There are criminals working at VA’s around the nation.
    FACT: We on here have seen criminal acts committed by VA employees. Yet, our voices have gone unheard!
    FACT: “Whistleblowers are still being treated poorly”, even though their allegations were confirmed! And there’s a Federal Law FORBIDDING any form of retaliation!!!!!

    FACT: civilian professional physicians are quitting due to the lies brought out in Obamycare!
    FACT: “Insurers” are dropping Obamacare like hot potatoes! Because their losing millions of dollars. One insurer claims by the end of 2016, their “lose” will be at $1 BILLION!
    FACT: The taxpayers will be tagged with the bill IF it’s not repealed! Then thrown in the garbage where it belongs!

    FACT: Most veterans have been denied use of the “Choice Program” through VA! It’s been gutted, does anyone know where the monies really went?
    FACT: $6 BILLION has been taken away from the VA in the 2015-16 fiscal year allocations to “Resettle the Refugees!”
    FACT: The Denver VAMC (black hole) is $1 BILLION OVER BUDGET!

    Does anyone want me to add more FACTS? It’s easy. There’s lots more. Anyone else want to add more?

    As far as anyone receiving great VA healthcare – GREAT! I, and others on here, are happy for you!
    Problem is, the majority of us are getting shitty care.

    Our Congressman, in my district, quit having “Town Hall Get Togethers”! Because he keeps getting laughed at when he brings up the VA and how great they are!
    He won’t even send out a “form letter” any more if anyone has a concern! How’s that for “representation FOR THE PEOPLE”?

    !Rant over!

    1. Good facts Elf.

      For those who think VA care is better, ask yourself…if you get private care and have a complaint, do you expect DHS to monitor your social media complaints? Or do you expect your state licensing board to investigate and take action?

  9. Dick Stone should have someone explain to him that wait time manipulations at 111 VA facilities is the definition of widespread, and is well beyond a few unethical employees. Someone should also explain to Dick that his upper management has done little or nothing to those unethical employees, and it sure as hell isn’t Republicans stopping VA management from taking action.

    Do I fault Republicans? Absolutely. For not taking more harsh action against these unethical employees, and not conducting more oversight.

    Dick needs to get spanked and wake up.

    1. No spankings…these VA troll perverts might actually enjoy that. In fact, besides jerking off in their office surrounded by clear glass for everyone to see and being drunk at work and having sex with their co-workers and raping patients, they just might be inclined to take you up on a nice spanking. Just saying.

      1. You’re right Sandy. Didn’t mean to give little Dick ideas about being qualified for an IG position.

  10. The flaw is not the corruption at all. That is simply the symptom of the disease. What is the single key difference between private care and VHA? Answer; it is in private cares best financial interest to see te patient return for more care. At VHA, it is not in their financial beat interest to see a veteran return for care. Since humans act in their own best interest, then the result is precisely what we see.

    1. Mr. Parker, the entire VA system is a research center and it is in the VA’s best interest for veterans to RETURN until the conclusion of the research, which ends when the veteran dies, and of course, they will go to a VA hospital to do that, so an autopsy can be performed to finish the research and get all the statistics. That cannot happen if the veteran goes to different doctors and different facilities, so the veteran guinnea pig must be confined to one source of controlled medical treatment. Obviously, you did not take statistics in college or you would have known that they need both a real medication or treatment and a placebo for test groups and a control group. The mixed feeling veterans have about the VA is that some are getting the real medication/ treatment and occasionally, it works for them. But the placebo group dies of whatever condition they are researching. This research is done without the veteran’s informed consent, so the veteran that dies is not aware he is dying for lack of treatment. He actually believes the VA is doing everything to heal him. Not the case. So, before you make such a supporting comment for the VA research system, do a little research yourself and study statistics and how they get those “statistics”. Veterans are the guinea pigs and laboratory rats used for medical statistics. And, research without consent is MURDER and your right, humans will act in their own best interest and not die, if they were informed that they were being used as laboratory rats. That’s why the VA doesn’t tell them. Thanks for supporting my position on the subject. RESEARCH WITHOUT CONSENT IS MURDER.

      1. So you are a privatization shill like the director of Cheyenne VA and Phoenix VA, Sandy? Trying to scare us out of what was very good care that we enjoyed until this privatization orchestrated chrisis so that Banner Health and others can take over the VA and reach their hands deeper into the tax payers’ pockets?

      2. I don’t get involved in politics. My job is the wake veteran’s up to what’s really going on because people like you want to throw whip cream on top of doo doo. It doesn’t matter who runs the VA if they continue to MURDER veterans. I’m for abolishing the entire VA system. It can’t be fixed. All your doing is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titantic because the money doesn’t go to veterans and their healthcare anyway. You just don’t get it, do you? THE MONEY DOESN’T GO TO VETERANS OR THEIR HEALTHCARE – Let me say that again. THE MONEY DOESN’T GO TO VETERANS OR THEIR HEALTHCARE – IT GOES TO RESEARCH FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND LARGE CORPORATIONS AND PHARMACUTECALS. I see you claim to have a Traumatic Brain Injury, perhaps that’s why you just don’t get it…… YOU JUST DON’T GET IT….. Go back to sleep.

  11. The Washington Monthly that he cites as his only source is a liberal pro union pro big govt rag of a news outlet. One not credible news source vs nearly every other news outlet out there reporting with facts about scandal after scandal. Consider the source. Govt power and its special interests (public sector unions and one payer advocates) keeping the self serving machine alive. When Hillary is almost inevitably coronated, expect much more of the same. Those special interests will cheer as veterans are stuck with govt medicine. That’s the real conspiracy.

    1. I prefer VA medicine. I know I’m not going to get an unneeded surgery and that I’ll get the best care provided it isn’t farmed out to a privatized source. We don’t get to choose the source and we can’t get our records that have been turned over to a privatized archiving firm.

      1. Under true choice you can choose to stay in govt medicine. Those of us who believe private care is superior can have the choice to leave. The private care I receive now on my own dime is superior to anything I received at the VA. Unfortunately those disabled veterans too disabled to work and have their own insurance are fucked by those saying govt care is what’s best for them. And as far as the govt being the sole possessor of all of your health records that’s cool until they delve into them to use them against you.

      2. I’m on the Choice Program for my PC. But if I have to be hospitalized I still prefer the VA. At least the one I have and it is Cheyenne, one of the crisis facilities. The staff that cares for inpatients is great.

      3. I believed vha care was great too until one day I got a call in bed fromthe clinic manager. He told me that if I continued to mail written complainta about drug deliveries that he would “flag” me.

        I said on my phone, “Little man of you think you can frighten this Marine your are mistaken.” 3 years and counting now to restore healthcare that he took from me. You wont like it his way my friend.

      4. What do you mean, you know your not going to get un-needed surgery at a VA teaching hospital? That’s about all a TEACHING HOSPITAL does is un-needed surgery. The first thing they want to do is cut you open and take a look, that’s how they learn. They want to run all kinds of tests and cut you open to further STUDY you because you are a laboratory rat to them. I am not convinced that you are a veteran and I doubt you have ever been to a VA hospital. That is obvious. So, the next question is… what are you doing on this website? If you love the VA so much, there are websites that you can go to and praise them to high heaven. This is NOT one of them. All I hear is how you dodged the VA bullet in healthcare incompetence. Maybe your one of the few that did, I doubt it. Because you go to great lengths to argue for the VA and that’s my red flag your here just for that purpose. To distract, divert, divide and conquer. I guess that’s the Marine in you, huh? It could be used for better purposes, like defending your Battle Buddies that are dying in the VA healthcare system. While you talk about politics, my brothers and sisters in Arms are dying. I take offense that you distract from their noble deaths. I’m here to defend them because they can no longer defend themselves. They scream from their graves for justice. Where’s all that noble Marine Semper Fi? Who cares you got the royal treatment at VA hospitals, your brothers and sisters in Arms did NOT. So, stand up and speak for them. I’m sure there were a few marines in the bunch.

  12. It is not only Republicans. It is money and lobbyists on both sides.

    Did you see my comment about not compensating TBI victims before? The contractors, the move to privatization is on both sides of the political spectrum. I believe the “couple of rouges” were taught to game the system by a lobbyist who wants the privatized outcome that has flooded our former county hospitals with far more expensive private contractors. They want the VA also.

    And those wait times are the withdrawal of funds for medical and nursing school scholarships. So the VA Medical Centers no longer have a solid connection with the schools of medicine. Instead the young Doctors and Nurses pile up debt to banks who even want more debt piled on students. It is the money in politics again and it play through the lobbyists.

    1. The root of the problem at the VA is accountability. Public sector union and big govt interests have lobbyists too and they work out of self interest not out of concern for the veteran. And you are 100% correct about it being on both sides. Many/most republicans are big govt supporters in that they say they want limited govt but in fact have no problem funneling taxpayer dollars through private contractors in their localities. The entire system is rigged against a disabled veteran who only wants to have a say in their healthcare. Essentially all we’re asking for is a Medicare/Obamacare type option where there is access to private care. Amazing that the forces on the left that unanimously pushed obamacare through without republicans voting for it, don’t even want disabled veterans to have that choice. Again, it places disabled veterans at the bottom of the priority list even as politicians of all stripes get on the soapbox saying we should be at the front of the line for fighting their wars. The only thing that will fix the VA is if the VA has to work for veterans choosing its care. Right now without accountability what do they care about quality? The VA not only gets taxpayer money year after year despite harming many veterans, they actually get MORE than the year before. Would be awesome to run a business in the private sector where people gave your business pile after pile of money regardless of how shitty of a product you made.

      1. I think you are a minority. And on the side of big business of the sort that lobby for contracts. Banner Health and many others.

    2. LEM – Mr. Shill, you are WRONG, of course and will not convince me or anyone here that the VA has no connections to RESEARCH and medical schools. If that is true, you can refund the 4.3 million dollars federal grant for research at the Michael Debakey Medical Center, VA hospital in Houston, TX and put it in my pocket.

      https://www.bcm.edu/education/programs/training-in-healthcare-quality/center-of-excellence

      https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2012/10/31/houston-va-research-center-to.html

      ” The Department of Veteran Affairs has selected the Houston Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center ( in partnership with The Baylor College of Medicine) to participate in a nationwide Collaborative Research to Enhance and Advance Transformation and Excellence initiative. Each of the six sites in the CREATE initiative will conduct projects within a focused area of research. The Houston site will receive a total award of more than $4.37 million for three projects.”

      “We believe the collaboration and coordination of efforts will produce deliverables and new knowledge that will offer a distinct advantage to pursuing individual projects separately,” added Petersen, who is also the acting chief of staff for research at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and a professor and chief of the Baylor College of Medicine Section of Health Services Research.”

      BAM- DUCK AND COVER……

      I just love how these murderers romanticize their research death squads that words like “advance transformation and excellence in research” and call themselves a “center of excellence” They just fail to mention what they are excellent at, like doing research on veterans by letting them die from something so they can study it”

      That’s like calling Hitler an “advocate for the relocation of Jews in support of the advancement of medical science”. The Nazi used Jews in the concentration (FEMA) camps for medical research.

      https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation

      WHAT’S THE MATTER SHILL? YOU WORRIED THAT YOUR VETERAN LABORATORY RATS ARE WAKING UP? Too late. The lid is off and they smell the flatulance.

      Sandy Hale
      Combat Veteran beig used as a Laboratory Rat at Michael Debakey Medical Center

      1. I don’t think anything in my comments justifies your remarks, Sandy. I personally believe I was a subject of research without my consent or even knowledge. Presently the VA is being used to experiment on the delivery of “privatized medical contracts”. It was not the vision that I gave to Dr. Cutler. That vision was of the VA staying the same and a move to “single payer” through a contract basis that would eliminate the “fee based” system and provide bonuses for better health through performance.

        I am the first to complain that the medical schools now use us as subjects for learning without keeping the physicians in the VA system for a few years to pay back a scholarship instead of forcing them to hire out to the private contractors as slaves to the banks for their “student debt.”

        So the quality of our physicians in the VA Medical Facilities has deteriorated. And it began in 1985.

        Perhaps you could re read my comments.

      2. No need to re-read. I read just fine the first time. The Mr. Nice guy, agree to disagree approach is over-used and antiquated. I took speech and debate in college, also and I recognize your soft approach. However, the subject matter remains the same, so while you are changing the subject and confusing the issue, the VA continues doing research without informed consent, which is bad enough. But, to the death is something else and that’s what we’re talking about. When the end result is death, that’s murder. So, cover it up with chocolate or whipped cream but underneath it’s still MURDER. Let me say that again. MURDER. It’s not just, oh well, they used me for research also, but I’m still alive so it’s OK. It may ok for you, but not to the veterans that were MURDERED by research. Research without consent is MURDER. MURDER. MURDER. MURDER. Do you get it? It’s MURDER. (ball in your court).

      3. You mention the Houston VA. They were also considered a Gulf War Referral Center.
        The VA claimed for years that they couldn’t diagnose Gulf War illnesses, and as such, they couldn’t service connect what they couldn’t diagnose.
        After years of the VA claiming that, they created these “referral centers” where Gulf War vets were supposed to be referred to for specialized medical tests to try determine what was wrong and how to provide treatment.
        There were 2 problems with this. 1. The referring VA was required to pay travel costs, so very few veterans were referred. For years the VA proudly claimed less than 1000 had been referred. As if that low number were something to brag about.
        2. Even if referred, the referral center refused to provide the testing in their own protocol, scheduled appointments on a space available basis in any clinic, scheduled appointments with students instead of specialists, and was basically a big PR move by the VA.
        I don’t know how much money these referral centers were given for supposedly testing veterans, but whatever it was it was a waste.
        Each referral was supposed to be for up to 2 weeks of testing. I managed to get referred, and they screwed up any testing they were supposed to do that they brought me down for another 2 weeks to do the testing they should have done the first time.
        None of it mattered though because when I got back to the OKC VA, I was told they would fill none of the prescriptions I was given in Houston. I was told their computers were not connected so they couldn’t be verified, so I would have to see doctors at the OKC VA (the same nitwits who couldn’t provide a diagnosis) and convince them I needed the prescription.
        Legislation was passed, in 1997 if I remember correctly, allowing the VA to service connect undiagnosed illnesses in Gulf War vets.
        It was shocking how many suddenly were given a grab-ass diagnosis, which meant no service connection under the new legislation. 6+ years of no diagnosis, then all kinds of VA doctors had an epiphany. After the law was passed.

      4. These money-grubbing, lazy, good for nothing, do what your told to do, say what your told to say, VA doctors don’t deserve the title of DOCTOR. They could care less about a human life and worry only about that fat paycheck and benefits of working for the Veteran’s killing hospitals and clinics. They have no conscience or morals. They hate veterans and are carefully screened by the VA system to make sure they are incompetent and without scrupples. Good doctors refuse to work for the VA, refuse to lie to patients, refuse to discard their Hippocratic Oath and refuse to commit cold blooded murder of veterans. You won’t find any “good” doctors” at the VA, only those who appear to be helping you, so don’t be fooled. Veterans actually don’t know enough about medicine to realize they are being helped into the grave. So next time that smiling, friendly, caring VA doctors hands you a prescription for death, or tells you everything is just fine, tests were all normal, go home and don’t worry. Be sure to smile right back and thank him. Then go home and die slowly. Because he’s there for YOU.

      5. I made no claim that the VA wasn’t connected to medical schools for research. The claim I made is that the VA stopped the scholarship programs that were the funnel of physicians into the VA system as well as eventually to the private system.

        I have been treated in the VA by Chiefs of departments in UCLA and their residents. Some of whom eventually went back to UCLA to teach medicine and head research projects.

        President Reagan cut the scholarship program at the behest of banks wanting Dr. student loans.

      6. Also, I filed an SF 95 on recommendation of my attorney against the VA and Navy for improper follow ups of a TBI based on new evidence. I know first hand about the VA’s C&P effort to minimize compensation and treatment.

    3. I don’t know what planet your from, but on EARTH, the VA systems are DEEPLY connected to medical schools, colleges, universities, private research corporations and pharmacutecals for testing new drugs and new treatments on veterans without their consent.I proved that with links to articles approving money for VA grants for research projects with private corporations. The VA system offers paid scholarships to doctors, nurses, pharmacist, radiologists, and you name it. They throw money all around to everyone but the veteran because the veteran is thier source for all that money. We make it possible for the VA to do research on us just by being a VA patient. We buy the bullet they shoot us with. It’s insane. Who cares what school loses what grant to murder veterans? You lost me right there, buddy. I don’t give a rat’s behind. All I know is veterans are dying from VA healthcare like the “airbags” that kill you. There’s an oxy-moron. A safety feature that kills you. A hospital that kills you. Doctors that kill you. Same concept. All are there specifically to save your life but they don’t. They kill you.

      1. Mr. Troll – I’m for ABOLISHING the entire VA system and I have lots of company. It’s broke and it can’t be fixed. I also noticed your assigned to this particular subject because you have no comments on any other article. Your mission here is to convince veterans the VA is wonderful and to keep it going as is. Mr. Troll, your not convincing anyone by using privatization as your argument. The VA hospitals are already “privatized” because they are all TEACHING hospitals associated with medical schools and research facilities. Your pretending to take a stand against something that has already happened and has been done years ago. Where were you when it happened ten years ago? And, Mr. Troll, I love your fake name. Did they give that to you or did you just make it up. It goes along with your fake veteran and fake Marine status and your fake TBI and all your fake experiences with the VA. So, Mr. Fake, keep your fake going because I’m the real deal. I am a real veteran with real experience with the VA and it really sucks, so Mr. Fake you are a fake and a pretty bad troll. Your arguments suck. Peace Out….

      2. Easy for you to do for yourself. Move 50 miles from a VA treatment facility and get on choice. I’m 80 miles from a VA treatment facility and on choice. But don’t take my VA option away from me. Abolish fee based medicine and fix the whole instead of trying to force veteran’s into the #37th place health care system in the world.

        Shill lobbyist.

      3. LEM,

        I DON’T SEE ANYBODY STOPPING YOU FROM MOVING CLOSER TO A VA HOSPITAL AND GETTING ALL THE VA HEALTH CARE YOU WANT. IF I HAD THE MONEY, I’D PAY FOR IT. WHY DON’T YOU SET UP A CHAIRITY FOR YOUR MOVE. I’LL BE THE FIRST ONE TO CONTRIBUTE.

      4. Thanks Sandy. All I need is 20% down on a home in Riverside County, CA so a realtor will take my offer. About 50,000. And then hope for a buyer that will take over my current home loan which is a little under water because of the closing of the Sugar Plant in Torrington.

        I know you mean well but I don’t think you grasp the reality of the current economic situation.

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