VA Head Testifies About Botched Treatments

Concerning veterans who are suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), VA Department’s agency chief Eric Shinseki said they will receive care, but did not explain a new rule that concerns this care.

newsinferno.com
Date Published: Thursday, October 15th, 2009

We have been following several medical scandals at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In one case VA centers in three cities have been accused of reusing colonoscopy and endoscopy equipment without properly sanitizing the equipment. At last count, some 50 veterans have tested positive for blood borne pathogens.

The VA also recently sent erroneous letters to veterans with potential neurological diagnoses, but who do not have ALS—Lou Gehrig’s disease—telling them they were diagnosed with the debilitating, deadly disease. At last count, some 600 veterans received the distressing letters. And, last June, the brachytherapy program at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia was shut down, after it was learned that scores of veterans had received incorrect radiation doses over a six-year period.

The Washington Times is now reporting that the VA Department’s agency chief Eric Shinseki acknowledged at a Congressional panel yesterday that the Department did make serious safety errors at some of its centers and also was lax in conducting necessary educational and monetary services to thousands of veterans. “While this process is at times painful, it is the right thing to do for veterans and the nation and will ultimately result in greater trust and better quality,” said Shinseki when discussing the issues specifically at the Philadelphia center, said the Washington Times.

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http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/13389

$800 Million VA Hospital Doesn't Include Money For PTSD

“For them to have failed to incorporate this into their original plans makes me question a lot about what else is in the plan or isn’t in the plan,” Rep. Mike Coffman said.

Congressman Calls Decision Negligent
By Lance Hernandez, 7NEWS Reporter
POSTED: 11:11 pm MDT October 14, 2009
UPDATED: 12:17 am MDT October 15, 2009


DENVER -- When officials broke ground on the new $800 million VA Medical Center, many veterans assumed that a residential treatment center for those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would be built in the new hospital.

But several were surprised to learn this month that the hefty price tag does not include the PTSD treatment center.

“This is beyond comprehension,” said Rep. Mike Coffman, who is himself a veteran of the gulf war and of the war in Iraq.

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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21301540/detail.html

Apartment residents told to take down U.S. flags

By Melica Johnson
KATU News and KATU.com Staff

Video

ALBANY, Ore. - At the Oaks Apartments in Albany, the management can fly their own flag advertising one and two bedroom apartments - but residents have been told they can't fly any flags at all.

Jim Clausen flies the American flag from the back of his motorcycle. He has a son in the military heading back to Iraq, and the flag - he said - is his way of showing support.

"This flag stands for all those people," said Clausen, an Oaks Apartment resident. "It stands for the people that can no longer stand - who died in wars. That's why I fly this flag."

But to Oaks Apartment management, Clausen said, the American flag symbolizes problems.
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http://www.katu.com/news/local/64059697.html

When a detective read the charges against him more than 12 hours after the early morning spree, the soldier slumped over and cried.

Oct. 13, 2009
By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

On the night of his shooting spree, Joseph Patrick Lamoureux was on at least 14 different drugs, including anxiety pills, steroids and anti-depressants that Veterans Affairs doctors had prescribed for combat stress and respiratory problems.

When a detective read the charges against him more than 12 hours after the early morning spree, the soldier slumped over and cried.

"Pat did not have a clue what happened," his wife, Sue, said Friday.

The drugs are listed and the incident with the detective is described in a 14-page Nye County sheriff's report released this month, more than a year after the Sept. 19, 2008, shooting spree at Terrible's Lakeside RV Park and Casino in Pahrump.

Sue Lamoureux has said her husband snapped, distraught over the loss of a fellow soldier and as a result of nightmarish flashbacks of a suicide bomber attack.

His attorneys contend the drugs intended to ease his pain affected his ability to reason, causing him to spiral out of control. His is among four recent cases in Southern Nevada involving veterans who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and committed violent acts.

The spree left Lamoureux and Deputy Eric Murphy with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Both were airlifted for treatment 60 miles east to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

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http://www.lvrj.com/news/shooting-report-specifies-drug-use-64067382.html