'Vets continue to die': Phoenix hospital at center of VA scandal ranked among nation's worst

[rangerrebew]

'Vets continue to die': Phoenix hospital at center of VA scandal ranked among nation's worst

By Will Carr, Malia Zimmerman

Published February 09, 2017
FoxNews.com

Three years after at least 35 veterans died waiting for care at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix, sparking a firestorm of demands for reform across the nation, the facility has been ranked one of the nation’s worst -- and whistle-blowers are frustrated.

Some 89,000 veterans are directed to seek medical care through the Phoenix VA, but the care the government facility provides was awarded the lowest rating, just 1 of 5 points, in a recent internal VA administration evaluation. The annual “Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning” report compared all VA medical centers to each other and its own previous performance.

“This is ground zero here in Phoenix, Ariz. It is a cesspool. It’s the worst example of VA health care in the United States -- period,” said Brandon Coleman about problems at the VA in Phoenix. Coleman was one of the original whistle-blowers in the scandal, but he no longer works there.

“After the scandal hit in 2014, money poured into this place like there was no tomorrow. The annual budget was increased more than $100 million per year and yet wait times continue to get worse. Veterans continue to die,” he said.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/09/vets-continue-to-die-phoenix-hospital-at-center-va-scandal-ranked-among-nations-worst.html

[Cripplecreek]

Not every story out of the VA is bad.

My grandmother's doctor at Henry Ford Allegiance hospital found the tumor in her spine but decided that at 87 years old there was no point in frightening her with biopsies and oncologists. At 87 years old how long is she going to live anyway?

Fortunately my uncle convinced her to go to the VA for a second opinion. The VA hospital in Ann Arbor did a biopsy and admitted her that day so she would be there when the results came in. The next day they told her it was cancer, it was inoperable, and it was likely terminal but they would fight with her for as long as she wanted to fight.

With chemotherapy she lived more than 5 years after that with good quality of life. She lived unassisted in her own home for nearly 4 and a half of those years. The VA gave her 5 years that she wouldn't have gotten otherwise.