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sterbo

So our Government isn't taking proper care (the ineptitude and lack of which many would call criminal) of our men and women returning from combat duty in the Middle East?
Our Government isn't taking proper care of much else else except the wealthy upper crust of our society.
Our public service sector and infrastructure is one big pothole of neglect and disrepair.
Our public school system is being decimated by budget cuts (and in our children lies our future).
Health care and social security is being raped and pillaged by Peter to pay Paul.
And the battle cry of the Republican base for decades has been "less government", "fewer taxes", 'let the free market, the private sector, take control and make things right - shine the light on the true path of a political and economic system that will result in true and equal benefit for all.

So then, where are all those soldiers of Free Enterprise? Why don't we see them, hear them, in their shrill high pitched and hyperbolic rhetoric, condemning this disgraceful inaction by the U.S. Government and aggressively putting their money where their mouth is...



US veterans sue over 'poor care' -
Maggie Shiels - BBC
Suicide rates among US war veterans have been increasing


US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suing the government, claiming inadequate care is leading to an increase in suicides.
A San Francisco court will hear the class action lawsuit against the Department of Veteran Affairs.
The veterans say the department has been unable to deal with the growing incidence of depression and suicides.
But government lawyers argue the department has been devoting more resources to mental health.
In court papers the two non-profit groups representing the veterans write "that failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides".
"The bottom line is that we're not taking care of the veterans and we need to change that," says lead lawyer, Gordon Erspamer
Raft of complaints
An average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day - five of them under Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) care - according to a December e-mail between top department officials that has been filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

What I would like to see from the VA is that they actually treat patients with respect


Bob Handy,
Veterans United for Truth

The Rand Corporation has recently released a study that shows some 300,000 US troops - about 20% of those deployed - are suffering from depression, or post traumatic stress disorder, after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"We find that the VA has simply not devoted enough resources. They don't have enough psychiatrists," said Mr Erspamer.
In 2006 suicide rates were reported to be the highest in 26 years, at 99 confirmed suicides.
The two organisations involved in the legal action are asking US District Court Judge Samuel Conti, a World War II army veteran, to order the VA to overhaul its system drastically.
"What I would like to see from the VA is that they actually treat patients with respect," says Bob Handy, the head of Veterans United for Truth, one of the bodies suing the agency.
Mr Handy formed the group after hearing a raft of complaints from veterans about their treatment, when he was a member of the Veterans Caucus of the state Democratic Party.
More professionals
Government lawyers say the VA has been making mental health and suicide prevention a top priority.
In court filings, the VA states that for 2008, $3.8b will be spent on mental health.
Also, more than 3,700 new mental health professionals have been hired in the past two-and-a-half years, bringing the total to just under 17,000.
The VA's lawyers have filed papers arguing that the courts have no jurisdiction to tell the VA how to operate, and no business wading into the everyday management of a network that includes 153 medical centres nationwide.
The case will be heard without a jury and is expected to last about two weeks.
Plaintiffs are hoping the judge will order broad changes in the administration of veterans' benefits, or perhaps even appoint an outside administrator to oversee changes.
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BigGun1

I really don't see what power that court will have to order the VA to do anything. The VA is already in the process of making a lot of the changes that they're talking about in the lawsuit. Remember last year when all the stuff came out in the papers about the Army's and the VA's care of soldiers? All that has already been addressed by congress and they made sweeping changes to the VA and the Army medical system, I know because I'm in the process of a medical discharge from the Army right now and I've dealt with the VA and will be in their system again once I'm out.

sterbo

Well good luck. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones.

Insofar as the issues having been addressed by Congress resulting in sweeping changes?
That'll be the day. It's classic poor governmental bureaucracy gone from embarrassing to downright criminal. Which brings us back to the primary reason for my original post.

Where are all the adherents to Republican philosophy that are constantly deriding the Democrats for wanting to provide various safety nets for the public by mandating them vis a vie governmental oversight (and therefore at taxpayer's expense?)

They scream bloody murder and castigate those individuals as hair brained tax raising liberals and offer as up as a substitute (a poor one I might add), the Private Sector taking control instead.
You know, classic capitalism, whereby businesses succeed because the profit motive is the incentive. Better run, no wasteful spending required by John Q taxpayer, a streamlined management strategy that will, of course, result in a great deal for the public, or in this case, our valiant and wounded sons and daughters returning home in droves deformed and debilitated in numbers like no other time in the world's history.

No?
Is this one category where you Republicans agree with the Democrats? Or not?
And if so, why this and not Public Schools, Social Security, the Military, so on and so forth...

Andrew87

I take issue to government trying to intervene in the private sector, not when it comes to regulating itself properly.

I'm really not sure of the point you're trying to make.

EDIT: As you stated, the problem seems centered more in bureaucracy as opposed to actual capability.

__________________
"I like the moment when I break a man's ego." -- Bobby Fischer

IGemini

Having done actual interviews with many VA users about their uses of the system and their quality of care, I find that the problems with VA are localized. It seems to depend on what facilities you're talking about, specifically. This is talking about ALL veterans, not just those from the current Gulf occupation. The concept of the VA providing substandard care isn't really unknown to me or many veterans.

I'm not sure of the logistics of it all, but I question how long some of the current veterans have been in the system long enough to have an effect, what with some soldiers on third or fourth tours. I doubt a massive overhaul would really be beneficial, but more oversight would be needed, at the least.

 

BigGun1

I've received care from two different VA hospitals and I have to say that it was some of the most kind and caring treatment I've ever received from anywhere.

Like IGemini said it depends on the individual VA hospitals. I think that it has more to do with how much of a case load each has and weather their overloaded or undermanned.