Unfortunate Veteran's Healthcare - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 11-16-2007, 07:24 AM

I read in the Lafayette paper this morning about a Lafayette young man who had been wounded in the head by a IED in Iraq who was being treated medically at Fort Knox. It seems he died there under questionable circumstances.

His family had an autopsy performed and found that he had died and not been found for two days.....and he had been unconscious for two days prior to that.

This is just inexcusable. The wounded vets deserve our best care.

Some have suggested that they should simply shut down the veteran's hospitals and treat our vets at the same hospitals as the rest of us use.

Tom W

Botnst · #2 11-16-2007, 07:33 AM

His body lay unchecked in a VA hospital for 2 days? The medical staff at that hospital is criminally negligent. Call out the lawyers!

Gurkha · #3 11-16-2007, 08:11 AM

Of course it will all be covered up conveniently, fine price to pay to someone who died serving the country. I have some good friends and ex students posted there in Iraq, now I truly worry about them.

Medmech · #4 11-16-2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurkha

Of course it will all be covered up conveniently, fine price to pay to someone who died serving the country. I have some good friends and ex students posted there in Iraq, now I truly worry about them.

No it won't, if it goes like Walter Reed heads will roll.

Gurkha · #5 11-16-2007, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

No it won't, if it goes like Walter Reed heads will roll.

I sincerely hope so. I want bigger heads to roll and this not be repeated again, has happened once too often.

t walgamuth · #6 11-16-2007, 08:48 AM

Well, if it appeared in the Journal and courier here, the coverup is not going well.

I certainly hope they get things straightened out. Maybe closing the vet hospitals is the way to go. This may be a place where I would agree with the concept of privatizing.

Tom W

mgburg · #7 11-16-2007, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

...His family had an autopsy performed and found that he had died and not been found for two days.....and he had been unconscious for two days prior to that...Tom W

I'm not going to take the side of the hospital in this AT ALL, but let me play Devil's advocate for a moment...

HOW is it possible that one individual could be ignored for up to 4 (four) days? My wife has been in the hospital (obviously, no head wound) for over two weeks and even I called her every day.

It seems to me that there's something just a little hinky with this story...

Tom, is there anyway to see if this story is just a local thing...or has it gone National...as in, Where did your paper come up with it? AP? UPI? REUTERS? National Enquier? DNC?

Now, I'm really curious...

Medmech · #8 11-16-2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgburg

Tom, is there anyway to see if this story is just a local thing...or has it gone National...as in, Where did your paper come up with it? AP? UPI? REUTERS? National Enquier? DNC?

Now, I'm really curious...

Google is your friend.

http://news.google.com/news?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&um=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&tab=wn&q=Fort+Knox+Veteran+westfield&btnG=Search+News

Medmech · #9 11-16-2007, 09:00 AM

Wounded Soldier's Ft. Knox Death Probed

By RYAN LENZ – Oct 17, 2007
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The Army has relieved three soldiers of leadership roles in a unit for wounded veterans at Fort Knox over last month's death of an Indiana National Guardsman in their care, military officials said Wednesday.
A battalion commander, company commander and platoon sergeant have been removed from the unit as an investigation continues into the death of Sgt. Gerald Cassidy, said Maj. Gen. Robert Williams, commander of the Army post outside Louisville, Ky.
"I have lost confidence in their leadership abilities," Williams said. The military did not identify the soldiers.
Cassidy, 32, had been wounded in a roadside bombing in Iraq in June 2006 and arrived at Fort Knox in April 2007 with blinding headaches, memory and hearing loss and post-traumatic stress disorder. He was found alone in his room Sept. 21, slumped in a chair.
An autopsy requested by his family determined Cassidy had been dead for hours before being found and may have been unconscious for days before that.
Under Army rules, each injured service member in such a unit is assigned a doctor, a nurse care manager and a squad leader to manage treatment. Military officials have declined to discuss details of Cassidy's death.
Commanders from Walter Reed Army Medical Center met Tuesday with Cassidy's family to promise a thorough investigation, said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, the deputy commander of Walter Reed.
"The intent was simply to reach out to the family in a gesture of compassion for the loss of their son, and to reassure them of the circumstances surrounding his death," Tucker said.
The Pentagon created the "warrior transition units" after problems were discovered at Walter Reed. A Government Accountability Office report last month, however, found that more than half the 35 new medical units were not fully staffed.
Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana also has asked the Army to turn over Cassidy's medical records — both from his service in Iraq and once his care at Fort Knox began — and official reports on the roadside bombing that injured Cassidy in June 2006.
"Based on what I've learned to date, serious questions about the Army's care and treatment for Sgt. Cassidy remain unanswered," Bayh said.
Kay McMullen, Cassidy's mother, declined to comment until the military investigations concluded.
As early as 2003, Fort Knox was the target of criticism for putting injured soldiers in unsuitable living conditions, including outdated wooden barracks unfit for medical care. Wounded soldiers that year were moved more accommodating buildings, but similar problems were reported at other posts.
Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Cassidy's death may reflect wider problems in care for the wounded.
"We don't leave soldiers behind at war. We shouldn't leave anybody behind back home, either," he said. "We have to figure out a way to transfer that same idea of solidarity on the battlefield to taking care of soldiers at home."

guage · #10 11-16-2007, 09:36 AM

I don't know how one would see a cover up.
Very sad indeed if he was left unchecked in a chair for a couple of days.

"An autopsy requested by his family determined Cassidy had been dead for hours before being found and may have been unconscious for days before that."

PaulC · #11 11-16-2007, 09:44 AM

I'm not yet sold on the private hospital concept, unless it's properly equipped and their staff has been specially trained for treating war injuries. Even a Detroit ER wouldn't quite be up to that.

Chas H · #12 11-16-2007, 11:02 AM

Sometimes just plain incompetence is the cause.
Here's another example of how the G'ment responds to those that made a great sacrifice.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/15/wounded.marine/index.html

dynalow · #13 11-16-2007, 11:28 AM

I've never been in a VA hospital..as patient or visitor... but the story offers precious little factual detail.

..."dead for hours".....how many? 2? 10?

...."MAY HAVE BEEN unconscious for two days"....
Where? Do they have private rooms in a place like this? I mean, don't they have nurses' rounds? Food servers? If he was in a semi-private room or ward and sitting in a chair for two days, dontcha think someone would take notice???

If nobody laid eyes on this soldier, where was he? In the basement?

Maybe there's less to this story than meets the eye. Does Maureen Groppe have Murthavision? (Ready!..Shoot!...Aim!) Just a thought. Apparently Sen. Bayh does!

But if the story is true it's disgusting treatment of any patient, be it a vet or an indigent.

crash9 · #14 11-16-2007, 12:01 PM

This really sounds sketchy. I suppose care varies from one facility to another. The VA is Tucson is really first class and they have a very good clinic down here at the Post. On the other hand at the huge facility in LA I've never heard anything good.
Our guys are not being taken care of in many ways, especially the Guards that have normal civilian bills to pay while they're called up, but this is really over the top.
The lives of the seriously wounded are being saved where in the past they'd have been casualties. This has got to be putting a stress on the system and just another example of whaat should have been considered before we went into this.
That people here just go about their day to day lives, without feeling any pain, when all of this just gets put on the books as red ink really bothers me. We should have learned from Nam that the economic consequences of sheltering the public from the need to sacrafice in a time of war is a lousy way of maintaining support for a bad cause.
What support?