Dying Veteran Says Busy VA Hospital Refused to Admit Him

Oct 16, VCS in the News: Dying Veteran Says Busy VA Hospital Refused to Admit Him

William R. Levesque


St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

Oct 16, 2008


"It's a disgrace," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, an advocacy group frequently critical of the VA. "And it's difficult for veterans who are very ill to fight a big bureaucracy alone."

October 15, 2008, Zephyrhills, Florida — Veteran James Carroll is supposed to get free and complete medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The trick is getting in the door. Carroll, 64 and dying of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, said the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa has repeatedly refused to admit him for a reason that is no fault of his own:

Haley is too crowded.

So the Zephyrhills resident said he has been forced to get care outside the VA medical system, personally accumulating thousands of dollars in medical expenses that he thinks the VA should pay.

The VA refuses.

Some veteran advocates say Carroll is one of many veterans around the nation who have been denied access to VA health care and then forced to foot their own medical bills when they seek care elsewhere.

"I was a good soldier," said Carroll, an Air Force veteran who served four years ending in 1968. "I did what I was told. I don't want to break the VA's bank. I don't want anything that should not be mine. But the government needs to keep its word to me."

Carroll has been forced out of his rental home for lack of rent money. He is living in a trailer on family property near his sister.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11409