VA told veteran with cancer it was just hemorrhoids

When it comes to the VA it all depends on where you live, not where you served or what you need.

The new document obtained by CNN shows a worse problem than has previously been made public by the VA.

As CNN has previously reported, as many as 7,000 veterans were on a backlog list -- waiting too long for colonscopies or endoscopies -- at VA facilities in Columbia, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia.

In some areas of the country the VA has been able to get veterans in for appointments when they should but are lousy at approving claims that get them in the door. Some states it is the opposite. Great on claims but lousy on appointments.

Americans are under the impression that it doesn't matter where our veterans live because that is the way it should be. The truth however shows all veterans are not treated equally or adequately.

Veterans dying because of health care delays
CNN Investigations
By Scott Bronstein, Nelli Black, and Drew Griffin
January 30, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
CNN has learned 19 veterans died because of delays in basic screenings
The delays occurred at VA hospitals and clinics
It took a year for veteran Barry Coates to get a colonoscopy
He is now undergoing chemotherapy for rectal cancer

(CNN) -- U.S. veterans are dying because of delays in diagnosis and treatment at VA hospitals.

At least 19 veterans have died because of delays in simple medical screenings like colonoscopies or endoscopies, at various VA hospitals or clinics, CNN has learned.

That's according to an internal document from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, obtained exclusively by CNN, that deals with patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011.

The veterans were part of 82 vets who have died or are dying or have suffered serious injuries as a result of delayed diagnosis or treatment for colonoscopies or endoscopies.

Barry Coates is one of the veterans who has suffered from a delay in care. Coates was having excruciating pain and rectal bleeding in 2011. For a year the Army veteran went to several VA clinics and hospitals in South Carolina, trying to get help. But the VA's diagnosis was hemorrhoids, and aside from simple pain medication he was told he might need a colonoscopy.
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