Report highlights VA Hospital violations in Fort Wayne

Report highlights VA Hospital violations
Updated: Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011, 7:17 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 21 Jun 2011, 7:12 PM EDT

Adam Widener
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Healthcare inspectors have released a report prompting necessary changes to Fort Wayne’s VA Hospital. The Office of Healthcare Inspections (OHI) found a handful of staffing and treatment violations in the facility.

In 2010, an anonymous complaint spurred inspectors to take a look at the hospital. It claimed a physician was responsible for several patient deaths. Inspectors found that complaint to be invalid, but discovered several other problems.
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Report highlights VA Hospital violations

The need for media to get involved with VA claims

Pick any city or town across America and you will find a story just like this one. Yesterday I posted a rant about this kind of thing happening. A veteran serves the nation, then has to fight the government because they were wounded doing it. They do what they are supposed to do. They file claims and present as much evidence as possible after they have seen a doctor and have been diagnosed by the doctor. Yet their claim is denied. They turn to service organizations and to lawyers, but all too often even they cannot get the claims approved. They turn to their elected officials and all too often, even they are ignored.

In a perfect world, honorable claims would be honored immediately, but this is not a perfect world. People tend to think that if a claim has been denied, then it can't be a real claim. They always tend to blame the veterans instead of the system. If the VA is denying their claim, then there has to be something wrong with the veteran. Right? Wrong.

It's not like they just decide to file a claim for PTSD without knowing they have it and have been diagnosed with it from a doctor. It's not like they hear they have cancer and immediately link it to depleted uranium or Agent Orange on their own. They have to have the doctor link it and then find the evidence to back it up. Even after all this is done, the VA wants more. So they try to contact people they served with so they can provide a letter of support of claim. In other words, to confirm something actually did happen. There have been times when the veteran has not only presented letters of support but also clippings from newspapers confirming the event did happen and also armed with a report from the DOD saying they were there at the time the event happened. Still their claim is denied.

When the media got involved with all the problems in the VA, things began to change and it was brought to the attention of Congress. Otherwise the only thing the Congress had to go on was individual cases and they were unaware of how huge the problem was. They only saw that one problem.

If this is not enough to inspire the media to take action on behalf of the veteran, I don't know what it will take. kc

Linda Tucker "I'm amazed how quickly it comes together when someone applies the right pressure in the right place"

In Your Corner: VA Benefits Battle
By Ryan Elijah
Watch the story
(FORT WAYNE, IN) Indiana's NewsCenter -- Back in September of 2006, Dan Tucker was granted disabled veteran status by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the Vietnam veteran lost his battle with Cancer before the check arrived.
When Dan's widow, Linda received the check in April of 2007 it was incorrectly issued in Dan's name, over 16 months later, she's still waiting for the 799 dollar check to be re-issued.
Linda Tucker- "I understand these things take time and I understand there are other families that have bigger issues, but it seems like it would be an easy thing to re-issue the check".
Linda contacted both the Grant County and Wabash County Veteran's Affairs offices, but after several months she still wasn't getting anywhere. The VA officers referred her to her Congressman Dan Burton's office, but despite their cooperation, she kept hearing the same response "we'll get back with you, it just seems like everyone I spoke with about this didn't want to be bothered. They smiled on the phone, but I would never hear back from them. I didn't get any results, I was frustrated and eventually became angry"
Dealing with months of frustration, Linda decided to turn to us, we immediately started with the VA Regional office in Indianapolis. The office was very cooperative and once they received permission from Linda to speak to us, the barriers disappeared rather quickly. During our conversation with the VA, they said they would immediately look into the situation and about two weeks after that phone call, Linda received the check she'd been waiting for.
Linda Tucker "I'm amazed how quickly it comes together when someone applies the right pressure in the right place" In the end a computer problem was blamed for the delayed check.
The fact that Linda was persistent and documented everything eventually made the difference. While her story has a good ending, it leaves some concerning questions about a system that in Linda's case failed her.
When you’ve been wronged – or have a story to tell, you now have a place to turn!
CLICK HERE to send Ryan an email.
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/27012769.html