Monday, August 24, 2009
Why we need government health care NOW
The VA tells 1,200 veterans they have Lou Gehrig's Disease - by mistake.
Hilarity ensues.
Hilarity ensues.
Labels: health care, soldiers' issues, stupid, VA, veterans
Saturday, August 22, 2009
More VA Shenanegans
Turns out when these guys aren't infecting veterans with Hepatitis C, and letting legitimate VA disability claims go unprocessed for months and months on end, they're giving out $24 million in taxpayer money to government employees in efficiency and performance bonuses.
Quick! Let's put the federal government in charge of health care right away!
Splash, out
Jason
Quick! Let's put the federal government in charge of health care right away!
Splash, out
Jason
Labels: Government, soldiers' issues, VA, veterans
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Obama Administration to Veterans: Drop Dead.
No, really.
More ...
Thanks to the Sainted General Shinseki.
Don't worry. The Democrat leadership in Congress is hard at work on a plan to include veterans in the Cash for Clunkers program.
Splash, out
Jason
Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."
Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.
More ...
I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").
This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.
Thanks to the Sainted General Shinseki.
Don't worry. The Democrat leadership in Congress is hard at work on a plan to include veterans in the Cash for Clunkers program.
Splash, out
Jason
Labels: culture, disabilities, health care, soldiers' issues, The Sainted General Shinseki, VA, veterans
Friday, June 20, 2008
Are we doing right by our women warriors?
Now THIS is how to do journalism.
(I won't quote it, because the Asinine Press is run by mental midgets who bite the hand that feeds them. Just read the report.)
Takeaways: The VA health care system has not been able to keep up with the influx of women veterans, and has not upgraded its facilities with equipment for female health care needs, such as mammograms, along with those stirrup thingies, I guess. At one third of VA facilities, the quality of care offered women was not up to the standard offered men (though I don't know how they'd figure that. It seems that they would have equal care, except that certain OBGYN and breast care services and the like are not offered. (Although if a lot of clinics have a proctologist on staff but no access to OBGYN care, we'd have an equality of access problem.)
BUT... and here's an example of how the Asinine Press's editors will lie with a headline...
If you read the actual article, it's overall quite positive. The VA has made great strides in upgrading care for women already, and has demonstrated better surgical results and mortality than women who receive care privately or under the Medicare Advantage program. (I have statistical reservations about this...unless they controlled for age, which will skew much younger among female veterans, I'm not sure this is meaningful.)
Overall quality of care is good, according to the Asinine Press, when compared to commonly accepted medical standards. It would seem to me that making further improvements in the quality of care for our sisters would be a fairly simple matter of outreach to qualified staff, creative contracting arrangements with local specialists, and a modest investment in stirrups and whatever else those people use.
Splash, out
Jason
(Hat tip: Followed a link suggested by a CBS producer. The report he was pitching was too insipid to waste your time with. But this one was good. Eric, if you're reading this, more as well-researched and reported as this one, please! I'll link to them every time!)
(I won't quote it, because the Asinine Press is run by mental midgets who bite the hand that feeds them. Just read the report.)
Takeaways: The VA health care system has not been able to keep up with the influx of women veterans, and has not upgraded its facilities with equipment for female health care needs, such as mammograms, along with those stirrup thingies, I guess. At one third of VA facilities, the quality of care offered women was not up to the standard offered men (though I don't know how they'd figure that. It seems that they would have equal care, except that certain OBGYN and breast care services and the like are not offered. (Although if a lot of clinics have a proctologist on staff but no access to OBGYN care, we'd have an equality of access problem.)
BUT... and here's an example of how the Asinine Press's editors will lie with a headline...
If you read the actual article, it's overall quite positive. The VA has made great strides in upgrading care for women already, and has demonstrated better surgical results and mortality than women who receive care privately or under the Medicare Advantage program. (I have statistical reservations about this...unless they controlled for age, which will skew much younger among female veterans, I'm not sure this is meaningful.)
Overall quality of care is good, according to the Asinine Press, when compared to commonly accepted medical standards. It would seem to me that making further improvements in the quality of care for our sisters would be a fairly simple matter of outreach to qualified staff, creative contracting arrangements with local specialists, and a modest investment in stirrups and whatever else those people use.
Splash, out
Jason
(Hat tip: Followed a link suggested by a CBS producer. The report he was pitching was too insipid to waste your time with. But this one was good. Eric, if you're reading this, more as well-researched and reported as this one, please! I'll link to them every time!)
Labels: soldiers' issues, VA
Monday, November 26, 2007
Phony Soldiers are Committing Suicide at an Alarming Rate.
Alternet has the "details."
I'm getting all emo and shit. I think this is up there with Gloria Steinem's idiotic claim that 150,000 women were dying of anorexia every year.
JustOneMinute has perspective.
These people will do anything ... ANYTHING ... to infantilize veterans or turn them into victims.
Splash, out
Jason
Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day.
I'm getting all emo and shit. I think this is up there with Gloria Steinem's idiotic claim that 150,000 women were dying of anorexia every year.
JustOneMinute has perspective.
These people will do anything ... ANYTHING ... to infantilize veterans or turn them into victims.
Splash, out
Jason
Labels: Feminism, The Left, VA, veterans
Sunday, September 30, 2007
This article has it all....
PTSD, credit card bills, a guy with too much house for the money, the son of an immigrant, a sex scandal, and even a quote from Paul Reikhoff.
Yeah, go figure.
Oh, and John Murtha makes an appearance, too, at the end of the article.
I'm not sure why, but my bullshit alarms are sounding off all over the place on this one.
Yeah, go figure.
Oh, and John Murtha makes an appearance, too, at the end of the article.
I'm not sure why, but my bullshit alarms are sounding off all over the place on this one.
Labels: Media, soldiers' issues, VA, veterans
Sunday, March 25, 2007
VA Budget Cutbacks
This would probably be a good time for the President to reexamine his plans to roll back VA health care funding in 2009 and 2010.
I'd push to fund it by defunding the outrageous pork bribes the Democrats awarded themselves for voting for the surrender bill.
The Democrats handed Bush the initiative, if he wants to seize it.
I hope he does.
I doubt he will.
Splash, out
Jason
I'd push to fund it by defunding the outrageous pork bribes the Democrats awarded themselves for voting for the surrender bill.
The Democrats handed Bush the initiative, if he wants to seize it.
I hope he does.
I doubt he will.
Splash, out
Jason
Labels: Bush, Congress, health care, Politics, VA, veterans
