The nation’s military defense understandably takes a leading priority in public spending. But congressional Republicans have managed to put plenty of unpalatable elements into a Brobdingnagian appropriations bill that affirms an extreme view, undercutting the value of service personnel protecting themselves from deadly infections. Over the objections of Pentagon brass and the White House, GOP….
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Senators kill big plan to modernize VA care but offer no alternatives
One of the nation’s largest health care systems had its ambitious plans to reshape itself for the 21st century torpedoed by a dozen members of the U.S. Senate, with taxpayers and veterans left in the lurch with great uncertainty about the future medical care for those who valiantly have served this country. Just a few….
Continue ReadingFor Dept. of Veterans Affairs, an overhaul and time of reckoning on care
One of the largest, most important health care systems in the country has plans in the works for a huge revamp, including shutting down many of its big, aging hospitals or slashing services there, shifting to smaller clinics, and refocusing its caregiving to parts of the country where its patients live. Taxpayers will want to….
Continue ReadingEx-president’s buddies schemed to exploit VA patients’ data, records show
A trio of former President Trump’s country club friends planned to use the clout he gave them over the Department of Veteran Affairs to set up a potentially enriching scheme to exploit the confidential, personal medical records of millions of U.S. veterans and their families, documents show. Congressional Democrats, now leading key House committees, have….
Continue ReadingVet, with aid from Congress, forces VA to increase disclosures in malpractice cases
Congress has given U.S. service personnel slightly improved help if they find they have been harmed while receiving military medical care and want to pursue justice via legal actions. Lawmakers, as part of a big bill at year’s end dealing with many different matters affecting the Department of Veterans Affairs, also quietly approved legal provisions….
Continue ReadingVA ripped for ER abuse of suicidal vet and ‘Covid cocktail’ at state homes
Veterans Affairs officials are taking yet more fire over medical services provided at the sprawling agency’s facilities: An internal watchdog ripped a Washington, D.C., VA emergency room for abusing and sending away a mentally troubled patient who then killed himself. And House members demanded to know why institutionalized and elderly vets were treated for Covid-19….
Continue ReadingVA hospital care under fire again after aide pleads to killing seven patients in West Virginia
She was a 46-year-old Army veteran hired by the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in 2015 with no certification or license to care for patients. Reta Mays worked in the middle of the night, tending to elderly, onetime service personnel, sitting bedside and monitoring their vitals, including their blood sugar levels. Mays went room to….
Continue ReadingDetails build on authorities’ brutal use of ‘less lethal’ projectiles and tear gas
Just as law enforcement authorities find themselves under fire for instances of racist, excessive uses of force, police agencies across the country seem hell-bent on giving critics more and more evidence for their argument that major policing reforms are needed. The independent, nonpartisan Kaiser Health News Service and USA Today deserve credit for scrutinizing dozens….
Continue ReadingAt the VA, concerns increasing about top leadership and outside meddling
One of the nation’s largest health systems faces yet more serious questions about its leadership and external meddling in the quality and safety of its care. So, once again taxpayers may be asking themselves, with anger, What the heck is going on now at the top of the Department of Veterans Affairs? Internal watchdogs have….
Continue ReadingThey’re not just ‘headaches.’ Traumatic brain injuries are real. And serious.
The nation’s commander-in-chief did a big disservice to recently injured service personnel and others who have suffered traumatic brain injuries by dismissing what happened as “not very serious” and just “headaches” of little consequence. Pentagon officials sought to deflect attention from President Trump’s comments at a global economic forum in Davos, Switzerland — off-the-cuff remarks assailed….
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