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VETERAN NEGLECT AND ABUSE
My name is Mark Hoggan, I would like to say a few words on the neglect and abuse of Veterans by the Veterans Administration Hospital.
I recently went to my local VA Hospital in Salt Lake City and after telling my story to them I was diagnosed as suffering from “Depression”. I was actually depressed and considering suicide. This much is true. I like many other people in America really do suffer from “Depression” I was then sent to the Psychiatric Ward of the hospital and was kept there for 2 weeks, because I was suicidal and suffering from “Depression”.
The VA in it’s eternal wisdom decided that to treat my “Depression” it would lock me up in the “Psych Ward” because I was suffering from “Depression” seriously? I am not a doctor or a nurse but I don’t think locking someone up and treating them like a “Mental Patient” can be good for people with “Depression.”
Don’t get me wrong I think that people with “Depression.” Should be helped and can be patients in hospitals, that is not my point. I believe that people with “Depression.” Should not be locked up like they are crazy, THEY ARE NOT CRAZY!. They suffer from a truly debilitating disease. But are treated like “Mental Patients.” And are sent away from the VA hospital because it is too full of “Mental Patients” to some other contracted “Treatment Facility” where they are over medicated by a nurse and neglected by under qualified medical and treatment staff.
This place is called “Highland Ridge Hospital” in Midvale, Utah. It leaves Veterans sitting around receiving very little treatment. While I was there they tried to put me on medications other than the ones I was put on at the VA, and tried to make me take them but I refused because I will not take anything that was not prescribed by a doctor. They have an APRN who thinks he’s a psychiatrist, prescribing medications to “Mental Patients”.
The administrator, who says he’s a veteran, as does the APRN, treats people with little regard and over medication that borders on serious abuse and neglect. Neither of who should be working with people who have serious illnesses and need real treatment. They are not to be treated as baggage, left lying around and heavily medicated. Veterans should be treated with respect and receive the help they need and treated by a for profit second-class facility that supposed to be treating addiction clients.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
My primary care physician wants me to take Chantix to stop smoking but says the decision isn't up to her. To me this is another example of misplaced priorities in the veterans administration. They need to be straightened out. Nothing is more important to my health than quitting smoking.
I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with Mr. Hoggan. I am a veteran who was also sent to "Highland Ridge Hospital" recently for "depression", But mine was to the point that I was suicidal as his might have been. The staff there was compassionate and talked to me a lot about what they could do. They told me I would only be there for a short time and then back up to the VA. They had a nurse whose only job was to help me get into the VA services I needed when I left, and that is exactly what he (they) did when I was ready. I didn't meet the administrator, but the care I got was far better and more comfortable than any place I've ever been in the military or the VA.
As for Mr. Hoggan, be thankful that the VA is taking care of him, after his "treatment" he is still alive and able to complain! Overall, the care I get is far better than the those with just insurance. The VA is full of dedicated people trying to handle the aftermath of those of us who served this country and were damaged through that service. Thankyou VA, and thankyou Highland Ridge Hospital!
Need to stop being a ###, and pay for a quit smoking aid by yourself. The military didnt make you start smoking. Your complaint is frivelous. There are REAL issues the VA needs to attend to.
i would agree from the way the va treats my dad not giving him help for his bad back are the agent orange he was expossed to they dont care about all the vets if they did my dad would have been help along time ago he is still fighting for what he is aloud for doing his dutys
I am currently having a similar experience with my husband who has also been extremely depressed since an involuntary discharge after over 15 years of service. Not only did he lose his career, that was more like his identity, but he has not been able to find a job. In just a few short months he lost the career he loved, our home (we had to move with 2 weeks notice from base housing), our way of life, and he is now a "house husband" while I desparetly try to support us on my small income that was never intended to support a family of 6. He took a non-lethal dose of sleeping pills. I was not certain at the time if it was lethal or not, but I wasn't taking any chances with his life. After he was transported to the VA they put him in a dirty padded room and just left him there. They watched him with a camera and spoke to him via intercom. This was in the ER as they processed him into the psych war and more than 24 hours after ingestion of the pills. Instead of showing compassion and offering help, they caged him like an animal. On the psych ward they are manipulating him into taking pills. He is telling them what medications have worked well and they are starting him on much stronger medications at much higher doses than necessary. I have told them what medications worked well in the past, but they have refused to try that. I have offered to provide medical records from a psychiatrist that met with him montly for over a year, but they said those records are irrelevant. He is very willing to get help and had only not been in counseling or a support group because he had been told his general under honorable discharge meant he did not qualify for VA services. It took me making a number of phone calls that included calling a Senator's office to find out this was absolutely false. Now that he knows he is eligible for services, he will be happy to go. Even though his 72-hours are up and they do not have a court order to keep him, they are refusing to release him and when asked how they can legally do this they do not have an answer. It is Sunday so they only have 1 attending on call right now. My husband has rights on Sunday too, folks. They are telling him if he refuses to take a sleeping pill they can hold him longer. I believe this is false but with it being the weekend have not been able to speak to an attorney. On Monday morning, the point at which he will have been there for 5 days, I will be speaking with the Utah State Mental Health Board and hopefully finding answers. While he was in the hospital we found out he was selected for a job that pays 6 figures. He has 3 weeks to prepare to start the job (out of state). By keeping him they are not only not helping him, they are jeporizing this job. So here we have a patient who is very willing to get help as an outpatient and doctors who either do not know the laws well enough to provide a clear answer or they are unwilling to. If I cannot get answers on Monday morning, I believe the local news will be very interested in hearing this in detail.
Guess I also have a story about my visit to the VA and its doctors. I have what is called untreated gonorrhea. The pain started in the genitals then went to the joints, legs, feet, wrist and hands. They tell me that there is nothing wrong. It is all in my head. I know that they just don't care about me as a person. We are bodies that one day will be dead and gone. My condition is just getting worse and all they do is nothing for me. Can I go to a regular hospital ER for this and will the VA take care of it?
I would agree with all of the stories told by Veterans or of the families of veterans, and in my opinion the VA is a very broken system that throws away money like it's dirty bath water that's easily replaced. As for me I am 90% percent disabled, and will be homeless in the next 30 days as a result of the broken promise of care and compassion for those who served. my only regret in life is not having served my country, but being permanently damaged and left behind by those who say "we serve those who served us" is my biggest regret, f*** the VA! The fact that the soldiers creed states that...I will never leave behind a fallen battle buddy is something the VA doesn't get, and my fellow soldiers would give their lives as to not leave anyone behind. Ask a VA medical provider if they are willing to give their life to save someone who they are sworn to protect? and the answer would be? Shame on the VA, and if I knew then what I know now I would have not served and just taken care of myself as they are so fond of doing. Go to HELL VA, I DID! SEE YOU THERE! I'll be the crippled guy selling ice water... Don't thank me for my service because it's only insults me further!
I have dealt with the VA hospitals in Tennessee for seven years. I have seen young war vets returned from over seas who were all black and were sitting there all day waiting for mri tests. All the mri.s. were down. I was given a urgent appointment at Vanderbuilt's MRI clinic. I told all those young men to write there congressmen before I left and then was approached by one of the staff to come with him so he could shut me up.
I had to call Senator Corker and his staff helped me with another problem I had with the Murfreesboro VA where I was so neglected it was rediculious and had a seizure [all long stories]. Now at the Nashville campus it's the same old story.
Though I was rushed there for a ruptured spleen and they saved my life, it seems when it come to any thing else you will wait for ever. I went five months with the use of only one hand and they finally gave permission to have it fixed out side of the VA, which should be the case for all vets. Again I'm waiting for appointments and will probably be blind by the time they find the problem.
But the worst was seeing these Black men being neglected for the color and race. I have a hundred stories I could tell someone, but no one cares, espically our great leaders and these worthless gov employees.
The VA took neglected my son and took him off my check. How come if his dad does not pay child support it is negligence. But if the VA does not pay its my fault. My daddy uncle Sam don't know the law. They don't know he has to have Medicaid and food but uncle Sam mistakenly took my son off my check thanks daddy. Aka uncle sam
I tried to get help from the audiology department for old and brittle tubing for my hearing aids which finally broke today. I filled out all of the information on the form and when it came to SUBJECT, there is no way that box will take any information. When I clicked to send, it said I could not send because I had not put anything in the SUBJECT BOX. Each time it was the same thing. So, tell me is this your way of turning away questions?
I live in Hawthorne, NV my audiology department is in Reno,NV. That is 130 miles one way. I am 82 years old tommorow and I don't drive. What would you suggest?