Veteran gets VA hospital appointment two years after he died

Written by Allen West on July 2, 2014

Two days ago President Obama announced his selection of former Proctor and Gamble CEO Bob McDonald — a former Army Airborne Ranger Infantry officer and West Point graduate — to head up the ailing Veterans Administration. Maybe this will work out better, after all, “Rangers Lead the Way” — and that ain’t from behind. McDonald must be given the freedom to fix the issues and not be told to be a figurehead.

Here’s an example of what lies ahead for McDonald. As reported by CBS Boston, a local veteran there finally got a VA doctor’s appointment — two years after he died.

Doug Chase was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011. In 2012, his wife, Suzanne, tried to move his medical care to the VA hospital in Beford so he wouldn’t have to take the ambulance ride into Boston. The couple waited about four months and never heard anything. Then Doug died in August of 2012.

But two weeks ago, Suzanne got a letter, addressed to Doug, from the VA in Bedford, saying he could now call to make an appointment to see a primary care doctor.

“It was addressed to my husband and I opened it,” said Suzanne Chase. “I was in complete disbelief.”

Will the new VA Secretary be able to make the call and tell the person responsible for this — as Donald Trump would say — “you’re fired?” Not all VA hospitals are guilty but the cancer that has metastasized in the VA system has to be surgically removed and we’re talking about an emergency procedure. This cannot be about the politics of rhetoric. People – veterans such as Doug Chase — are dying, undeservedly so.

Read more at http://allenbwest.com/2014/07/veteran-ge...oaR4yR3poiXV.99