I'm not that knoledgable when it comes to medical stuff so I was kinda wondering; is there any truth to this story? I mean it never said it was based on a true story but maybe article 99 was a real thing or anything like that??
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(¸.·´ (¸.· Samara
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At the time this came out, I worked at the VA hospital, and my boss had worked there for years. My brother has worked there for almost 20 years now. There is a lot of truth in this movie ... these hospitals are using equipment way behind the times. They are not even close to the "cutting edge" of anything. And majority of them have very few doctors on staff ... instead they receive doctors on rotation from surrounding hospitals. It's hard to explain but .... these hospitals are just very different than other hospitals, a lot of limitations on what you can and are allowed to do. I remember several comments at the time this came out that this movie really hit the nail on the head in a lot of ways in depicting the VA hospitals, but most people would probably think it was exaggeration and dramatic license (when it was, in fact, quite accurate).
JP
lewis black talked about it on live at gotham friday night and how the wounded vets paychecks are 6 months late on top of not getting proper health care. thats why my grandmother never lets va doctors do anything for my grandfather and goes to regular doctors.
shareWell, since the Walter Reed scandal happened within the last 6 months, we know there is no exaggeration involved. In fact, this movie was soft-balling the situation.
There was even a recent Law and Order episode on the situation. I remember the line where the hospital administrators basically blamed the soldiers, because too many of them survived the war. Therefore there wasn't enough budgeted money to go around. Can you imagine going through the horror of war, ending up with a mutilation or other lifelong handicap, then being told the reason you can't get adequate care is because you were supposed to die?
Horrible.
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.
well the va hospital system is the foundation for the creation of H.M.O.s. because the hmos do the samething deny needed healthcare to save money and profit off your payments.
shareIt all depends which VAMC you go to. I worked at one that was very professional and efficient. I have also heard horror stories from veterans who have been to VAMCs that are ate up.
sharedjhowe69,
I beleave you are right.
I first went to one small community VAMC for care. They were great but understaffed. They provided me with what they could but kept sending me to a bigger, better eqiped and better staffed VAMC. I transferred to the better VAMC. I have the best medical care I have ever recieved or imagined. It doesn't have that small hometown atmosphere that I enjoyed before but the Medical part cannot be any better. As far as I know they are as advanced as any health care facility and more advanced then most.
There have been many advances since this movie was made. I have often wondered if this particular movie didn't help bring that about.
Anything is possible. I can recall many vets telling me how awful it was in the 70s and 80s with over crowded inpatient wards that were so packed they had to put some patients in the hallways and such. You still hear the occasional horror story where a doctor amputates the wrong leg off a vet or something like that.
shareTo preface, I have been a VA doctor for 21 years and am also a veteran myself. This film came out early in my career when the VA WAS in sorry shape. I am extremely proud of the improvements made since then and of being a dedicated part of it all. Even then this film grossly exaggerated the VA's problems but compared to now it bears no resemblance. People keep mentioning Walter Reed as an example of a bad VA hospital but Walter Reed is a DOD hospital which is not affiliated with the VA. It is staffed mainly by active duty military personnel. Having worked in military hospitals as a reservist called up for active duty during the current wars I found their computer systems light years behind the VA's. The VA system as a whole gives top notch care and, in the city I live in, ranks among the best in terms of healthcare outcomes. With removal of the profit motive, the care you get is always appropriate- neither more nor less than you need. Somebody commented that they "borrow" doctors from other hospitals. This is in fact an efficiency issue- if your neurosurgeon only has enough work to operate twice a week then you aren't paying them to sit around and do nothing on the other 5. Your tax dollars at work. The VA also has teaching and research missions. Ask any doctor who has completed a quality residency- they will almost certainly tell you they did part of it in the VA. Most big VA's are university affiliates and put out tons of great bench and clinical research. I could have made a lot more money as a private doc but I wouldn't trade my career for three times my salary. I love the patients and the people I work with way too much.
shareAnytime ANYONE has a question about ANYTHING, regarding anything at all - one just needs to follow the MONEY. There isn't any money to be made off of veterans, so the programs are let to 'die on the vine'. This is done by yanking the funding.
Same goes for education, homelessness, children's services, etc. Good old USA!
Meanwhile everyone has their flag magnets on their cars, though. To quote the great late George Carlin, "I leave the 'symbols' to the symbol minded".