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And he's gone. Hopefully Congress can get to the bottom of this BS, not just sitting back and watching people quit. Those people at the Phoenix VA doing all their shenanigans belong in jail.

I'm not gonna hold my breath, though.

The Seattle VA hospital in particular and the American lake are damn joke. I probably would have died if I listened to the PA they assigned me. ... by mistake according to their own policy. You don't assign someone with a rare cancer, 1/10 of 1% of adult cancers, in an even rarer location, one of 80 people to get what I got, where I got it, to a PA who had no clue what it is. Then only wanted to see me once a year. Sure after five years without a recurrence, but while the incision in my face wasn't even healed? Recurrence with lung metastasis to the lungs a couple months later. I'd have died, or at least lost the majority of my lungs by the time he saw me again, and that's assuming he would have even had me do a chest x-ray. Which isle wouldn't have caught them until a couple months after they were found by a CT.
Some people have had bad experiences at Madigan, but I've had great luck with radiation oncology, hematology/oncology, thoracic surgery, and then EENT, as well as nuclear medicine (for PET) and CT/US before that.

What many of you fail to realize Shinseki was the sacrificial lamb. The real problem lies in Congress gutting the VA budget and this mass of sh*t in the White House calling himself Commander in Chief not even making a public statement on the matter. Once again the General is thrown under the bus, and the VA will still suck, as it has since the Vietnam War...

Face it. Until WE as Veterans take the initiative to reform OUR Veterans Administration, We will continue to get sh*t care from sh*t people who claim to give a damn about us...And if You work there...I would make it part of the job description to be a Vet...I am tired of these welfare cases drawing tax dollars to give Vets lousy care and treat them as a number, not as human beings, with the Honor and Dignity WE deserve..

Opinionated...Yes....Wrong...NO

Republicans have been even worse in treatment of veterans. Better for those still serving with budgets for equipment,but shitty after they've used us up.
The VA is a government agency. That means we need to hold all of our employees accountable. All of the dirt bags of both parties. In Congress ands the White House. I'd love to see a mad firing of Congress. Start fresh with people who haven't made it their careers to be politicians.

If you make it part of the job description to be a vet, you won't have anybody providing care to the vets themselves.. doesn't make sense

And most non physician VA employees work hard to do what they can

The VA relies on doctors that are wanting to work for less than the going rate in the private sector... that gives you the bottom of the barrel... they pay their nurses market rate but not the doctors....

There wouldn't be enough vets to fill the positions.

I've read that in some areas VA doctors are making only 70% of what their peers in both the private and public hospitals are making.

Guys...I've been going to the Fargo, ND VA and 90% of the folks who work there are Vets or Vet spouses. The Care is second to none. Even MY Doc is a Vet. They understand our needs and ailments.

And Please, with 27% un employment across the US right now, There are enough Vets to fill most of the clerical and non professional positions. So don't give me that song and dance..I'm not buying it.

Mohawk13 wrote:Guys...I've been going to the Fargo, ND VA and 90% of the folks who work there are Vets or Vet spouses. The Care is second to none. Even MY Doc is a Vet. They understand our needs and ailments.

And Please, with 27% un employment across the US right now, There are enough Vets to fill most of the clerical and non professional positions. So don't give me that song and dance..I'm not buying it.

A lot of the VA care is delivered by non clerical and professionals that require training and licensing, so I don't get your point on how this makes care better

So should harborview exclude hiring vets because they should work at the VA instead?

Should doctors refuse to take on vets as well because they should go to the VA instead?

See where I'm going with this? Once you start putting in exclusion criteria, you can't complain if others do the same...

For the record, I personally care for a lot of vets, they pay good money to see me because their VA doctor is not accessible... I write their prescriptions and they fill it at VA

They are definitely getting better care from me than they used to get at the VA


Also you can't limit your pool of candidates if you want to hire the best...

Saying that only vets can care for vets is So dumb I don't know where to start

To set the record straight, I would like, no I would love to work for the VA. I did when I was a resident, met Dick Winters from band of brothers in PA... it is rewarding to help these people live a full life..

But I will not work there for a 40% paycut from where I am now...

And there in lies the problem. You have to want to help Vets, not for monetary gain, but for the sake of caring for those who have written that blank check to defend your freedoms. I plan on taking the Utah State Boards and getting My PA License once again....And working for the VA...Not for the money, but for the sake of My fellow Vets that they might be served by someone who gives a damn about them and not the compensation

And If You are not a Vet, have not been in the trenches with us, bled with us...You have no dog in this fight and I would gratefully request to refrain from commenting on a subject that you are not personally connected to

Mohawk13 wrote:And there in lies the problem. You have to want to help Vets, not for monetary gain, but for the sake of caring for those who have written that blank check to defend your freedoms. I plan on taking the Utah State Boards and getting My PA License once again....And working for the VA...Not for the money, but for the sake of My fellow Vets that they might be served by someone who gives a damn about them and not the compensation

And If You are not a Vet, have not been in the trenches with us, bled with us...You have no dog in this fight and I would gratefully request to refrain from commenting on a subject that you are not personally connected to

Good luck on that... If all you rely on are volunteers, you won't have enough people to care for the vets...

The problem now is not enough manpower and your solution is to exclude more people.... sure...Good luck on that

And just because I'm not a vet doesn't mean the issue will not affect me.. What the VA does affects healthcare in general just like Medicare

And if you're a PA you already know that any state active license allows you to work in any VA system in the US

So you should be able to volunteer tomorrow

Very aware of that. Have been out of the field for about 7 years....

I don't mean to sound harsh about Veteran Status. It is just that to many people are chiming in on an issue that they just don't have an idea of what we go through. And comparing Medicare to VA care is like comparing apples to testicles. 2 separate systems with 2 distinct sets of issues. The one common denominator is that they are both being supplied by an un feeling, self serving governing body...

There is a movement in the State Veterans Groupd organizing to head to DC to air our concerns directly to those individuals in charge of the purse strings. Not unlike 1980 when Viet Nam Vets marched on DC...Stay tuned.

interesting turn of events, the latest recruitment email I got from a locums agency shows the VA is now raising it's salary (probably temporarily) to market levels in an effort to increase their physician staffing...

not sure if this holds true for current VA staff, but at least the locums docs they are trying to get for 6 mos at time will be paid competitively..

will remain to be seen if this is sustained or just a cursory response to the current investigation..

Saw this also and am trying to find out if it is a stop gap or permanent increase. Hopefully the latter so we can retain good Docs and caring Personnel.