Damn it... I need to stop reading the news! WTF!

Really he was right outside of the VA Hospital with a broken foot and was told to call 911? I know the VA has gone through some changes but really?
I say Federal investigation needs to happen on this one... someone needs to lose their JOB for being such an ass...




http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-new ... side-er-2/

Yeah, this is messed up. Heard this on the radio today. It's bullshit no one would walk the ten feet outside with a wheel chair and get him.

In the copy of the 911 call he said he told the VA he was right there by the VA, and they refused to come out to help him.

VA says their policy is one of, if the subject is not able to get to the Hospital on their own, advise them to call 911.

I think this is a case of bad Intel. Both given and checked.
I don't think he made it clear that he was in the parking lot during his call with the VA and I don't think the person who answered the phone for the VA did much digging.
Even the 911 disp. Doesn't clue in on his location right away based on his description.

Now the media is blowing both out of proportion cause he's a vet, and the VA has a bad rap.

The 911 call they played on the Dori Monson show today he clearly stated that he was parked right next to the door where the ambulances drop off patients. That's pretty darn close.

Saw this in the paper and it pissed me off. If I knew this patient was there, I would have gotten him, whoever answered that phone is ridiculous.

God..... I'd have broken my other foot shoving it up someone's ass!

Yeah
It was the 911 call...we don't know what exactly was said to the VA. In his description of that call he said he told them he was right there next to the hospital...
We don't know he said..I'm in the VA parking about 20 feet from the ER door.
But that's what the media story is now.

If he had said that it might have changed the course of the VA phone call.

Its a broken foot...not the end of the world.

Budget cuts.... been to the ER lately?

I know on I5, there's a H on the sign, indicating a hospital, but then says something along the lines of 'no emergency services' ....

WTF.. Why call it a hospital if you can't go there when something is wrong?

I'd be pissed.



On a similar note though, if a patient walked up to the station, and required transport (and was able bodied) we had them call 911 so it could be logged as a call, since we couldn't 'add' calls on our own.. Stupidest shit ever.

Actually, the VA has had it in their policy that they will go out and help people within a reasonable distance from the building. It's been in their policy for some time, the person answering the phone just figured 'reasonable' meant "hold the door open for the vet.

The individual has been "counseled" and the policy which states they will assist up to 250' (just short of 100 yards) from the building is being "re-communicated" to the staff.

Yes, the VA has a bad rap and deservedly so.

where do you see that? i haven't seen anything in my email...

Probably because it literally has no emergency services or ability to deal with them?

WTF is a hospital without emergency services?

A fucking clinic, NOT a hospital.

There are emergency services here....we see emergent non-vets once in a while, but mostly vets only.

Techno, the American Lake VA doesn't have emergency services, I'm pretty sure the Seattle does.


Having the Seattle VA hospital screw up is not a surprise to me. Put in the VA system for a rare cancer. Instead of being sent to MAMC because of having an odd social security number (American Lake was over full and they were sending people to either madigan or Seattle) I was sent to Seattle. Instead of being assigned an oncologist, or even a doctor I was assigned a PA. This PA only wanted to see me once a year, not the every three months the surgeon wanted to see me and have scans. If I'd have relied upon them, I wouldn't have known about the metastatic recurrence (where it comes back and spreads to a distant location) of six tumors in my lungs a few months later. I wouldn't have known anything until an additional 8 months when they would have been huge and shown up on an x-ray. Assuming of course that they would have even done that.