# Obama feels heat over VA scandal



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Obama feels heat over VA scandal*



 
_Reuters_
*REPUBLICANS ARE PUTTING* the heat on President Obama over allegedly fatal health care delays in the VA health care system, with House GOP Leader Eric Cantor demanding he personally answer for the burgeoning scandal.
 
 
*Watchdog says fed prosecutors involved in probe, charges possible *
*OPINION: Shinseki tells 2nd biggest lie*
*FOX NEWS POLL: Trust in gov't plummets*
*VIDEO: Sen. McCain says 'We should all be ashamed' in VA scandal*








*VIDEO: Krauthammer says VA probe is 'one where you can't stonewall'*


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

You can tell alot about a society by how they treat their Warriors, this is one issue that BOTH parties are to blame for and its unnaceptable.


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## FTH (Sep 11, 2013)

I agree with constanza - they ALL should take responsibility!

Even though GOP is trying to put a heat on Obama I this he feels nothing and couldn't care care less ... If he'd pay little attention (and I mean LITTLE) Shinseki would've been gone-gone-gone ...Obama is one of those people that think our service men and women went to Iraq and Afghanistan to make friends and to "see the world"

Instead we hear about Shimseki being "mad as hell" about allegations of deadly waiting times and coverup at VA hospitals but *he doesn't plan to resign*! Really? Instead of taking responsibility for his *failed* leadership he is getting mad ... Small, insignificant man with no honor, that is what he is!


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## Tuna (Jun 1, 2006)

Do you folks really think that any pol gives a fuck about Veterans? It's trendy to speak on behalf of Vets. It's trendy to act like you support them but it's only a play. They don't care as long as it's not them or their kids carrying that M-16.


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

Well it doesnt happen very often but I was wrong and I can admit it. This is NOT to blame on both parties and heres why its 100% the fault of this admin and Barry himself. He campaigned using his usual nasty rhetroric against the Bush admin back in 07 and the treatment of Veterans at the VA,he was warned of this issue at shift change in 09 and stated many times he would fix it, well 6 yrs later its 100x WORSE....and the proof positive that Palin was right about death panels. The absolutely saddest and most disgusting part is he has not commented on this yet has time to immediately talk about Donald Sterling,Zimmerman,Michael Sam getting drafted or any other race baiting incident but somehow cannot find a second to comment, hes a gutless coward.

Obama, 2007: Time to End 'Deplorable Conditions at Some VA Hospitals'
Then-Senator Barack Obama, November 12, 2007: "After seven years of an Administration that has stretched our military to the breaking point, ignored deplorable conditions at some VA hospitals, and neglected the planning and preparation necessary to care for our returning heroes, America's veterans deserve a President who will fight for them not just when it's easy or convenient, but every hour of every day for the next four years."
By 2012, Obama continued to compare the performance of the VA during his administration favorably to his predecessor, declaring, "For the first time ever, we've made military families and veterans a top priority not just at DOD, not just at the VA, but across the government."
Now we know the report of at least 40 U.S. veterans dying waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system is only the tip of the iceberg.

Today:
When Shinseki took office, he vowed that every disability claim would be processed within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy. But the backlogs only got worse.
It took about four months for VA to process a claim for disability compensation claim when Shinseki was sworn in. By 2012, the average wait time was about nine months.
In February 2013, the Examiner published a five-part series, "Making America's Heroes Wait," showing more than 1.1 million veterans with disability claims and appeals were trapped in bureaucratic limbo at VA.
About 70 percent of the 900,000 claims for initial benefits were considered backlogged, meaning they were older than 125 days.
The Examiner series also showed how agency statistics were manipulated to hide mistakes that doomed veterans into appeals that could drag on for years.
There were some early signs then that VA's failures in delivering medical care were having deadly consequences.
An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease was reported in Pittsburgh in November 2012. Subsequent investigations by the inspector general and area media eventually linked a half-dozen patient deaths from the disease to faulty maintenance and poor management.
Reports of other deaths followed.
Four patients under VA's care in Atlanta died of a drug overdose or suicides.
In Columbia, S.C., at least six patient deaths from colorectal cancers were linked to delays in receiving colonoscopies at veterans' medical facilities.
VA eventually acknowledged that delays in providing care was linked to the deaths of 23 patients who died of gastrointestinal cancers at veterans' health facilities. Deaths from other conditions were not disclosed.
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## LGriffin (Apr 2, 2009)

This is enraging. As Marcus Luttrell said, the only way conditions will improve is if we make the suits use the VA. Put off Pelosi's Botox, and she'll have the other suits "sign it before they read it."

Unfortunately, this will go down like ever other scandal:

*Step 1: "We're just finding out about this ourselves and are as appalled as anyone over these allegations. We vow to get to the bottom of this and, if true, right this wrong swiftly and thoroughly. Nothing less than the honor of our nation and our people is at stake, and that will not come to harm on my watch."*

*Step 2: "We are investigating ourselves right now to make sure we get to the bottom of this. It's important that we get all the facts from ourselves, and in the meantime it would be inappropriate for ourselves to answer questions about the investigation we're conducting on ourselves."*

*Step 3: "Didn't I just tell you we started an investigation of ourselves? Also, we noted our outrage. I cannot possibly make any statements about the very obvious wrongdoing that occurred on our watch until the investigation we're conducting of ourselves is completed, printed on paper and in my hands. Anything else would jeopardize the integrity of our investigation of ourselves. Is that what you want?"*

*Up next, Step 4: "Only crazy wingers even ask questions about stuff like this. Are you a crazy winger? Do you think it's a grand conspiracy in which the President of the United States conspired to personally hurt veterans? Do you think that's an appropriate question to ask?"*

*Step 5: Wait six months, refer to formerly outrageous scandal as phony.*

*Step 6: Slow walk investigation and especially the release of requested and possibly incriminating documents for a year or more, or until a court orders us to give it to Judicial Watch, which ever happens later.*

*Step 7: "Oh, that 'scandal'? Dude, that was a year ago. Who's still talking about that?"*

Mind you, we only launch into this all-out PR offense after our first line of defense and deflection - _"It's Bush's fault"_ - fails. In the current case, the BeeBees tried to equate the phony VA scandal to George W. Bush's Army scandal at Walter Reed Hospital.* Except that in the Walter Reed case,* profuse apologies to the soldiers affected were immediately offered, Bush directed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to immediately investigate and report back to him with results and resolutions, and heads rolled in short order as the top two ranking leaders in the chain of command were fired (i.e. held accountable, which is the opposite of held harmless).
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-so8XqIHg3us/U...9os/s1600-h/obama%2520shenseki%255B3%255D.jpg​


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## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

General Herschberg (Michael Moriarty) to LTC Sterling in Courage Under Fire;

_"Fucking V.A.!!_


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## Joel98 (Mar 2, 2011)

FTH said:


> I agree with constanza - they ALL should take responsibility!


I disagree, Obama is the commander in chief, ultimately responsibility for the military stops with him.


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## Kilvinsky (Jan 15, 2007)

PRESIDENT Obama (you people forget his title, which is SO rude and disrespectful) is out for EVERYONE. Well, not those on the right side of the aisle, but that's THEIR fault. Mr. President Obama has done all he can for this country and people just keep fighting him. If it hadn't been for George Bush, we'd all be better off now. Our beloved President is doing all he can to undo the 9 years of hell, mismanagement, corporate greed, warmongering and....THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID NINE YEARS! One of his middle years was SO BAD, it counts as two!...where was I, ok, yeah, he's struggling with Bush stuff. He's had to trim so much Bush stuff that his pubic image...PUBLIC image is tarnished and...it's ALL THE REPUBLICANS!


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## Joel98 (Mar 2, 2011)

This is just a preview of what obamacare is going to be like.


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## 7costanza (Aug 29, 2006)

Joel98 said:


> This is just a preview of what obamacare is going to be like.


Exactly, thank God the enforcement of the death panels, which is exatly what this is already...secret waiting lists determining who gets appts or lifesaving care(40 Veterans have alreadh died) will be levied out by a non partisan group like the IRS because we know THEY would never use any bias based on your politics. Let me know when Palin will be getting her apology.

Death panel= http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/05/21/va-delay-killed-washington-state-man/
*SEATTLE (AP)* - Donald Douglass had a small spot on his forehead when he went to the Seattle Veterans Affairs hospital in 2011.
A biopsy confirmed it was cancerous. But it was four months before the hospital scheduled an appointment for him to have it removed - and by then, it had spread, wrapping around a facial nerve and eventually getting into his blood.
The delay proved fatal, his lawyer said - and it mirrors concerns being raised about the VA system nationally.
"There was no reason for this procedure to be delayed," said the attorney, Jessica Holman of Tacoma. "Had he had his surgery timely, he'd be alive today."
Congress has been in an uproar over allegations of treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals, with more than two dozen facilities being investigated nationwide. At the VA hospital in Phoenix, 40 veterans allegedly died while waiting for treatment, and staff there reportedly kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide delays in care.
It isn't known whether the VA Puget Sound Health Care System is among those being investigated; the VA's inspector general has not named the organizations being probed. While Democratic Sen. Patty Murray has raised questions about understaffing and budget shortfalls at the VA hospital in Spokane, no evidence of systemic problems at the Seattle VA hospital has surfaced publicly. Chad Hutson, a spokesman for VA Puget Sound, declined to comment Tuesday.
But Holman said she's hard-pressed to believe Douglass' case was unrelated to the broader problems.
His sister, Constance Olberg of Sammamish, was his caregiver toward the end of his life and brought the medical negligence claim on behalf of his estate. In an answer to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the VA denied any liability.
Douglass, an Army veteran who went by "Cliff," previously suffered liver cancer and had a liver transplant in 2009, Holman said. He was doing well with the new organ, and he continued taking drugs that suppressed his immune system so his body would not reject it.
That made it all the more urgent that the spot on his forehead be removed immediately, Holman said, arguing that his weakened immune system could allow the cancer to spread more quickly.
Transplant patients with suppressed immune systems face a much higher risk of skin cancer, according to The Skin Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting the disease.
While the VA said it would schedule an appointment for Douglass to have the surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center, it dragged its feet, Holman said. Douglass repeatedly checked in about whether the appointment had been scheduled, and there are notes in his patient file indicating that he was still waiting for the surgery, she said.
The surgery was finally performed in September 2011, but the cancer had spread. Douglass suffered facial pain and paralysis, and he died a little more than a year later.
"He was very angry," Holman said. "He was angry that a paperwork snafu had caused this."
Douglas, 57, was stationed in Germany in the mid-1970s. He recently had operated a Christmas tree farm in North Bend, Holman said.


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