A report of several Veteran's Care facilities in Phoenix, recently released, showed a quite upsetting trend of veterans not being treated, extremely lengthy wait times, and clerks meddling with official paperwork--hiding the dangerous realities of the lack of appropriate care. A shocking number of veterans died while waiting for treatment. There were "secret waiting lists" which hid the fact, and some veterans were put on waiting lists even with critical conditions. The "scheduling issues" are causing deaths and controversy. What is more disturbing is that Phoenix is not the only place with such issues, this trend is national.
To relate this article to class material, Locke speaks of the certain inalienable rights of man, among these are life, liberty, property, limb. The Veterans' Association is a government program. People give up certain liberties in order to have the safety, protection, and assistance that government provides in maintaining a thriving society. Locke argues that the duty of the government is to preserve these rights, and to act according to the will of the people, who give the government its authority to act. In this particular instance, the government has failed to preserve the rights to limb and life for these veterans seeking medical aide. Many veterans died who may not have, if they had faster care. Yes, there are other institutions from which they could receive care, however, this program was directly established for the benefit of veterans, and I believe that veterans do have a right to expect appropriate and prompt care from the program specifically in existence for the benefit of veterans. The real question is, would those veterans have died had they received prompter care?, or were they near death anyway, so would sooner scheduling not have helped? I do not think it is a coincidence that veterans died while waiting for care. The whole point of receiving care is to help with medical issues. For the Veterans' Association, this is a black mark on a program developed to provide assistance, for them to be so sluggish in the care of those who need help, and rely on them for it, they are not fulfilling their duty, to help and protect the people. Yes, it is hard to treat thousands upon thousands of aging veterans, but the response was entirely inappropriate considering the situation faced. The Veterans' Association's 16 billion overhaul was warranted. There needs to be serious reform in that particular governmental program.
I find this whole situation highly ironic. Right as health care reform finally becomes a big issue in this country, we find that we are not running the health care for our veterans very well at all. I think that the veterans who gave up their health for our country should be the first to receive help when they need it, and yet it seems that isn't happening. While I support the idea of a national, public health care system, I don't think it will work if it continues to be organized like the other assistance programs have been. If this overhaul works, I think it will help to bolster the public support for new health care programs and laws.
ReplyDeleteThere could be some rational arguments from the veterans hospital in Arizona why the denied or delayed service to these veterans. Maybe because they were full or weren't staffed enough or maybe the weren't funded enough. But really the fact of the matter is they messed with all the records of what they've been doing. It's an embarrassment that they are denying veterans this care. Frankie is right in that for there to be a national health care system there needs to be a major reform to get rid of these mistreatments and public support.
ReplyDeleteWhat this story says to me is that there's a bunch of morons running the program and that it's weird how no one has brought this to the lime light the way it should have been until recently. I whole heartedly agree with Frankie. Put them in line first. If it wasn't for this country's conflicts they wouldn't necessarily be in a position of care?
ReplyDeleteFrankie and Connor mentioned the national health care system and while that may be necessary, veterans should need to rely upon that alone. Pick up the veterans system, clean house!