Monterey, CA Veterans Hospitals Under Scrutiny After Whistle Blowers Report Poor Procedures

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Budget cuts are hitting virtually every aspect of our lives, and Veterans are being extremely hard hit.  I wrote recently on my blog about the huge impact the change from the CPI to the chained CPI will have on Veterans disability.  An article in the New York Times says that one Veteran's hospital is in a sad state of affairs and that the conditions reported may exist at many other hospitals across the country.  A whistle blower has reported that problems include poor sterilization procedures, chronic understaffing of the primary care unit and missed diagnoses by the radiology department.  The hospital in question admitted that it sent instruments to its podiatry clinic that were blood and rust stained and contained dirt particles.  And that was before the sequestrations started to kick in.  One doctor who worked at a Veterans hospital for 30 years says one of the worst problems was that the hospital wouldn't even notify patients after they realized that their X-rays and CT scans had been improperly read.  A physician who worked at the hospital said a radiologist regularly marked many scans as read when in fact he hadn't even looked at him.  This is shameful that this kind of neglect is happening in hospitals serving those who have risked their lives for our country.  I hope Veterans hospitals across the nation are scrutinized closely after this report was made public.

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