on occasion it seems like a comprehensible level of incompetence to me.

on people before closing up.

and I have nothing but HIGH praise for the treatment I received. Mistakes happen in all hospitals VA and civilian. They are regrettable but never in my experience with VA endemic. I've had "Cadillac" health care in my professional career and the care I get from VA is better than any other insurance program I ever had. Scott and White here in Texas has partnered up with VA not to teach VA but to learn from VA particularly how to keep records up to date with patients who move move all around the states. The VA makes mistakes but they do the very best they can and they learn from their mistakes. t may be hard to believe but the care I received turned my colon cancer surgery into one best experiances of my life (after the first two days) and they are after my bladder cancer aggressively.

Thank G*d for the VA. The best thing I ever did was join the Navy.

At Buffalo and Syracuse VA in NY. I have nothing but the utmost trust in the VA, Between the free tuition for college and lifetime healthcare(100% military disabled) I too am glad I did my time in the army.

Whenever I see stories like this, it smells like anti-VA propaganda laying the groundwork for privatization efforts. You just know dump and his handlers are itching to destroy the VA. Would be too bad for all those deluded old veterans who supported dump.

The story does not include any stats on what % of surgeries include an error of this magnitude and whether the VA has higher rates. That's the only information that would enable a reader to draw any conclusions as to whether the VA deserves any criticism above and beyond the unavoidable occasional surgical error of this type. Of course whenever it happens it's unfortunate, but as long as humans are involved this kind of thing is going to happen.

I just smell a rat re trying to demonize the VA. Otherwise, the paper needs to report every time a local hospital does something like this and gets sued.

who repeat unverified and misunderstood third hand stories.

There is no doubt there are problem VA hospitals but sometimes the problems derive from Congress cutting budgets, having unrealistic goals for administrators, and political appointments of VA officials who have no experience or competence at their jobs.

When I got out in '73 I went to work at VA hospital at Brecksville, Ohio and the first day I told my wife whatever happened to me, she was not to put me in a VA hospital. Ten years ago as I got over 55 and the contract jobs started petering out she talked me into going to VA. What a difference 40 years have made. And doing it saved my life.

Is there room for improvement? Sure but offhand I can't think of anything significant but that Congress might built one less Carrier or FBM sub and spend the money to involve more younger vets into getting their care from VA.

I know that there are two hospitals in my home town of Akron, Ohio that have significantly higher rates of MSR infection than the VA gets.

Thanks for your service, brother.

a scalpel is by far the scariest. Just think of it cutting into tissue and organs every time you move.

Probably a blade and not an entire scalpel. A rarity, but a monumental fuck up when it happens.

WTF is the matter with Doctors? "long-term abdominal pain" means you x-ray, use ultrasound, scope, biopsy, send specimens to the lab.

It's hell to be sick, "long-term abdominal pain" in America especially if you're stuck with a shitty Doctor.

basically he said, "that is a horrible doctor. A good doctor accounts for everything before he closes up".

and smuggling it out of the hospital inside his body.