Ohh no...
Posted on 04/05/2006 9:58:30 AM PDT by blu
HI all. The following post is from another board, with the poster's permission - I'm just the conduit. The short question is: Ranger Vet (Afghanistan and Iraq)'s mother who provides care for him needs help jumping the VA hoops. If this is not the appropriate place, let me know. Post begins here: Military family needs help... I know a woman who is going through hell on earth and I'm wondering if any of you might be able to help, or know of someone or some group who can help. Here's the story in brief.
Her son was in the military (Army Ranger) and did two tours in Afghanistan, followed by a tour in Iraq. While in Iraq he was involved in an accident; his face was smashed with a tank turret. He survived, but obviously suffered massive head injuries. He suffered brain damage, the extent of which still doesn't appear to even be well-known.
He was at Walter Reed for a long time, while this woman had to go back and forth to be with him and continue to raise two other children. The military was far from helpful, offering her NO financial assistance whatsoever.
During the same period her husband left her -- couldn't deal with the stress.
After a two-year ordeal (I won't bother with all the details) she has this now 24-year-old at home and has to deal with all of his problems herself. She is not exactly rich and still has gotten no support from the military at all.
Her son also now apparently has PTSD and they think he "may" have damage to his brain stem. She took him to the VA hospital, and after 2 days there all they offer him is 1 hour of counseling every 2 weeks! Her other kids are reacting negatively to having the older son in the house because, well, he's not himself.
She's at her wit's end. And I don't know how to help.
Anyone?
He was active duty and is now discharged.
Actually was special forces, an Army Ranger.
Re: VA classification: What is the specific significance of this classification?
I asked her and she said they still haven't made this decision. (After 2 years? Is that reasonable?)
And now they suspect more brain damage so they want to test his brain again which may delay things further.
Should she get a lawyer involved? She doesn't have one -- and likely couldn't afford one.
She said she has been in contact with the DAV but I don't quite get whether this has been routine "work your way through the machinery" contact or at a higher level (most likely the former.)
I hear you about it being unsat, but it is the sad reality of the situation. I have no doubt that there are some career bureaucrats in some of these offices who could care less about people's problems, but there are alot of vets that work for organizations like the DAV and VA who know how to work the system. It would be in this woman's interest to contact them, and hopefully she will get one of the good guys.
I went through a disability review a few years ago and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) represented me. There are many organizations who do this kind of thing. When I was retired there were actually two of these orgs in offices on base that I checked out with.
They can be real helpful. Somewhere in Vermont they will have these guys. There should be a State government veterans office as well that might be able to help.
VA: Veteran Abuse.
Ohh no...
I hope she can use the info, but she needs to take it from there.
Contact the Inspector General at the local VA hospital. DO NOT speak to a subordinate talke to the head of the IG. The enjoy pissing off the bureacracy.
From my experience this is one of the only ways to get something done. My father's case was shunted from Committee to Committee until went to the IG on a friday. By the time I flew back to my home on Monday, the proper people were calling me and him to arrange for his appointments and medical care.
No doubt the VA has a difficult job with good people trying to make a difference.
My problem is that poor expectations seems to be an entrenched, cultural problem. If every office employee came to work with the attitude "Today, I am not going home until we knock out one extra case", over time that could ease the suffering of our veterans.
I see little accountability for the dysfunction. The suffering it causes is a national obscenity.
I saw the same thing happen with a friend of mine who had retired with dental problems, that could not be resolved due to an extended deployment before he got out. " No problem the VA will handle it."
After 11 months of jumping through hoops, he was authorized to have the work done by a civilian dentist in a new outsource program. After seeing the Dentist for an estimate, it took 3-1/2 months to get the final authorization for the dentist to perform the work. The Dentist had to call the case worker and verbally threaten to report her to the State Health Department. After the threatening phone call to "Shaniqwa", the authorization paperwork was faxed within 3 hours!
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