Maggots Infested Noses of Two Comatose Patients (at a United States Veteran's Hospital!)

Reuters ^ | 3-25-2002

[Cagey]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two comatose patients had maggots growing in their noses as a result of a housekeeping lapse at a Missouri hospital, researchers said on Monday.

A canteen and storage areas at Kansas City's Veteran's hospital were not properly cleaned after staff cuts in 1998, and the hospital hired exterminators for a massive infestation of mice.

Scattered mouse carcasses through the hospital brought flies, which somehow invaded the hospital's intensive care unit and laid eggs in the "fetid nasal discharge" of the two comatose patients, Dr. Richard Beckendof of the Veteran's hospital wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a medical journal published by the American Medical Association.

One patient died two days after the maggots were removed, though neither patient was believed harmed by them.

[Cagey]

No one really cares. It's only a Veteran's Hospital.

[HamiltonJay]

Trust me when I say this, VA is better than the street, but you really do not want this to be your primary health care if you can avoid it. There are some dedicated people who work for the VA, but the system is a mess.

[detsaoT]

Heh... America, this is your future, if the Democommies get their way. Socialism works, huh?

(The VA is an abomination. It would be nice if it were shut down in lieu of a more cost-effective voucher system, which would easily serve our Honourable Veterans much better than this garbage would.)

:) ttt

[Cagey]

FYI, Tonk. If you would alert vets to this thread. Sadly, this kind of story is all too common at our second rate Veteran's Hospitals.

[Bahbah]

This is incredibly sad. My dad was in a Vets hospital near Milwaukee and it was excellent. That was many years ago, however.

[dead]

Two comatose patients had maggots growing in their noses as a result of a housekeeping lapse at a Missouri hospital, researchers said on Monday.

It’s not the “housekeeper’s” job to clean inside a patient’s nose.

[Cagey]

FYI ping. We've all heard the promises from the VA for years and years. Nothing changes.

[scouse]

Florida is investigating the Orlando Vets Hospital where a nurse beat up a WWII vet who was suffering from alzheimers. At first the hospital claimed to have re-assigned the nurse, but now he appears to have quit.

[COB1]

Thanks for posting that, Cagey.
This makes my blood boil!!
We treat the animals in the pound better than we treat the men who put their butt on the line for this country!
I've seen a few VA hospitals, and I don't doubt for a second that this is accurate; in fact, I'll bet it's a lot worse than the article states!
Clinton and his hatred for the military started this, but it's WAY PAST TIME TO FIX IT!!

[July 4th]

This is incredibly sad. My dad was in a Vets hospital near Milwaukee and it was excellent. That was many years ago, however.

It all depends where you are. I have heard that the Milwaukee VA is good, and that the one here in Madison (physically connected to the massive University Hospitals) is the best in the country. The one in downtown Chicago is pretty bad. (I have a doctor/relative who's worked in both Madison and Chicago's.)

That said, this article is disgusting.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Trust me when I say this, VA is better than the street, but you really do not want this to be your primary health care if you can avoid it. There are some dedicated people who work for the VA, but the system is a mess.

It is only slightly better than the street... if you have gangrene... in both legs... and both arms. There are extremely few good people in VA hospitals. It is generally a dumping ground for incompetent nurses, dieticians, doctors, etc. It will take you a full day to get seen by a doctor and a prescription filled.

The VA hospitals resemble videos I have seen from Russian and third world hospitals.

The entire system should be dismantled and the vets WHO HAVE NO OTHER INSURANCE be put in an HMO where they can see their home town doctor rather than some raghead who barely speaks english.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

It's going to be worse for All Vets starting with the 2003 VA Budget.
Here's just a small example how Vets will be forced to
spend more money for medical care in 2003 than they were in 2002.

"Prior to the 1996 law, veterans in the lowest priority level were only treated on a space-available basis, and were restricted as to what care they could receive and where they could receive it. However, since the law took effect, these veterans have grown from two percent to over 21 percent of VA patients as shown in the chart above. They have always been required to pay for a minor portion of their care by the use of co-payments. But given their rapidly escalating numbers, these veterans will consume a critical portion of VA resources at the expense of the disabled, poorer veteran population unless they are required to pay a greater portion of their care. The budget proposes a new $1,500 annual deductible amount for these veterans, whereby they would pay 45 percent of the charge until their out-of-pocket expenses total $1,500."

2003 VA Budget

Online Petition to Reform the Veterans Administration System!
We ask that The Congress enact legislation to restore the Rights and Dignity to those
who served and to protect those rights from the constant erosion that has taken place.

[gcruse]

 It would be nice if it were shut down in lieu of a more cost-effective voucher system,

Interesting thought.  But that would imply you get a set
amount of medical care that can be spent where you choose.
Set amounts don't go well with medical care.  Maybe
the vet should be able to go to the hospital of choice
and have govt automatically pay?  I don't know.

[Nyralthotep]

The really horrible care vets get is one of the reasons I decided to get out of the Army after only 8 years. Retiree's are on the lowest rung of the priority ladder for any type of care. My Grandfather and Uncle (both 20 year AF vets and my Grandfather a WW2 vet) both almost died due to care received at a Military hospital. I can't even imagine the horrible care inflicted on our vets by the VA hospital system. But I saw this way back in '91 when I decided to call it quits because I knew the system would get even worse under #42.

[NewHampshireDuo]

Two comatose patients had maggots growing in their noses as a result of a housekeeping lapse at a Missouri hospital, researchers said on Monday.

The heck with housekeeping. What about the nursing staff that looked after these two people. No one noticed and no one cared. This is tragic....

[detsaoT]

Maybe the vet should be able to go to the hospital of choice and have govt automatically pay?

Yeah, that's more along the lines of what I meant. Thanks for clearing up my thoughts for me (not enough coffee, apparently...)

Socialized medicine will always fail. I would be more in favor of some sort of voucher-like program, where the Federal government would purchase and provide free-market-based health insurance for our Honourable Veterans, than I would like to see us continue to give our most valuable citizens the SHAFT by forcing them to use our delapidated VA system.

I don't think the VA is an electric-rail, in the same sense as social security is.. Has any politician proposed anything like this in the past, and I've just missed it?

Or am I the first to state the obvious?

:D ttt

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Clinton and his hatred for the military started this, but it's WAY PAST TIME TO FIX IT!!"

Actually this started long before klintoon.
I personally was involved with a group of vets back in the late 70's and early 80's
investgating the VA hospital in Long Beach CA.
We helped stop experimental drugging of Vets in that hospital. The Vets had no idea they were being used as test subjects.
I met Ron Kovac (Born on the 4the of July movie main character) while working on this project.
I provided the data and was the liasion between Jack Anderson, the national columist, and the Vets group.
Jack Anderson exposed the story based upon my work with his office.
Vets who were trying to get off heroine addiction
were being secretly given an experimental drug that was far more addictive than methadone was.
It was all leg work back then, no internet to help.
But after the national expose the experimentation stopped.
The conditions in the hospital itself were really bad.

[A Navy Vet]

This is OUTRAGEOUS! It's been long known that VA hosipitals are sub-standard...but this? Yet, the taxpayers are going to make the relatives of 9/11 victims rich because some people were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Bahbah]

It is good to hear that not all the VA Hospitals are bad. BTW, I graduated from Madison (undergrad) in the 60's. What a beautiful town.

[SAMWolf]

Why am I surprised that this happened at a Veteran's Assassination facility?