Posted on 08/13/2003 4:31:43 PM PDT by B4Ranch
Sick Veteran Battles Bureaucracy Back Home
By Lolita C. Baldor Associated Press Writer
Published: Aug 12, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - After Army Sgt. Vannessa Turner survived a still-unknown illness doctors feared would kill her, she thought her toughest battle was over. But since a military flight brought Turner home she says she's had to fight to get medical treatment and can't even get personal items returned.
The homefront, she's finding, can be as daunting as the front lines in Iraq.
"It's easier to stay a soldier and be in harm's way than to come home and get care," said Turner, her quiet voice quaking with emotion.
Arriving at her mother's home in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood last month after hospital stays in Germany and Washington, the six-year Army veteran says she was told that despite severe nerve damage in her right leg she'd have to wait until mid-October to see a doctor at the local Veterans Affairs hospital.
She sought help from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and eventually got an appointment scheduled this week, but the experience was frustrating for Turner and her family. They look at the hero's welcome given to former prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was in one of Turner's rehabilitation sessions, and see a double standard.
"Some people are getting scholarships, my sister can't get a doctor's appointment," said her sister Nicole. "To me, they threw her away like a piece of trash. She served her country and now nothing is being done for her."
Veterans' advocates said Turner's frustration is not unusual. More than 110,000 veterans are waiting six months or more for their initial visit with a VA doctor or to see a specialist, the VA acknowledges.
"Is this what our returning heroes from Afghanistan and Iraq can expect from their elected officials as they seek health care for their painful injuries sustained in the line of duty?" Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander Ray Sisk said.
VA undersecretary for health Robert Roswell said everyone who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom is entitled to two years of VA health care benefits. And the benefits are available to those wounded in combat as well as those injured in accidents or who suffer illnesses.
He blamed Turner's treatment on errors at the VA's West Roxbury facility. Officials there failed to recognize her as a newly released veteran needing immediate care.
"We made an admitted mistake. But it was caught," Roswell said, adding that changes are being made to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Turner's ordeal started in Camp Balad, 42 miles north of Baghdad. One of the more than 150,000 American soldiers dodging bullets and toiling in the searing Iraqi heat, Turner was suffering from severe mosquito bites when she collapsed on May 18.
The next thing she knew medics were giving her shots, cutting off her clothes and rushing her to the hospital. As they wheeled the gurney down the hall, the 40-year-old Army cook could hear the doctor's terrifying words: "She's not going to make it."
"I tried to move my hand, I wanted to signal them - I was trying to say, 'Hey, I'm alive, don't let me die.' But I couldn't move. I couldn't talk," Turner said.
Doctors still aren't sure what caused her illness, though they suspect it could have been a reaction to the ointment she used on the mosquito bites.
Turner's recovery presented a new set of problems for her family. Because of her severe condition, the military quickly classified her as medically retired so her 15-year-old daughter Brittany could get increased benefits.
But because she no longer was an active member of the military, the Pentagon couldn't transport her family to her bedside in Landstuhl, Germany, where Turner had been airlifted for treatment.
"They told me she had no heartbeat, that she wasn't breathing," said Turner's mother, Beverly. "They said she had 36 to 72 hours to live."
Turner's family couldn't afford airline tickets so they turned to Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for help. Through their offices family members got flights to Germany courtesy of the United Service Organizations, and they received lodging and food from the Fisher House Foundation, which provides housing for military families.
Turner's fitness aided her recovery. An avid weightlifter, she began to slowly improve and by the end of May was flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where she stayed for about six weeks before going to her mother's home.
For Turner, the work to rehabilitate the damaged nerves in her leg is compounded by confusion over her benefits, her quest for a doctor, and the Pentagon's initial assertions that she go back to Germany herself to get her belongings.
Turner is hesitant about the future. A year from now she'll go before a military board to see if she should be retired permanently or if she's well enough to be reinstated.
"Half my brain says yes, half my brain says no," she said. "But, ma'am, I'm a soldier. I love being a soldier. This is what I do."
AP-ES-08-12-03 0211EDT
We've lost 300 troops in combat and I expect many more during our stay in country, estimated to be up to ten years.
Gee! What a great guy! Someone needs to explain why we want him in the White House again in 2004. While you're at it, please explain why we should encourage our kids to join the US military when this is the great care to be expected if they are wounded or become sick.
"Veterans' advocates said Turner's frustration is not unusual. More than 110,000 veterans are waiting six months or more for their initial visit with a VA doctor or to see a specialist, the VA acknowledges."
..."It makes my blood boil."...
You aren't the only one! I was fuming when I read this thread. Talk about Breach of Promise! I hate to see the way our troops get treated.
Shame on the lot of us for choosing to believe those who parroted Baghdad Bob and defended a mass-murderer while finding every opportunity to condemn those doing the hard work in Iraq.
You think THIS President wanted to give the UN anything???? Didn't you know that only a pro-socialist administration gets help from the UN?
Americans are buying the press lies. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee - now minus Jesse Helms - is condemning the GOOD Generals and pushing for UN involvement.
The world won't back a failure. Our victors are being sold out by a non-vigilant citizenry and an enemy press.
Please, read the briefings - we are being sold out around the globe and in our own nation by greedy ambitious pols who want our efforts to fail and want the troops unhappy - the number one way to turn Americans against the President for political purposes at home.
There are many leach groups attached to our military as well - for partisan purposes who would like nothing better to put each story front and center 'til Nov. 2004.
Be careful who's work you're doing, and who's the real target of this hit piece.
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