Veterans Lose, Illegal Immigrants Win When It Comes to Health Care
Posted: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
by Alf Gordon
Last Friday the Veterans Affairs department announced that ten people have tested positive for hepatitis after being exposed to contaminated colonoscopy equipment. Thousands of patients who have been treated at VA facilities in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia, are being asked to get blood tests. All three sites were not properly sterilizing equipment between treatments.
Reports surfaced in February that the department had discovered "improperly reprocessed" equipment in two of the facilities as far back as 2004. Further investigation led to the notices being sent to veterans and their families.
Of the ten who have tested positive, four have hepatitis-B and six have hepatitis-C. One notice recommends veterans also be tested for HIV, as there was a documented incident in which some of the contaminated equipment was used on a patient who was HIV-positive.
This is the latest in a series of reports indicating that conditions and provided services at our veterans's hospitals and other health facilities are substandard. And I for one am very angry about it. These individuals have given up family, careers, and in some cases their lives, to fight for and protect not only our country, but others as well. And this is how we repay them.
What makes this so much more infuriating is that this occurs during a time when healthcare facilities are asking for more funding to pay for healthcare for illegal immigrants. Hospitals across the country are fighting with local activist groups and taxpayers over how to increase their budgets to provide services for a criminal element from outside our borders--and the hospitals are winning. They say this falls under their charitable obligation; yet those who fought for our country are treated as worse than second-class citizens by the very same organizations. I find this abhorrent and totally lacking in responsibility on the part of our adminstration.
Our veterans have given up so much so that we can remain the land of the free and the home of the brave. They deserve the best this country has to offer in the way of health services. At the very least, they deserve the same treatment as the illegal immigrants who sponge off our nation. Given the choice between sending my tax dollars to a veteran's hospital or a clinic that treats illegals for free, I know where I would choose to send my funds--to the group who more than earned it.
Of the ten who have tested positive, four have hepatitis-B and six have hepatitis-C. One notice recommends veterans also be tested for HIV, as there was a documented incident in which some of the contaminated equipment was used on a patient who was HIV-positive.
This is the latest in a series of reports indicating that conditions and provided services at our veterans's hospitals and other health facilities are substandard. And I for one am very angry about it. These individuals have given up family, careers, and in some cases their lives, to fight for and protect not only our country, but others as well. And this is how we repay them.
What makes this so much more infuriating is that this occurs during a time when healthcare facilities are asking for more funding to pay for healthcare for illegal immigrants. Hospitals across the country are fighting with local activist groups and taxpayers over how to increase their budgets to provide services for a criminal element from outside our borders--and the hospitals are winning. They say this falls under their charitable obligation; yet those who fought for our country are treated as worse than second-class citizens by the very same organizations. I find this abhorrent and totally lacking in responsibility on the part of our adminstration.
Our veterans have given up so much so that we can remain the land of the free and the home of the brave. They deserve the best this country has to offer in the way of health services. At the very least, they deserve the same treatment as the illegal immigrants who sponge off our nation. Given the choice between sending my tax dollars to a veteran's hospital or a clinic that treats illegals for free, I know where I would choose to send my funds--to the group who more than earned it.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Good article. It's sad, but so very true. As a service member, I thank you for speaking out.
I agree absolutely, our military should have the finest healthcare, not the worst.Nicely stated.
All I can say is the cost of freedom is not free.We gave our lives when needed and the pay was not much(my day) so they can't even take care of us when we need help.Boy only in America can this happen!!
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