Then in 2008 in a gradual way, the system became annoying at first and then pretty much useless to me. You could not cut the BS with a chainsaw. The doctors their support staff seemed totally PO’d and acted more like they were being forced to work there.
At some point, I had missed a appointment due to a car breakdown. I called to reschedule and could not get them to give me a date, so I put it on the back burner since I still had enough meds and there was no rush.
About three weeks later I get a letter saying that my meds had been canceled and If I did not report to the VA within 48 hours, I would lose my privileges.
I immediately called and asked WTF! I was put through to some snarky doctor who essentially accused me of intentionally blowing off a drug test that they had planned for the appointment I missed. I tried to tell him that I had no friggin knowledge that they had scheduled a test for that day and I did not blow it off intentionally.
He told me that If I did not report that afternoon, he was canceling all my meds and reporting me as a “potential drug abuser”!!!!
Well......LOL....that VA hospital was over 100 miles away from me...200 mile round trip and I told him that I was not prepared to make that trip today and would he give me a appointment for next week...he said no!....Either be here this afternoon as ordered or he would...again....cancel my meds..
I was fuming....absolutely flabbergasted.. I told him that I was and that I did not appreciate how he was treating me on a personal level and that I would have to do some thinking about my participation in the VA system.
I hung up the phone and that was the last time I ever let my shadow darken the doorway of a VA hospital.
I engaged a local doctor, Over a a couple years I weaned myself off all medications and after that, I stopped using the medical care system entirely as I also noticed the same things occurring throughout as Obama Care has been implemented.
If I have a problem, and I do occasionally, I go to the friggin emergency room, get good care, see a doctor and get meds if I need them. I generally try to refrain from using meds, largely because if you must, you also have to take the BS that come with it and I refuse to do that anymore..
So what it boils down to is that our government through numerous agencies like the FDA, DEA, and congress has completely upset the applecart as it applies to medical care in most every way imaginable..
You are particularly screwed if you need medications for pain related to a chronic condition that cannot be fixed or they see the cost as prohibitive under any insurance, Medicare, or VA..
If you pay cash...you can generally still get what you need, or want. Eventually they will find a way to prohibit that as well.
So I just quit!
And I am still breathing.....but my blood pressure, (one of the conditions I was being treated for) has improved as the result of not having to deal with these dunderheads.
If you ever want to go to the VA again and you miss your appointment or know you’re going to be late, do not show up late. They will give you a hassle. Go to the emergency room and tell them you’re having pains and don’t know the source of the problem. You’re not lying because at our age we all have pains. When you’re seeing the ER doctor then tell him what meds you’re out of and anything else bothering you. You will get no hassle. It’s when you report to primary care later than 15 or 20 minutes that the clerk has VA rules he’s supposed to follow and will have to reschedule you........no matter how far you’re traveled. I use to work in primary care checking in patients and I never sent a vet away without care. He either was seen by the doctor after I got through talking with the doctor, or I sent him to the ER (which they didn’t like for us to do). I caught some flake occasionally by some sour pus in the ER, but I could have cared less. Another thing wrong with the VA is a lot of the top-level management staff are Vietnam-era draft-dodgers and most, have worked at the VA since Christ was a corporal. The vast majority of the workers in any VA have also never been in the military. Working in a veterans hospital it helps to be a vet. But that is not the way it is. I knew so many retired NCOs that worked in the VA that could have been doing the same job that some GS-14 was doing, but most of these retired NCOs would rather be mopping a floor that putting up with the beauracratic BS that goes with any high-playing federal job.