Having worked as a physician at a large VA hospital I can tell you the system has a hard time keeping good people. It’s an 80/20 organization where 20% of the people do 80% of the work, while the rest are mostly clock-watchers. Just barely good enough is enough to keep your job. The dedicated people burn out and leave since there is no reward for excellence. Indeed excellence can get you in trouble since the excellent people make everyone else look bad.
If you kept in touch with anyone in the hospital, ask if the new ROE for discipline and ease of firing (not a weapon) has improved care. Let me know. :)
That’s not just the VA, it’s pretty much anywhere Uncle $ugar is involved, sadly.
(aka, why your F-35 costs so much, etc...)
In other words, they are union members.
I got my brother up to the VA Hospital in Portland, OR last year when he was having trouble with weakness and irregular heart beat. They took him right into the ER ward and admitted him to a regular bed straight away. Opened up an artery with a balloon 3 days later, after he was stabilized.
The Portland VA hospital is right next to the Oregon Health Services University main campus, and is largely staffed by OHSU people. Excellent care, nice people. Not at all weird, like so much of Portland.
I would go there myself, if it wasn’t 90 minutes away, through very heavy traffic.