Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect
From the Washington Post
Excerpt: Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.

A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.
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Labels: health, iraq, troops, veterans

Sick veterans blame new weapon
From the Boston Globe
Excerpt: ... Since he left a bombed-out train depot in Iraq, the Army National Guard veteran has had trouble with bleeding gums. There also is blood in his urine and his stool. Bright light hurts his eyes. A tumor has been removed from his thyroid. Rashes erupt everywhere. Migraines cleave his skull. His joints ache.

There is something massively wrong with Reed, though no one is sure what it is. The Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in the Bronx has supplied him with an internist, a neurologist, a pain-management specialist, a psychologist, an orthopedic surgeon, and a dermatologist.

Reed believes that the military's new favorite weapon -- depleted uranium coating artillery shells and tanks -- has made him terrifyingly sick. ...

...Reed says he unknowingly breathed depleted uranium dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was removed in 2003 because of herniated spinal discs. Then began a series of symptoms he had never experienced in his previously healthy life.

At Walter Reed, he ran into some buddies from his unit. ``We all had migraines. We all felt sick," Reed says. ``The doctors said, `It's all in your head.' "

Then the medic from their unit showed up. He too, was suffering. That made eight sick soldiers from the 442d Military Police, an Army National Guard unit of mostly police and correctional officers from the New York area. ...

...Depleted uranium can contaminate soil and water, and coat buildings with radioactive dust. In 2005, the UN Environmental Program identified 311 polluted sites in Iraq. Cleaning them will take at least $40 million and several years, the agency said.

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Also see: Campaign Against Depleted Uranium

Labels: depleted uranium, health, iraq, veterans

Center for War-Related Brain Injuries Faces Budget Cut
From USA Today
Excerpt: Congress appears ready to slash funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, an injury that military scientists describe as a signature wound of the Iraq war.
House and Senate versions of the 2007 Defense appropriation bill contain $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center — half of what the center received last fiscal year.

Proponents of increased funding say they are shocked to see cuts in the treatment of bomb blast injuries in the midst of a war.

"I find it basically unpardonable that Congress is not going to provide funds to take care of our soldiers and sailors who put their lives on the line for their country," says Martin Foil, a member of the center's board of directors. "It blows my imagination."

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Labels: health, iraq, spending, veterans

Ex-official's firm receiving VA fees
From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Excerpt: A California company headed by former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi could get fees exceeding $1 billion from the Veterans Affairs, much of it on contracts approved and amended while he ran the agency, records show. ...
...During his tenure as VA secretary, Principi's past and future corporate home in Diamond Bar, Calif., collected about $246 million in fees, according to VA records. And Congressional Budget Office projections show that the VA contracts could be worth as much as $1.2 billion to QTC if fully funded by Congress through 2008.

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From the Contra Costa Times: A QTC hearing exam, for instance, averaged $495.55 compared to $89.80 for an in-house exam. Even with an adjustment for possible hidden VA costs, the difference exceeded 400 percent. For a general medical exam, QTC's average cost was $393.52 compared to a VA average of $225.58, the consultants found...
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Labels: agency, contractors, corruption, spending, veterans