[andyt]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veteran ... -1.2976893

So that's why the govt is muzzling the scientists - they've discovered a treatment that regrows lost limbs and don't want to spoil the SURPRISE! before the election.

[Xort]

The only way to get a positive outcome is to shame the VA department enough for the government to take action to try and bring them in.

Not that it is going to work given the entrenched position of the VA employees. The law can change and directives can be given but if the people working in VA hate vets and think they are all out to cheat the government nothing is going to actually change.

As time goes on and I am finding myself helping more of my friends that have been injured deal with VA, I'm starting to think the only requirement for employment is being a lazy asshole that hates military members.

[Jabberwalker]

Oh, I see. ...just in case they grow back, eh?

Surely to god we can find smarter people to run that department. Does VA get their pick of the bottom 50 percent of everyone writing the Civil Service Exam?

[ShepherdsDog]

This is an actual informed opinion on the story from a friend of mine who spent 22 years as a military doctor, doing two rotations at KAF with ISAF:

$1:

Misleading and poorly researched story once again. The health of veterans fluctuate and illnesses progress. A regular health review with a physician ensures that services can be added or enhanced based on the most current. health assessment. It's not a matter of proving whether a vet still needs a wheelchair, but whether the current wheelchair is adequate based on changes in mobility, for example. The pervasive yellow journalism is getting old.

[Regina]

^^^^This and I believe it's also a one year extension because its currently every two years.

[Xort]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

This is an actual informed opinion on the story from a friend of mine who spent 22 years as a military doctor, doing two rotations at KAF with ISAF:

$1:

Misleading and poorly researched story once again. The health of veterans fluctuate and illnesses progress. A regular health review with a physician ensures that services can be added or enhanced based on the most current. health assessment. It's not a matter of proving whether a vet still needs a wheelchair, but whether the current wheelchair is adequate based on changes in mobility, for example. The pervasive yellow journalism is getting old.

Go ask your friend that has 22 years not working in the VA what happens if you don't show up for your yearly 'review', or now tri-yearly review.

"A regular health review with a physician ensures that services can be added or enhanced based on the most current."
Or reduced and ended at the judgment of the VA employee, starting the fight for care all over again.

[BeaverFever]

Xort Xort:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

This is an actual informed opinion on the story from a friend of mine who spent 22 years as a military doctor, doing two rotations at KAF with ISAF:

$1:

Misleading and poorly researched story once again. The health of veterans fluctuate and illnesses progress. A regular health review with a physician ensures that services can be added or enhanced based on the most current. health assessment. It's not a matter of proving whether a vet still needs a wheelchair, but whether the current wheelchair is adequate based on changes in mobility, for example. The pervasive yellow journalism is getting old.

Go ask your friend that has 22 years not working in the VA what happens if you don't show up for your yearly 'review', or now tri-yearly review.

"A regular health review with a physician ensures that services can be added or enhanced based on the most current."
Or reduced and ended at the judgment of the VA employee, starting the fight for care all over again.

I actually think you're both right here.

To Shep's point, it's not uncommon for disability programs to require recurring medical visits, not just for the purpose of verifying if someone's still disabled but to assess their condition in the context of ever-evolving treatment options. For example, the legless veteran is wheelchair-bound presumably because currently there are no artificial legs that suitable to his condition....however prosthetic limb technology is developing rapidly and perhaps a future tri-annual review will identify him as an ideal candidate for a new set of robotic limbs that will allow him to walk again, and will greatly improve his quality of life and potential for gainful employment.

OTOH, from past controversies, the culture of VA seems to be cold and openly hostile to veterans as Xort mentions...lacking a system of due process and opening secret files on so-called "trouble maker" vets who just trying to improve things. So you can set up all kinds of 'best practice' policies with the best of intentions but if the people in charge of the day-to-day administration are predisposed to a certain viewpoint, at best it's a pointless endeavour.