NYT: Congress Hears of Neglect in Veterans’ Care

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/washington/05cnd-medical.html

Congress Hears of Neglect in Veterans' Care

By JOHN HOLUSHA

Reports of bureaucratic entanglement and indifference on the part of

the military's medical care system, rather than the condition of

buildings in the Walter Medical Center, dominated a Congressional

hearing in Washington today on how wounded veterans are treated.

" These problems go well beyond the walls of Walter , " said

Representative F. Tierney, Democrat of Massachusetts, the

chairman of a House oversight subcommittee on national security and

foreign affairs. He said that as larger numbers of soldiers return

from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries, " these problems are going to

get worse, not better. "

Prior to the start of the hearings, Geren, the undersecretary of

the Army, acknowledged that there were defects in the systems for

treating wounded soldiers. " We have let some soldiers down, " he said.

Mr. Geren said the leadership of the Army, " all the way down to the

lowest ranking civilian or uniformed military, " is working to fix the

problems.

During the course of the hearings, Maj. Gen. W. Weightman, who

was relieved as commander of Walter last week, and Lt. Gen.

C. Kiley, the Army surgeon general and the head of Walter until

2004, said they regretted the poor conditions at the hospital.

One witness at the hearing, Sgt. , told of being

released from Walter less than a week after he was shot in the

head, suffering traumatic brain injury and the loss of an eye.

He said hospital staff members gave him a map of the sprawling complex

and told him to find the building where he was assigned to live while

receiving out-patient treatment. " I was extremely disoriented, and

wandered around while looking for someone to direct me " to the

residence, Sergeant said. Eventually, he said, he walked into

a building where he was given more precise directions.

Sergeant testified that treatments were delayed because of

lost documents, and that it appeared to him that the system had been

" designed specifically to reduce the government's cost of veteran

care. "

He also testified that he waited for weeks after being discharged from

Walter without hearing from anyone about continuing care.

" Finally, I went through the paperwork I was given, and started

calling all the phone numbers, until I reached my case manager, who

promptly got me the appointments I needed, " he said.

Spec. Duncan, who was wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, spoke

about dilapidated conditions in the residential structure at Walter

, known as Building 18.

He testified that the walls of his room had holes in them and black

mold growing on them.

" It wasn't for anybody to live in a room like that, " Specialist Duncan

said. " Most wounded soldiers, you know, you have just come out of

recovery, you have weakened immune systems — the black mold can do

damage to people. "

In short, he said, " I wouldn't live there if I had to. "

Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of

the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, displayed a sheaf of

news articles and official investigation reports, describing poor

conditions in military medical treatment facilities, to rebut claims

by top commanders and Defense Department officials that they did not

know what was happening at the hospital.

Another witness at the Congressional hearing, Annette L. McLeod, spoke

of how the Army tried to deny benefits to her husband, Wendell, for a

brain injury he suffered, by suggesting that he had always been a slow

learner.

Mr. McLeod, a specialist in the South Carolina National Guard known by

the nickname Dell, was injured in Kuwait near the border with Iraq.

Army officials resisted determining that he was in fact brain-injured,

Mrs. McLeod said. " They stated that Dell appeared to be intellectually

slow and that this was the cause of the problem, " she said. " They also

said he over-exaggerated his injuries so that he could get attention. "

General Weightman, the previous Walter commander, said at the

hearing that he agreed with those who charge that poor conditions at

the medical complex resulted from a failure of leadership.

" You can't fail one of these soldiers — not one, " General Weightman

said. " And we did. "

General Kiley, the Army surgeon general, apologized for what he said

were housing conditions that did " not meet our standards. " He said the

buildings were being renovated and that other hospitals around the

country would be inspected to make sure they did not have similar

problems.

Mr. Tierney said he wondered whether the problems in treating large

numbers of wounded veterans were " just another horrific consequence "

of inadequate planning for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or

whether contracting work out to private companies was a factor.

He noted that an Army report last September found that government

health workers whose jobs were threatened by privatization efforts

were quitting in large numbers.

" Highly skilled and experienced personnel at Walter " were

leaving, the report said, " and there was a fear that patient care

services were at risk of mission failure. "

Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated today the White House's pledge

to address the problems at Walter and throughout the military

medical system. " There will be no excuses, only action, " he said at a

meeting of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

" As we work to improve conditions at Walter , we want to find out

whether similar problems have occurred at other military " and Veterans

Administration hospitals, Mr. Cheney said. " These brave men and women

deserve the heartfelt thanks of our country, and they deserve the very

best medical care that our government can possibly provide. "