Frustrated Veteran Threatens to Operate on Himself After VA Refuses to Pay His Medical Bill

by | May 10, 2017 | Headline News | 63 comments

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    Is there any government agency that has strayed further from it’s stated mission than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs? This is an organization that claims to be a champion for the health of our military veterans, while 100,000 these veterans are backlogged in their system, waiting to be treated. Several years ago it was far worse, with 900,000 disabled veterans waiting for their claims to be processed, many of whom died before they could be treated. Clearly this medical system is a total failure, and a disgrace to our veterans.

    A veteran from New Hampshire by the name of John Irish has come face to face with that unfortunate reality many times. During a recent interview with Boston25 News,  the former National Guard medic revealed that he had suffered a cut on his hand from a power tool that was so severe, he had to go to the hospital

    When he approached the VA however, they refused to pay his bill as they had done many times before. His dramatic response convinced them to finally cover his procedure.

    “They handed me a slip of paper saying, ‘we are going to have to have you sign this, because the VA says they’re not going to pay the bill,” he said.

    Irish receives benefits through the Veterans Affairs Choice program, which allows vets to access private care amidst lengthy wait times at VA medical facilities.

    Irish says Veterans’ Choice has refused to pay for other bills and this was the final straw.

    “I thought it was about time the VA of New England got exposed for what it’s doing on this Choice program,” he said.

    Irish threatened to remove his own sutures, in his home, live on social media. Within hours, the VA agreed to pay for the procedure.

    “It’s totally disgusting that they have to threaten, beg or borrow to get medical treatment,” he said.

    And perhaps what’s more disgusting, is how the VA is trying to act like this never happened.

    Lahey showed Boston 25 medical records that indicate last week, the hospital received a call from the Manchester VA stating about the sutures procedure. The VA also requested a follow-up physical for later this year.

    But late Tuesday afternoon, a VA spokesperson told Boston 25, “a review of our records show there was no prior contact or authorization regarding Mr. Irish.

    She also said, “no care or payment had been denied.”

    This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that the VA has been investigated dozens of times for falsifying records and manipulating schedules to cover up the massive wait times that veterans have to endure at their facilities. This agency clearly has no problem with lying to the public and their patients. After treating our veterans like garbage for years and facing countless scandals, they have hardly made any effort to change their ways. Unfortunately, that’s all you can expect from government run medical care.

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      63 Comments

      1. Bullshit. NO veteran should have to go through this shit. Fucking foreigners get treated better.

        • Blacks honest to god think that the reason whites are all rich and no whites have to work hard is that money from the cotton farms was passed down through the generations.

          There is no way of getting around it. Diversity is fragmenting society.

        • Nobody can possibly be incompetent enough to forge records.

          This is all being done by design.

          They want veterans out of the way.

        • Line up every VA official in every state and the District of Criminals against the wall … ask for volunteers to execute these bastards, noting that they must pay $100 for the privilege.

          Enough volunteers would come forward with a Franklin to eliminate the National Debt. Honestly, I am surprised that Seal Team America hasn’t taken these motherfuckers out … one by one … in their own home.

          Pay back IS a motherfucker !!! 🙂

          • More than 11,400 American Heroes have died in Arizona waiting for the medical care they earned. I would be dead already if I were not “smarter than the average bear”.

            I do not need the VA for anything.

            Those of you who think you do need to educate yourself. The American Medical Community is composed of quacks, thieves, and liars who want to treat your symptoms but never cure you when the cure for everything is readily available.

            I am walking, talking proof of it. 🙂

          • ask for volunteers…….. ME,ME,ME ME,ME>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

        • Trust me, military people are very used to sitting on their butt doing nothing.

          • Like you are doing now fag boy? How about a nice bacon sandwich sand spook?

            • Yes please, and I won’t expect VA benefits for life.

        • When people volunteer to fight banker wars and hurt innocent people, it should be a oneway ticket, don’t cum home.

          • Gandhi for promotion to five star general and immediate appointment to Chief of Staff.
            .

            • I’ll take your recommendation of citizen Gandhi for promotion under advisement. 🙂

        • You are 100% right! Why is it that the US Gov’t treats foreigners considerably better than tax paying citizens and specifically veterans? think about that shit for a minute. It makes me want to fucking puke and go postal at the same time. Wake up America.

          • Foreigners deserve it, they are not cowRds who are afraid to say “no” to authority like grunts are.

      2. This is very interesting.
        I get my medical care from VA,
        but have never used the
        ER portion. They supposedly pay for
        all emergency room services at Medicare
        rates until you are stabilized and can transfer
        to a VA facility.
        There is no VA medical facility
        around here( they are 2,500 miles away)
        so we will always end up at local
        civilian hospitals. Which to date
        VA has paid for, at least in my experience
        in non-emergency cases.
        For example when my Knee acted
        up my VA doctor who is a MDO had to refer me
        to someone else, even though he could
        have fixed it up just fine.
        No local VA Medical facilities here.
        I’m service connected disabled but not
        profoundly so( meaning I don’t get pay for it).
        I guess it is where you are located.
        VA should be better than what they
        did to this guy.

        • My Dad has VA services, and it is common knowledge with those guys that some places suck (Phoenix, AZ), some are better (Tucson) and some are really pretty decent (Fargo, ND). It very much depends on local administrators and policies I think. Which sort of gives the lie to the idea that a centralized government program gives more consistent results.

          • How could we ever win a war if everyone in the service gets benefits for life. The cost is breaking hard working amerikans who deserve to keep their pay check and not give it to “heroes” that all the did was man the coffee ☕️ bar at the base. But the idiot spills cold coffee on his crotch and we have to pay for his sex change and hormone pills for life.

            • What a fag punk you are Shirley !

          • I agree that it is a Regional thing, but the corruption is upheld at the national level by both the VA and DoD. Every single veteran death at the neglect of the VA is THEIR FAULT, and yet veterans still show such awe and obscience to the DoD and VA….the brainwashing is pretty durable that keeps the suffering loyal to the masters.

      3. Trump fixed the VA. Did he not?

        • Trump needs to close the VA before anyone with a service connected hang nail gets benefits for life.

          • Audie Murphy my ass !

          • You are a real ass. I’ve seen guys with no legs. People missing arms, and others with damage caused by service for America in my VA Community outreach clinic. I was crawling around nuclear weapons when I was 18. You were screwing Mary Jane and insulting the people that made sure you were safe to protest. FU!
            Aloha asshole.

        • The VA is beyond fixable. Sometimes the only way to fix something that broken is to just demolish it.

      4. Removing stitches is not “operating on yourself” by any stretch.

        To be honest I’ve never gone back to a doctor to remove my stitches, I just take them out myself, saved the $30 copay, didn’t take a half day off from work, and saved the drive and wait in the office.

        Now that said, I’ve never had a serious surgery, and the Dr follow up there would likely be advisable.

        I removed stitches a few times. The worst was when I my hand was raked by a circular saw kickback, and got lots and lots of stitches. I took them out myself, as I’ve also done it for my pets when they got stitches.

        Perhaps it’s my prepper attitude, but once I saw someone remove stitches just once, I could handle it myself, it ain’t brain surgery.

        • Same here…done it several times….If I can reach them, I simply use a nail clipper to cut them, and a pair of tweezers to remove. As you say, saves the time/waiting to go back to get a simple procedure done.

          Also, where is it written that Vets get free medical care for the rest of their lives for non-service connected illness/injuries ? I’m an Army vet of 4 years, live 15 miles from a large VA facility and have never considered using it as my ER for things like this…..clearly a non-service connected event.

          • Veterans are cowards and too afraid to take sutures out. Veterans = welfare moms

            • Anytime you punk faggot !

          • Plan, Andy, same here. I removed 8 stitches from just above one eye and it was simple.
            Not a big story here.
            Now removing an appendix, that would merit a story!

            • Yup, brain surgery is likely over the top, but I’ll bet I could do “Do it yourself shock therapy”!
              ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️?➡️?⬅️?⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

        • I had a hernia repair done by the VA. It had to be repacked daily after my surgery to keep it from being infected. They offered to send a nurse out every day to do it for me. I told the doc, I will do it my self. He paled a bit when I said that but relented and let me do it anyway. He saw me again in two weeks and was astounded how well I was doing on my own. Later on the interior stitches caused mechanical irritation and infection so he had to open it back up and remove them, I healed up from that 100% no issues. you don’t fck around with major surgery stuff if you value your life and health, but you also don’t trust it to people who have no personal risk in your outcome either. But I agree, do everything for yourself that you can do by yourself, take care to make sure you educate yourself to best care for yourself as well… all the best prepper attitude. Any EMT or Combat lifesaver/medic training you can get is to your own and families benefit.

      5. I don’t meant to be a **** when I say this at all because I do admire many military members and they are much better men than me. But military service is the biggest ****ing con in the world. And I suspect some military do understand this, and that they use joining the military as a means to an end…

        but all wars are bankers wars and nobody is fighting for the nation’s freedom like I am sure some believe. All our mllitary is doing is propping up the failed petrodollar.

        “Uncle sam wants you” is about as much propaganda as “climate change” is. You get wet behind the ears young kids thrown into wars that don’t benefit the nation at all. We outsourced out manufacturing base which creates prosperity and got into the business of war to keep things afloat

        So it should really be no surprise that the bankers use the military and then let them go homeless, starve, and have no medical care. And the people who are surprised that our veterans don’t get decent healthcare are just as dumb as people who believe in “climate change.”

        Military is fighting for Israel who controls us. And veterans get no healthcare while all Israelis get fabulous healthcare at the expense of US taxpayers.

        Our founders warned us of the dangers of standing armies. And very few Americans understand today our founders ideas that they had for this country.

        • Spot on comments sir, spot fking on….

        • AZ cat snap out of your MSM worship the military propaganda, military men would murder you if their CO told them too. Then they would get benefits for life as a hero.

        • When I was in I knew people who enlisted, or who came back in after getting out previously, just to get a medical discharge. They didn’t want to fight, they just wanted a lifetime of disability payments.

        • I would NEVER fight for this ultra horse-fucked, up the ass god damned country, no way Jack!

          • Smart, I told my boys if they joined the banker wars then don’t cum home.

        • When I was 19 years old my government told me that I was essential to the Vietnam war effort. I had two choices. I could let them draft me and turn me into cannon fodder for the Army; or I could go to Canada and pledge allegiance to the Crown.

          Neither choice was acceptable to me.

          The Army laughable and loyalty to the Crown repugnant to my DNA. I fooled them. I joined the Marine Corps. I earned my VA medical benefits 12 miles North of Dang over four months and 19 days.

          Any longer and we might have won the war. 🙂

          • Da Nang

      6. I can’t vouch for all VAs, but I use the one in Orlando FL and have never experienced the issues you hear about. I discharged in 1980 and have always been treated with respect and great service. I believe a lot of the issues are with individual offices and should be addressed by canning those in charge of these locations.

      7. I feel sorry for the Vets that have to put up with all the BS that is discussed here.I for one consider myself lucky to live in Northwestern Florida and get to use the Pensacola VA Hospital.The people that work there, from the people who serve light meals in the Hospital Geedunk to the Doctors, are always very friendly and courteous,and the medical treatment is just as good as any Hospital in the area.I’m retired Navy and we have a great Naval Hospital located a stones throw from the VA so instead of the Navy treating most of the minor stuff they send us over to the VA. I’ve also heard that even some real serious injuries are send over to the VA because they have such good Doctors.

      8. I got sick feeling about 19 years ago and made my first visit to a VA clinic in Port Richey, Florida. No appointment so I had to wait. I noticed I was getting dirty looks from who appeared to be in charge. I gave my symptoms and in a few minutes was sent out with a bottle of cough syrup. After two weeks with no improvement I went back. Finally it dawned on somebody there to check my blood sugar which was 680. So they called an ambulance to take me to the VA hospital. I call that a screw up, not diagnosing correctly at the initial visit. One other event tied to bad advice from the VA over the phone put me in the hospital in ICU. My VA doctor told me I had 2 years to live 5 years ago. Quackery throughout the medical field.

      9. I guess we are slowly getting medieval…………again

      10. The VA is Criminal and should be treated as such! McCain and Graham love to send out the troops but neither give a hoot about the responsibility for the outcomes.
        McCain and Graham have more blood on their hands that PolPot, Stalin and Hitler combined! Can you imagine just how terrible they are in private, scary stuff. Their wives must be stupid, complicit or cowards as they are not great men.

        McGraham implemented the destruction of ME countries and Europe for over a decade. I consider each rape and killing in Europe as blood on their hands as well. They HATE their own culture!

        My hope is that after we have all gone to the next life we get to hear what happened to them and for eternity!!!!! Of all the worlds religious cults only in one will McGraham be accepted.

        Issue all Vets a card that allows care from any medical facility! Do it already!

      11. Do away with the Va…give our boys a card to use in any hospital/clinic in the country. They should get the same care as the rest of us with out the beauacracy.

        • Jim, give them nothing.

        • All I have ever seen “our boys” do is at the sound of the first gunshot was run to cover and call a helicopter to evacuate them. Then they say they have PTSD and get medical discharged.

          • How about you kiss my ass Gandhi you Indian POS !

      12. the VA falls UNDER the Department of Defense..No surprise why this is that way…Come on now, catch up…Serfvicemembers are disposable commodities, especially when the politicians are the the last end users of them to get elected /re-elected. and still the veterans keep right on cutting their own throats….Kissenger was right. I was no smarter than any of my brethren…at least I have some semblance of health remaining.

        if I had a choice between health and quality of life or a VA check / Retirement check I would take former hands down EVERY SINGLE TIME rather than being sickly with a bank account of money I cannot get out to use and enjoy. Most veterans IN HINDSIGHT tend to agree.

      13. So the only “heroes” that get hurt are the ones that were ambushed before they could run away to an armored vehicle.

      14. Donald Trump has your back buddy. Your covered.

        HCKS.

        No multibillionare gives a rats ass about anyone of us dying in our city.

      15. If more folk’s truly knew how the Pentagon and VA operate! December 9, 2016 Report: VA staff left veteran’s body in shower nine hours, tried to hide mistakes

        SEMINOLE — Staff members at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System left the body of a veteran in a shower room for more than nine hours then tried to cover up the mistake, a hospital investigation shows.

        http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/report-va-staff-left-veterans-body-in-shower-for-nine-hours-tried-to-hide/2305694

        Jun 30, 2014 America’s Veteran Crisis: Abandoned At Home

        As politicians in Washington wring their hands over the Veterans Affairs scandal, VICE News travels to Portland, Oregon, to see what it’s all really about. We meet Curtis Shanley, a former Marine Corps machine-gunner, who has spent the past five years wading through red tape to get medical attention for a crippling injury he suffered while serving his country in Iraq.

        https://youtu.be/vr1zMBN0g0w

        • Bay Pines VA is a damn joke. I have diabetes and my Doctor said that she does NOT check veterans feet? My feet are swollen from the diabetes and she refused to look at them !

          • Why should Mr Taxpayer pay for some dumbass smoker with diabetes.

      16. Really? Taking out stiches is operating on yourself? I must be a freaking surgeon!

      17. Agreeing with Egore, Smedley, and Cherán, on this one.

      18. The VA is a complete fucking disgrace and a sham of incompetent, pecker-pounders that do not know their head from their own asses. I would close down the entire bunch and fire every single one of those fucking idiots. What a joke and a travesty for the poor suckers that fought for this clown ass country.

      19. I don’t know is more silly and fucked up: This website or the VA?

      20. I am also a veteran. I had bacterial pneumonia so bad I could not breath. After I was treated at a non-VA hospital,
        They sent me a bill for $3000. dollars ! I contacted the VA
        Choice program and they apologized and said it would be paid.
        It never was paid and now my credit rating has gone down
        because I can not afford to pay this bill !

      21. Those filthy elected officials have known how dreadful VA care has been for years, they have only paid lip service to correcting the situation. They exempted themselves from Obamacare laws and receive world class medical care nobody else can get except the very wealthy. This only shows what I keep saying, TPTB considers us disposable. They have all the power and resources necessary to correct VA health care, the only thing they lack is intent, and after decades it is still a wreck.
        I say we need a popular national movement that will successfully dissuade young people going into the military. We need a crisis of no enlistments. Let the lying, corrupt lawmakers send their own kids and family members to Iraq or Afghanistan, or one of the other shitholes. After all, we aren’t really defending our own interests, but the interests of the degenerate officials and the corporations who profit from the military/industrial complex. TPTP can send vast amounts of money and aid to foreign countries or give tax breaks to the wealthy or corporations but they refuse to adequately help our veterans. I am a veteran, thankfully I never needed the VA, but I know at my job guys who do, one has waited up to 9 months for an appointment. And instead of getting real life-improving medical care they just have pills thrown at them. We’re good enough to place our lives in harm’s way but after that they just want you to shut up and go away.
        McCain and Graham want to keep sending our young people to fight in these g*d d*mn wars in these g*d d*mn shitholes. Think about it, why are we doing this?

        • VA should not exist because it is a gateway for cowards getting benefits for life.

          • Gandhi,
            What is your major malfunction? What did the USA, VA, or military to cause such discontent?

            First off, you don’t get free VA care just for service, you must receive a permanent injury. If you make slightly more than minimum wage, you must “pay” for care.

            Trolls like you just want emotional conflict. If you know so much about VA or military dogma, prove your knowledge. Of course, you never served or you would know what “bennies” you get for screwed up health. That $100 monthly check really helps rise my living standard! All you are is noise!

      22. The VA is nothing but an bloated overpaid government bureaucracy. In March of 2012 I had a slip and fall that wound up tearing my ACL,PCL, and LCL tendons in my knee. My lower leg was situated 3/4 the way up my thigh. All tendons had been ripped apart. As a veteran with no insurance, I went to the VA and was seen immediately. They looked,x-rayed my leg, put me in a splint and sent me home. Two weeks later they operated and reconnected my LCL tendon, leaving my PCL and ACL still not connected, put me in a cast and sent me home again. After 4 months the cast was taken off and was sent to therapy. After12 weeks of therapy, was told by Ortho that I would be given surgery to replace PCL and ACL. Well went in for surgery, and when I woke up I found out that they didn’t do anything except decide I was now to have knee replacement. That was 5 years ago and I finally got another appt with Ortho. Was being scheduled for surgery again for knee replacement. Two weeks later I received a letter saying no surgery was to be performed until I lost MORE weight. I had already lost about 50 lbs. they said I needed 50 more gone. Total disregard for my situation is all Va has shown.

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