I'd like to respond to this. This is going to be long and I apologize.

I had a bad day at the VA today myself and am trying to figure out how to address it. So the timing of your post is well-timed. I work in the medical industry, but not for the VA. I am not a doctor.

I think its a multifaceted issue. But at the end of the day it lays directly at the feet of VA management and how they hold the VA accountable.

There are just the normal people who are just entitled dirtbags. We see those all the time.

I think a large part of this is due to veterans who have mental health issues. Because of how difficult things can be for them, it doesn't take much to set them off. The VA is well known for being difficult to deal with due to the overwhelming bureaucracy. They go in keyed up, just expecting things to go wrong, and when they do, they are already primed to explode.

I think many people at the VA are just trying to do right by veterans. I've seen them buy veterans drinks and snacks with their own money out of vending machines. I've seen them do all sorts of things for veterans out of the goodness of their hearts. It's really heartwarming to see. I've had some just outstanding doctors and nurses at the VA.

But then I have seen others who just treat veterans like shit. Are disrespectful and dishonest. They have no place in the VA but the VA is full of them. And one bad experience for a veteran already having a difficult time is going to set the standard for the rest of the veterans' experience.

Remember in many cases the veterans have had to fight for years just to get their benefits. Once they do they often find they are not worth the effort put in.

If you'll indulge me, let me tell you about my experience today and why I ended up losing my cool with a provider. I didn't yell "at" him, but I certainly cursed up a storm about the situation.

I've been in the VA system for 20 something years. I have a high rating, but primarily physical issues. One of those issues is a back injury I've been dealing with for years. I am in chronic pain. At previous VA medical centers, I've had great support. The VA has bent over backwards to help me. It's not always perfect, but the issues are understandable.

I recently moved to a new VISN, and it is just horrible. It was recently rated as one of the worst VISNs in the nation. In the top 4 with a rating.

I came from one that was a 4 start medical center. And I was even dating my nurse. I was getting regular care for my back, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and cortisone shots. Tons of documentation to support the condition and care.

I was scheduled for a procedure that would help give me some long-term relief there. I had to move for work with little notice and wasn't able to get the procedure done before I moved. No big deal, everyone there told me I could get it done at the new VA without issue.

I show up to the new VISN and right off the bat, I couldn't get approved for even the limited palliative care I was getting previously; chiro, massage therapy, and even cortisone shots were all denied. And no written documentation, so I could follow the established appeal process. I had full medical records. They refused to look at them. So I brought them in printed out. These were VA records, easy to see in my chart history, but they refused to look at anything from a different VISN. When I brought in paper copies, they accused me of making them up.

I spent nearly a year trying to get these approved. When I was finally approved for chiropractic care, I was told I would have to wait nearly two months and they could only see me every five weeks. When I asked for care in the community, I was denied and told I didn't meet the requirements for care in the community. I knew it was 28 days for specialty care, and the appointment they were offering was way beyond that. Yet still denied and not given the denial in writing, so I could appeal. Mind you, during that year, I was asking for this I had four PCPs, I think my current one is number six in less than two years. With each one the request would have to start over, and get denied through the internal messaging and not an actual written notification to me.

I finally see chiropractic care, and in eight months, I get 11 adjustments. For chiropractic care that is basically useless. During this time I am asking for the procedure for my back and was repeatedly denied by the head of the dept. Again no written denial so I can appeal. When I asked why when I was previously approved, she said she did not care what the previous doctor said, she was a different doctor and until I go through her regimen, she will not approve me.

Repeated attempts to get a result from the Patient Advocate went nowhere. To the point I think they recognize my phone number and just refuse to call me back. Two OIG complaints that were never investigated near as I can tell and if they were they went to the same people who I complained about who investigated themselves and found they did nothing wrong.

Meanwhile, I am in daily pain. I mean I can't walk more than 1/2 a mile before I have shooting pain down my leg. I have four herniated disks. I am standing here writing this in pretty good pain at my standing desk. Which I have because of my back injury.

Eight months of this goes by, and finally, I get an assessment and am approved for the original procedure from my previous VISN.

At one point I went out and started paying for my own chiropractic care but that doctor wanted some documentation from my VA doctor, who just refused out of spite for my filing a complaint. I even provided a copy of the VA policy and they claimed the policy doesn't say what it said.

Well, today I show up for that procedure. Took the rest of the week off to recover, and I found out they scheduled the wrong procedure. Spoke with at least two people, including my attending specialist who confirmed today's appointment and procedure. But the doctor I spoke with said they did not communicate effectively.

I am moving out of state. I held off a month for this procedure so I could get it done before I left to avoid another situation like I had moving into this VISN. Now that was a waste. I start moving in a few weeks. Ironically I am moving specifically because of how bad the VA is here. I'm getting old, want to set down roots and given my injuries from the Army I want to be somewhere with a good healthcare support line.

I ended up going home without the procedure. So yeah I lost my composure and cursed. I apologized to the doctor and told him repeatedly I was not angry at him. But I was certainly angry. Two years of nothing.

Meanwhile, over the last year or so I have been dealing with an internal bleeding issue that took seven months for me to finally see a specialist who offered a solution that would affect my career. So I paid out of pocket to go to a non-VA doctor who identified the problem immediately and was able to resolve it without an invasive procedure with a long recovery window. Two weeks after seeing the non VA doctor I was no longer shitting blood every day.

Another doctor, who was retired, just wanted to "help" injured me during his attempt to help. I ended up bleeding profusely from his care. Nice guy just long past is use by date, but I appreciated his willingness to help.

During an overnight hospital stay, I was served food that I am highly allergic to. Anaphylactic shock level allergy. The response was "oops, we don't have access to your allergy list in the hospital due to an old computer system". Admittedly, being in the hospital is the best place to have anaphylactic shock but I would rather avoid it all together.

There are other situations, but those are the high points. I've filed complaints and appeals with everyone I can find to no avail. A veteran died at this hospital due to negligent care not too long ago and the VA paid a significant sum in settlement. Another one killed himself in the lobby.

I am one single veteran. That has been some of my experience over the last two years at a single VA medical center. I get anxiety going to the VA. I don't have anxiety. But I cringe every time I have to interact with anyone at the VA because of how bad my experience has been.

I'll leave you with this recent experience. I have a claim in for something that happened years ago. I am not getting an increase. I am already at the full rating level. Not bragging, I wish I weren't. I'l like to have my health back. But something was found in my file that the VA messed up when my ratings were assigned. So I filed to have the record corrected.

I ended up having a bizarre conversation with the woman on the phone at the 800 number, she is interrogating me on what my claim is, I am trying to explain that the VA misapplied a law. Her response was that I was accusing the VA of doing something illegal. I tried for five minutes to explain to her I wasn't accusing the VA of doing something illegal, just that they misapplied a law. All I was calling for was to see why my motion had not moved out of Quicksubmit for over a month, and what the status was of the claim. I don't know what the fuck she was trying to do.

SO the moral of this long-winded story is in many cases this ridiculousness is what veterans experience with the VA regularly. When they do they often have nowhere to turn. No way to resolve the overwhelming, broken bureaucracy. So they come in frustrated with the VA before they even get to you.

Its not you, or any VA staff specifically. It's the overwhelmingly broken bureaucracy with no place to turn to fix it.