http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/15/1385033/-Veteran-forced-to-make-tearful-911-call-from-the-VA-hospital-parking-lot-after-staff-refused-help?detail=email
i want to start this off saying that all the VA nightmares we hear as reprehensible as some are it is not across the board my VAMC Wash., DC was over 20 years ago the hell hole we hear about today but now they are very well staffed and care is very Vet friendl, personal experience reference.
Donald Siefken is a 64-year-old Army vet from the Seattle area. He was making a late-night run to the airport so his wife could catch a red-eye flight. Along the way he took a bad step and broke his foot. During the drive to the airpot, his pain increased dramatically and the foot swelled. After dropping his wife off, he headed to the emergency room at the VA hospital and that's when things took an insane turn. Totally insane:
Siefken parked outside the ER on the ambulance roundabout and, because he couldn’t walk, called the front desk for help.
The worker who answered “couldn’t for the life of him understand why someone from Kennewick was trying to get treated in Seattle,” Siefken said. “I tried and tried to explain it to him, but he just wouldn’t listen.”
After an argument, Siefken said, the employee told him, “ ‘No, we’re not going to come get you. You’re going to have to call 911 and you’ll have to pay for that.’ ”
Yes, poor Donald Siefken was left waiting outside the emergency room where he was forced to make a tearful call to 911. Firefighters arrived just minutes later and helped him into the emergency room.
After the story hit the news, VA representatives are apologizing and looking at changing hospital policy as it relates to emergency help.
“They said they’re sorry and they’re going to change things so this doesn’t happen again,” Siefken added. “That’s all I really wanted.”
yes even my VAMC has but tholes working ER trust me been there done that a few times, but again this is one person we don't know the history of or their understanding of what an ER is for. investigation called for no doubt training no doubt but to broad brush the VA is a mistake at least in my city. there is an audio link in article check it out.
