Submitted by: Nancy Battle
Dear Conservative,
For the past few weeks, the Obama administration has been the focus of
attention as allegations of widespread corruption within the Department
of Veterans Affairs continue to surface.
All across the United States, employees in VA hospitals are accused of
cooking the books and altering medical records to make the hospitals
appear to be better than they actually were. Meanwhile, our military
veterans were forced to languish in endless waiting lists, many of whom
died while waiting to see a doctor for the first time.
President Obama was briefed on this back in 2008 and even though he
pledged that reforming the VA would be one of the main focuses of his
presidency, nothing was ever done to fix these problems. In the past
week, the VA has approved veterans using private medical facilities in
situations with exceptionally long VA backlogs, a crushing blow to those
who support government-run healthcare.
These are baby-steps forward and there is nothing that can be done to
bring back those who perished as a direct result from this scandal. But
the VA seems to be moving in the right direction. That is, until I
learned of another disgusting 'scandal' that made me absolutely sick to
my stomach.
Today is Memorial Day. This is the day where we all celebrate the
sacrifices made by so many veterans who fought and died to protect our
way of life. While it is certainly nice to thank active duty military
personnel or veterans for their service, this day is specifically
devoted to honoring those who sacrificed themselves for the preservation
of this great country.
A story coming out of California alleges that the VA left dozens of deceased veterans to rot
in the county morgue for over a year without them ever receiving a
burial. Many of these deceased veterans had been in the morgue so long
that County officials didn’t know their names and were racing to find
ways to identify them. For the past year and a half, there have been
more than SIXTY deceased veterans who were left to rot at the LA County
Morgue.
So not only do VA employees drop the ball when it comes to processing
sick veterans, but the Department can’t even deal with the backlog of
deceased veterans?! This is absolutely deplorable and the fact that the
VA allowed this to happen proves that even in death, the Department of
Veterans Affairs simply cannot take care of our vets!
Tell
Congress that our military veterans deserve to be honored, not left to
rot anonymously in a morgue! Whoever is responsible for this scandal
must be punished!
The law on this is simple: Military veterans who pass away without any
family or friends to manage the services must still receive a burial.
This law is designed for exactly these circumstances. If a veteran
passes away and no one claims the body, they still must receive a proper
burial. The premise of 'no man left behind' carries on even in death...
This is the least that we can do, as a country, for those men and women who sacrifice so much to preserve our way of life!
But for the dozens of veterans left to rot in the LA County Morgue, the
system failed them. These deceased veterans went a year and a half
without receiving a proper burial, apparently because the VA couldn't be
bothered checking up to see if their bodies were ready.
That's what it ultimately comes down to: an employee picking up the
phone and calling for an update. And the VA couldn't even be bothered to
do that!
Our veterans deserve more, both in life and death, than what the VA is
currently giving them. At every level, the Department of Veterans
Affairs is utterly broken. From the nurses cooking the books in the
hospitals, all the way up to Secretary Shinseki himself, the corruption
and negligence touches everyone connected to the VA!
On this Memorial Day, more than ever, we must fight to ensure that our
nation's heroes receive the medical care and burial rights that they
have EARNED!
They fought for our rights, now it is time to turn around and fight for theirs!
You should be mad as hell about this! I know I am!
The media only began covering the VA scandal because brave patriots like
YOU let their voices be heard. Now with this news of deceased veterans
being left to rot in county morgues, we absolutely must force our
representatives to hold those who allowed this to happen accountable!
Just as in the beginning of the VA scandal there was only one affected
hospital, I suspect that if we turn over a few stones, we’ll find that
across the country, deceased veterans are being denied burial rights
because of bureaucratic incompetence.
Memorial Day is about honoring those veterans who sacrificed life and
limb to protect this great country. The news coming out of LA County
leaves me mortified and ashamed at just how the VA has let our veterans
down. They deserve more than what they were given, all of our veterans
deserve more, and I urge you to join me in raising our voices to DEMAND
that Congress stop this gross negligence and protect our vets!
This must end!
Tell
Congress that our military veterans deserve to be honored, not left to
rot anonymously in a morgue! Whoever is responsible for this scandal
must be punished!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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