Panel Fears Problems Go Beyond Walter Reed

Chair Of House Subcommittee Says Similar Problems Are Likely At Other Military Hospitals

(CBS/AP)  Staff Sgt. Daniel Shannon, who took a bullet to the head in Iraq and lost an eye, told the panel that patients sometimes are just left in their barracks, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss. He said he "sat in my room for a couple of weeks wondering when someone would contact" him about continuing treatment.

"The truly sad thing is that surviving veterans from every war we've ever fought can tell the same basic story — a story about neglect, lack of advocacy and frustration with the military bureaucracy," Shannon said.

Specialist Jeremy Duncan was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq and said he was put in a room at Walter Reed with growing mold and holes in the wall.

"It wasn’t fit for anybody to live in a room like that," Duncan said.

Addressing war veterans on Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney promised that the problems at Walter Reed will be fixed.

"There will be no excuses — only action," Cheney told a gathering of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "And the federal bureaucracy will not slow that action down."

In a letter Sunday to Gates, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for an independent commission, possibly headed by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to investigate all post-combat medical facilities and recommend changes. President Bush last week had ordered a comprehensive review of conditions.

The White House said the president would name a bipartisan commission to assess whether the problems at Walter Reed exist at other facilities. Last week, Gates created an outside panel to review the situation at Walter Reed and the other major military hospital in the Washington area, the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

Gates also dismissed Harvey, who had fired Weightman and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's surgeon general and a former commander of Walter Reed. Gates said Harvey's response was not aggressive enough.

The Army announced that Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker will be the new commander of Walter Reed, which is in Washington. In addition, the Army took disciplinary action against several lower-level soldiers at Walter Reed.

The moves came in response to a series of Washington Post reports about substandard conditions and bureaucratic problems affecting the care of injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to Walter Reed, one of the military's highest-profile and busiest medical facilities, and its outpatient facilities.

"You can fix the wall and get rid of the rodents. But what that series has uncovered, I believe, is that we're not keeping the moral responsibility we have for the men and women who are fighting for us in the war on terrorism," Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday.

[homespunlady]

It's BOTH a lack of funding AND lack of a medical priority for most of the military and vets. Out of sight, out of mind. Previously the military member or the family could not sue anyone because of even the most horrendous treatment. The result was doctors working for the military because they'd be strung up anywhere else. The rare good doctor would be shipped out to handle someone special or they'd quit from frustration.
It's been more important to spend the budget on overpriced machinery than take care of relatively inexpensive and replaceable assets like humans. Besides after they're useless for corporate profits - injured and disabled, why waste money on them? Isn't that the credo of "free market" capitalism? The problem is pesky things like people pointing out how IMMORAL that attitude is.

[sclaires]

The break down of the military health care system goes beyond Walter Reed. One of the first places that needs to be investigated is Moncrief Army Hospital at Fort Jackson, SC. They don't even have an emergency room. The one that was there was closed and turned into something else with the result that they can't even take care of injured basic trainees or the cadre. The injured have to go to civilian hospitals for care with the result it costs a lot more for the government.

[atpay1]

I live in NH and our Veteran's hospital is very old and in need of repair, my father was a patient there in 1954 when it was new. I gave out cell phone cards to the patient's at Christmas and it was so depressing I cried all the way home! There is no way that NH's VA hospital could ever care for severely injured soldiers and they have no physical therapy there either. If you needed an MRI you have to go to Brockton Mass outside of Boston and there's a 10 month waiting list !!

[bm6005]

Is it the military that is at fault OR is it the lack of funding that our govrnment provides. All of the fat-cat politicians will be able to get their names in the paper on this issue. It will be a witch hunt trying to pin the problem on some GI that is doing the best he can with what he has to work with.
Posted by larryjm1941

Absolutely correct and this man wins the cigar!! You, sir have ID'd the truth. For years now Congress has been cutting the VA budget and in today's news They're "aghast" at the results. String them up!! In addition to cutting the budget they've given the proceeds to the richest 1% of Americans who 99.999999% of have not served in their countries military!!!

[larryjm1941]

Is it the military that is at fault OR is it the lack of funding that our govrnment provides. All of the fat-cat politicians will be able to get their names in the paper on this issue. It will be a witch hunt trying to pin the problem on some GI that is doing the best he can with what he has to work with.

[skyk-2009]

Why is the "Fair and Balanced" Media so quite on this issue? I do not watch or listen to them but I know their "trail". When the are putting out their "Outrage" the sheep are lined up on these boards to give us all a view of the "Outrage" of the Reich. I also, notice that the Reich is NOT attacking the "liberal" media quite as badly as they WERE. Is there a reason for this I wonder? Could it be that WE the PEOPLE would not know about Walter Reed and the abuses therein if not for the "Liberal" Media? The Reich is today what it has always been folks a FRAUD! Sieg Heil

[skyk-2009]

Well Lars is back with his drug induced view of how things work.

Lars why don't you and sevenpesos crawl back inder the fence and go back to your mud hut in Tijuana. After all, that's not the south - it's northern Mexico.
Posted by freespeech3 at 11:17 PM : Mar 05, 2007

Ignore him. He's a typical member of the Hood and Sheet Crowd. He thinks he is superior to the rest and he will not debate or discuss issues.... it's a waste of your time.

[skyk-2009]

Well Lars is back with his drug induced view of how things work.

Lars why don't you and sevenpesos crawl back inder the fence and go back to your mud hut in Tijuana. After all, that's not the south - it's northern Mexico.
Posted by freespeech3 at 11:17 PM : Mar 05, 2007

Ignore him. He's a typical member of the Hood and Sheet Crowd. He thinks he is superior to the rest and he will not debate or discuss issues.... it's a waste of your time.

[skyk-2009]

This is just another terrible news story that the LAWMAKERS will make hay over ... sad thing is it has been going on for DECADES !!

I guarantee if all of the CONGRESS & all the other politicos were forced to use the same hospitals and services as the veteran's ... can someone please explain to me why we treat these public servant idiots like gods?

I doubt whether this would be happening at all if the care was mutual ...

SHAMEFUL !!!
Posted by dowjones20k at 05:42 AM : Mar 06, 2007

You are WRONG Sparky! It's not possible for it to have been going on for DECADES because the INSANITY of Bush has not been going on that long. The REASON these people were holed up in that place was BECAUSE of this FRAUD and his WAR. Not because of neglect. IF not for the hated "Liberal" media we'd still not know about it either!! Sieg Heil

[springfever0]

Mission Accomplished. Not exactly.

[bluestardad]

REPUBLICANS THANK YOU FOR IRAQ!
America Does not buy the sound bite that Iraq is the war on Terror or that if we do not fight in Iraq we will fight the Terrorist over in America. Unless you have been on your knees with your eyes shut in front of some Stalwart Republican like Mark Foley or Tedd Haggert you would have seen that Iraq did not attack America on 9/11 and that Iraq is in a Religious Civil War. The Hypocritical Abortion hating, Pedophile, Gay Bashing, Sausage Smoken Evangelicals who steals millions of dollars from widow women promising them Salvation while all the time seeing male Prostitutes behind their wife%u2019s back are not good Republican character references. While Pedophile Republican Congressmen are still at large. Congress and its Rubber Stamp Oversight of the Neo-Con, Chicken Hawk, Draft Dodgers who are sending others to war without ever serving themselves in the Military. The Republicans SUPPORT THE TROOPS rhetoric but can not even care for our Military wounded who live with Rats and Cockroaches at Walter Reed Hospital. The Sunni are funded by Saudi Arabia the Bush Family friends. Bin Laden is still active while Bush is secretly funding Sunni al Qaeda in Lebanon in an Iran Contra style under the table financing scheme outside Congressional approval.

If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your Republican Congress person and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Here is the House Speakers email address: [e-mail]

[dowjones20k]

This is just another terrible news story that the LAWMAKERS will make hay over ... sad thing is it has been going on for DECADES !!

I guarantee if all of the CONGRESS & all the other politicos were forced to use the same hospitals and services as the veteran's ... can someone please explain to me why we treat these public servant idiots like gods?

I doubt whether this would be happening at all if the care was mutual ...

SHAMEFUL !!!

[justice4him]

It is very sad! You do not have to go to walter reed to have terrible neglect in army hospitals! As a millitary wife for almost 10 year's Last year at this time my husband was told he had a ear infection. After 3 weeks ,6 times in the e.r. ear specialist,and pa my husband in the matter of 4 days he pass away!He was only 33 thinking all of it was a simple ear infection. Well he died of bacterial meningitas at the age of 33. He gave them 13 year's of service.The army could not be at his buriel the could not fin the adresse! Go figure!That is the thanx we got from the army!

[searingtruth]

"It's been a gamble as to who gets good care and who doesn't. ..."
homespunlady

It's not "You have nothing to fear unless you're doing something wrong".
It's "You have nothing to fear unless the government is doing something wrong."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[homespunlady]

It's been a gamble as to who gets good care and who doesn't. I know of one active duty AF guy who was told to drive his sick wife to a civilian hospital 2 hours away several years ago. She died in his car on the way with their son in the back seat. Needless to say, after a few of those incidents the Air Force's answer was to turn that Base hospital into an 8AM to 4 PM clinic with a special setup for a select top few and bring the most expensive plane in the fleet to that Base.
They're constantly remodeling the buildings there but don't try for an appointment or anything but the absolute cheapest prescription because they won't have it.
There have been rumors for decades that all the military medical facilities might be combined and put under a Medical Corps (purple suiters) but for now each service has had it's own and they apparently want to keep it that way. The duplication and waste from that is huge. The differences in care are also huge. An Air Force officer's wife gets MUCH BETTER care than an enlisted member and a retiree is lucky to get any care at all unless they go out and get it elsewhere at their cost. The army seems better about that and the VA is almost too lenient sometimes.

[searingtruth]

"I've had personal experience with Air Force Hospitals, Army hospitals and VA Hospitals. Around 1995 the VA hit the news with maggots in wounds etc. Since then they cleaned up some but it depends on where. .."
homespunlady

"We were taught that horror is commonplace."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[scott4261]

Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or independent, you should all be appalled by the conditions at Walter Reed.

[homespunlady]

I've had personal experience with Air Force Hospitals, Army hospitals and VA Hospitals. Around 1995 the VA hit the news with maggots in wounds etc. Since then they cleaned up some but it depends on where. At one VA hospital I heard from nurses they were being forced to take in patients that never had anything to do with the military possibly illegals but that was last summer. they supposedly had an entire wing set aside for them.
As for the Army Hospitals, I was unknowingly enrolled in some kind of experimental drug test in 87 and found out when a tech called. I'm still looking for a refill on those pills as they actually worked extremely well. The surgery they performed healed well and never gave me any trouble afterward.
As for the Air Force... The Air Force hospitals I've dealt with have been the most discriminatory and negligent of all. I've had surgical sponges sewn in me, had a heart problems ignored,waited 2 years before going to a civilian about what I was told may be bone cancer and after several years of "no vacancy" comments I went to the VA to get a PAP test! That was after I started paying for TRICARE PRIME which is the military health insurance HMO payment plan. Guess What MILITARY health car IS NOT FREE except for a very narrow select group - hasn't been for a very long time.

[searingtruth]

"I was wounded, and my wound remains."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[freespeech3]

Well Lars is back with his drug induced view of how things work.

Lars why don't you and sevenpesos crawl back inder the fence and go back to your mud hut in Tijuana. After all, that's not the south - it's northern Mexico.