VA Healthcare System: My Thoughts

In recent months, tragic intentional deaths of VA hospital patients was revealed at the VA hospital in Clarksburg, WV. Three hospitalized vets were killed. No one has yet been charged criminally. Clearly these are criminal actions as non-insulin dependent patients were injected with insulin, killing them.

The VA healthcare system, the above situation aside, has been assailed for poor care for years. I can only comment on a tiny portion of the VA healthcare system interaction with my family.

My dad Joe, who is 95 and a World War II Navy vet, obtains most of his care through one of two VA healthcare facilities in Pittsburgh. Beginning in September of 2018, dad has sustained some circulatory problems requiring four surgical procedures and three overnight stays in the hospital as well as wound treatments.

Dad’s care has been excellent. The physicians are top notch. Perhaps that is as the primary VA hospital in Pittsburgh is adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh campus and in walking distance to the University of Pittsburgh medical school. The same vascular surgeons that render care to my dad at Pittsburgh VA also provide service for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals. We are fortunate in this regard.

However, the permanent, non-rotating VA staff; nurses, technicians, administrative and support personnel, have been wonderful to my dad to our family. These folks care. They spend time with my dad at his appointments and when he has been an inpatient. They inquire as to his military service, his current life, and whether or not he needs anything. They provide answers to the questions raised by my sister and me, resulting in a feeling of quality care, with no stone left unturned and leaving my dad in the best possible position. Currently, his circulatory issues are resolved.

There are no open wounds. I know at his age this can change in a moment.

The Pittsburgh VA hospitals are a tiny cog in the VA health system wheel. But based on our experience, I salute those that are treating my dad with expertise and respect.

– Allan Opsitnick