More
than a year after a scandal broke over U.S. military veterans enduring
extremely long waits to see doctors at clinics run by the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA), things have actually gone from bad to worse.
The
number of cases in which appointments took 30 or more days to happen has
increased by 67 percent in the past year, despite more money and more
staff dedicated
to the VA.
Jim Hudson, an
Army veteran from California who served on the front lines during the Vietnam
War, has spent most of his post-war life advocating for other disabled
veterans. But he still has to be his own advocate just to get the healthcare
he’s owed by the VA.
Hudson, 66,
spent 14 years in the military. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and other service-related psychiatric issues.
Yet, he still has
to wait six months just to see a VA psychiatrist.
“I have PTSD,
anxiety, and depressive disorders, and several other issues,” Hudson told
Healthline. “I’m on multiple medications. Six months is far too long to wait.”
Mark
Trifeletti, a Gulf War veteran from New York, is in the same boat. Trifeletti
suffers from chronic pain, and has been waiting more than three months for
emergency surgery to fix a device surgically implanted at the base of his spine
that was meant to give him some relief.
“I don’t have
any idea if or when they’ll come through with the surgery appointment,” he
said. “The pain is horrible. VA is still a mess.”
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