I am not a veteran, but I can think of few people that deserve our collective respect & support more than those that have actively risked their lives in the interest of our country. I often wish they were as well directed as they should be, but that’s a story for another time, and it certainly does not reflect badly against their selfless sacrifice… or in any way lessen the gift they have tendered to us all.
How do we repay them?
If you take a small segment of the actions taken by the Phoenix VA recently, and the consequences those policies have brought about, the answer to that question is cheat, lie, misinform, and display a staggering lack of empathy and/or backbone when it comes to protecting the rights (and very lives) of the veterans in their care.
In 2012, a veteran took his own life when he was informed by a physician at the Phoenix VA that he was suffering from a terminal case of lung cancer. The day after his death, his wife received the “wonderful news” that her husband had been misdiagnosed and was NOT going to die.
Last year, the Phoenix VA was at the center of a huge controversy alleging that multiple VAs were falsifying wait times or simply maintaining paper wait lists so that the extensive wait times would not be noticed. These actions led to at least 40 deaths in Phoenix alone and (once discovered) a major shake-up in the VA system itself.
Two weeks ago, a veteran committed suicide in the Phoenix VA’s parking lot. Leaving a note containing the comment “Thanks for nothing VA”, this was about as un-subtle a statement on the failure of the Phoenix VA (and many other VAs) as can be had.
And most recently, Glen Grippen (Director of the Phoenix VA) has refused a request by one of its own physicians to have Dr. Sue Sisley deliver a lecture to medical staff on her ongoing (if troubled) federally approved study into the effects of marijuana as a treatment for PTSD patients. And this, while several bills are currently working their way through the governmental meat-grinder that would definitively approve marijuana for further study and research on a federal level.
With an estimated 20-40 veterans committing suicide every day, how can any truly caring individual even consider withholding what so many veterans have proclaimed as the ONE solution to their service-incurred PTSD symptoms? Well… they couldn’t. You see, the people who are currently working to keep marijuana in the closet have absolutely no compassion for their fellow man or respect for those who have sacrificed so much for our country. They are merely fear-driven and self-centered fools unable to overcome 70 years of indoctrination, even when faced with insurmountable evidence that their views are both incorrect and downright deadly.
We owe our veterans our very existence, and they deserve so much better.
To help:
Veterans for Dr Sue Sisley MD & PTSD Research