|
...the asylum is in full blown riot over today's Washington Post story on Building 18. They cannot believe what their lying eyes are telling them and the scales are still fully implanted on their corneas. Maybe we should offer psychiatric care to them to help them in their hour of need. For the bedlam go here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1786786/posts
Free Republic
Home · Browse · Search News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skip to comments.
Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
Wash Post ^ | February 18, 2007 | Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Posted on 02/17/2007 8:05:58 PM PST by bnelson44
Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely -- a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ANNEHULL; DANAPRIEST; DCCHAPTER; VA; WALTERREED; WAPO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 posted on 02/17/2007 8:06:03 PM PST by bnelson44
< Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
Consider the source of the information.
2 posted on 02/17/2007 8:09:28 PM PST by U S Army EOD (Support your local EOD Detachment)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: U S Army EOD
Nice hit piece..
3 posted on 02/17/2007 8:10:16 PM PST by cardinal4
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
I do not trust any information coming from Dana Priest.
4 posted on 02/17/2007 8:12:15 PM PST by Bahbah (.Regev, Goldwasser & Shalit, we are praying for you.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: U S Army EOD
They have video at the link. I suppose some DC FReepers could drive down and look the place over.
5 posted on 02/17/2007 8:13:38 PM PST by bnelson44 (Proud parent of a tanker! (Elections have repercussions, you reap what you sow.))
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: U S Army EOD
I use the VA hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Today it is expanding and in excellent condition. This article is BS!!
6 posted on 02/17/2007 8:13:52 PM PST by Islander7 ("Show me an honest politician and I will show you a case of mistaken identity.")
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
I remember waking up in a tent … glad I was able to see anything. Never complained about the accommodations, just glad to be alive (VN).
7 posted on 02/17/2007 8:16:28 PM PST by doc1019 (If Obama is elected as President, we will become an “Obama Nation”.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: kristinn; Albion Wilde
Heads up ping. How about a work party to do a Jimmah Carter Habitat for Soldiers repair?
8 posted on 02/17/2007 8:20:00 PM PST by NonValueAdded (Prevent Glo-Ball Warming ... turn out the sun when not in use)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
And yet Murtha and Pelosi, who "support the troops" want to cut funding.
9 posted on 02/17/2007 8:25:17 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
This might be one reason there is army also at the Naval Medical Center here in San Diego. This hospital is state of the art.
10 posted on 02/17/2007 8:35:35 PM PST by SoCalPol (Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
Considering who wrote it, I can't bring myself to click on the link.
I am torn between feeling that I would be supporting a real POS by clicking on it, and on the other hand, feeling like Howard Hughes trying to leave a bathroom without having any paper towels available in order to avoid touching the doorknob. I would have to clean my computer after visiting that site.
11 posted on 02/17/2007 8:37:58 PM PST by rlmorel (Islamofacism: It is all fun and games until someone puts an eye out. Or chops off a head.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: rlmorel
In reality they are closing soon Walter Reed
This has been in the news for some time.
12 posted on 02/17/2007 8:41:00 PM PST by SoCalPol (Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: SoCalPol
Right...to be honest, having spent a great deal of my life in and around military facilities, I know how literally ratty they can be.
13 posted on 02/17/2007 8:46:11 PM PST by rlmorel (Islamofacism: It is all fun and games until someone puts an eye out. Or chops off a head.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
Funny that the Walter Reed FReepers are celebrating the rout of the Pinko, and this shows up in the WaPo.
drip..drip..drip The traitors seek to wear Americans down one sorry slanted story at a time.
Dana Priest belongs at the end of a rope, right next to Mary McCarthy. How about a front page story about treason?
14 posted on 02/17/2007 8:48:15 PM PST by ishabibble (ALL-AMERICAN INFIDEL)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
It looks like Washington Post reporters have done it again. They went into Walter Reed with the agenda to make Walter Reed look bad, and they only recorded people and incidents that would support their agenda. Of course, Walter Reed is not perfect, nothing is. But for reporters to only focus on the negative and ignore the positive is so typical of our MSM during this WOT.
This is nothing new. General William Tecumseh Sherman once said, "I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."
15 posted on 02/17/2007 8:56:18 PM PST by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
This is intended to provide support for Murtha's forthcoming propaganda campaign.
16 posted on 02/17/2007 9:42:36 PM PST by Elsiejay
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
IF the building is in such disrepair, we are to accept it has only gotten that way since Bush has been in office?
Haven't the Dems been bragging about all the do for Vets? Did Clinton ever propose upgrades over 8 years?
The Dems controlled Congress for 40 years, what did they do for it?
Sensationalsim at its height to demonize Republicans another time. Sadly, sheeple fall for it.
17 posted on 02/17/2007 9:48:24 PM PST by DakotaRed
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Elsiejay
Good . Let Bertha be the national face of the democrat party. There is no way on earth the majority of this beauty obsessed nation will be driven to action by this bloated ,way over the hill porcine lunatic. Good lord have you seen this thing on TV ? On the other hand just because some feel that the hospital facilities are not adequate for our wounded hero's , there is no reason for knee jerk attacks. Relax koolaid people not everything is an attack on your boy.
18 posted on 02/17/2007 9:55:43 PM PST by fantom
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
Hey Dana you cheap bastard, did you treat the troops there at Bldg 18 to even a simple box of donuts? You got to use them for your propaganda, at least do something for them.
Or didn't your socialist mindset prevent you from considering anyone but HillaryCare from solving their problems.
If it's as depressing a place as you say and if liberals are as compassionate as they claim, where's Jimmuah Carter and his hammer when Bldg 18 could use them?
19 posted on 02/17/2007 10:33:40 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: NonValueAdded
LOL, GMTA!!!
20 posted on 02/17/2007 10:34:31 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: U S Army EOD
This article details the inane burecreacy of the Army and its dehumanizing of those wounded rather than plumbing problems. Shame that these soldiers have to resort to talking to the press to see their concerns addressed.
21 posted on 02/17/2007 10:34:33 PM PST by KantianBurke
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: SoCalPol
This might be one reason there is army also at the Naval Medical Center here in San Diego. This hospital is state of the art.
I believe that the serrvices will single up on an "all service" hospital organization.
Reed has been BRACed and it's functions move to Bethesda. Not sure it it still stays an Army hospital.
22 posted on 02/17/2007 10:37:45 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: KantianBurke
I've been in Bldg 18, any number of times. Was there today.
Never got the impression that it was as bad as Priest made it out to be in his hit piece.
23 posted on 02/17/2007 10:40:47 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Doctor Raoul
I think you are correct.
You and the DC FReepers have spent so much time there in support of the troops.
24 posted on 02/17/2007 10:42:25 PM PST by SoCalPol (Duncan Hunter '08 Tough on WOT & Illegals)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
In January, Wilson was told that the funds were no longer available and that he would have to submit a new request. "It's absurd," he said. "Seven months of work down the drain. I have nothing to show for this project. It's a great example of what we're up against."
A pool table and two flat-screen TVs were eventually donated from elsewhere.
You lying sack of shit Priest. I was in the rec room off the lobby today. There's been a pool table and a big screen TV in there for at least a six months, probably longer.
25 posted on 02/17/2007 10:49:18 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
In January, Wilson was told that the funds were no longer available and that he would have to submit a new request. "It's absurd," he said. "Seven months of work down the drain. I have nothing to show for this project. It's a great example of what we're up against."
A pool table and two flat-screen TVs were eventually donated from elsewhere.
You lying sack of shit Priest. I was in the rec room off the lobby today. There's been a pool table and a big screen TV in there for at least a six months, probably longer.
26 posted on 02/17/2007 10:49:21 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Doctor Raoul
Again, this article seems to detail the burecratic bs the soldiers deal with rather than building problems. Seeing as they're seriously injured I don't think the Army's policies are appropriate. And WTF is this mustering in the cold regardless of injury nonsense??! Do the Walter Reed brass WANT bad press?
27 posted on 02/17/2007 10:49:59 PM PST by KantianBurke
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Doctor Raoul
If you read the whole article, this isn't so much about one building as it is a slam on the care of the wounded at Walter Reed.
But these complaints are generic in nature in as much as similar complaints can be found in any hospital, nursing home and hospice in the country and frequently are. You can always find a patient that got lost, lost his paperwork, or didn't like the care he was receiving.
This is the future of health care if Hillary care ever gets approved, a national nightmare that sadly this writer will pimp as being the finest on the planet when and if it does happen.
I feel badly for those that clearly need more supervision with their recuperation but where is the writer's recommendations She only rebukes what she finds without suggesting a remedy, now that is really bad medicine.
28 posted on 02/17/2007 11:07:54 PM PST by usmcobra (I sing Karaoke the way it was meant to be sung, drunk, badly and in Japanese)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: KantianBurke
Again, this article seems to detail the burecratic bs the soldiers deal with rather than building problems.
Well I'm giving you my perspective on the part I know about. And the article and slide show DO devote a good bit of space to Bldg 28.
I've heard the stories first hand about MedHold and such from more than one troop. Know on of the guys assigned to look after the others. Been there at the Family Service Center when they didn't have warm hats and gloves for patients scheduled to attend the Army Navy Game the next day. I've got a list of things that I believe are unfair to the wounded and their families, but it's Congress, not the services at fault.
Seeing as they're seriously injured I don't think the Army's policies are appropriate.
Army? Try bitching at Congress first. They're the Board Members of this corporation call USG. A lot of what the Army must do and how they do it comes down from Congress. If you want something now, you better have programmed the money five years ago. And in an emergency, well maybe you can rearrange money that's coming in two years.
The cures proscribed by Congress as their response to a problem are often worse than the original problem.
And WTF is this mustering in the cold regardless of injury nonsense??!
They're not outside at muster and if I remember the layout correctly, the gym in question is across from Abrams Hall and pretty much in back of Mologne. It's a hike from Bldg 18, but I don't know that they muster there. Priest is a bit over the top on that one.
It's a real bitch getting Chinese/pizza delivered because you have to hike out to the Main Gate after hours because the drivers aren't allowed on post.
Do the Walter Reed brass WANT bad press?
Who has to wish for bad press when the Washington Post and Dana Priest work so hard to manufacture bad press.
29 posted on 02/17/2007 11:28:35 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: usmcobra
feel badly for those that clearly need more supervision with their recuperation but where is the writer's recommendations She only rebukes what she finds without suggesting a remedy, now that is really bad medicine.
Funny how FEMA looked so incompetant until Sean Penn showed up with his rowboat and he immediately started taking on water. Penn was more disorganized than FEMA. These things are never as easily solved as the scorn of liberals and the press imply.
Priest isn't out to help these patients, the intent is to hurt Bush.
30 posted on 02/17/2007 11:35:16 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
'They won't be able to continue. They won't be able to do the deployment. They won't have the equipment, they don't have the training and they won't be able to do the work. There’s no question in my mind.”
– John Murtha
31 posted on 02/18/2007 3:27:00 AM PST by SkyPilot
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: bnelson44
Most of the posts on this thread reflect an astonishing degree of naiveté. No doubt this is a Dana Priest/Washington Post hit piece. That's what they do.
But, don't believe all of the puff pieces about how wonderful Walter Reed is. Are they doing great things? Yes. Is some of the medical the very best that can be provided? Yes. But, is it all sweetness and light? NO. Military medicine is what Hillary wants to visit upon the entire country. Military medicine is socialized medicine. The government regulates supply and rations the services that it provides. If it provides world class care to wounded soldiers (and it should), then somewhere else patients are getting no care or poor quality care. Don't fool yourself if you think that's not true.
Our soldiers deserve better than they are getting. Some of these problems can be solved by better leadership, which is sometimes hard to find within the Medical Corps. Other problems are more endemic. Socialized medicine just doesn't work very well, even if you dress it up in a uniform.
32 posted on 02/18/2007 6:24:34 AM PST by centurion316 (Democrats - Supporting Al Qaida Worldwide)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: centurion316
While my husband was in the military we received medical treatment at Womack Hospital at Ft. Bragg, and then treatment at Madigan medical Center at Ft. Lewis...
When we just needed regular care, we always found things to be quite satisfactory...but when our older boy was diagnosed with leukemia, he received what I can only describe as incredibly wonderful care at Madigan...
I cannot speak about other peoples experiences with Military hospital, and medical centers, only our own...from our own personal experience we always received, what I considered to be excellent care...we never had reason to complain...
33 posted on 02/18/2007 6:31:30 AM PST by andysandmikesmom
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Doctor Raoul; DJ Taylor
You are on fire, my FRiend, and rightfully so! If one in 50 did a tenth as much as you and the other volunteers, what a difference it would make!
Regarding one patient being responsibile for another. I have no medical training but the program sounds to me like there might be decent science behind it. Aren't our magnificent troops trained to work as a team? Isn't watching out for your buddy the touchstone of a soldier's duty? Assigning a troop with problems to look out for a buddy purportedly to be worse off than him or her sounds like it could be wonderful therapy. Takes one's mind of one's own problems, is a call to their duty and honor, gives one a reason to summon their own reserves to help another in need, etc.
Also consider that the reporter is fitting Gen. Sherman's profile, as DJ Taylor so appropriately reminds us, reporting rumor as fact. Who is to say that there is not supervision over ALL of the soldiers in that program of watching over each other? The patients wouldn't necessarily know and telling them the strategerie might break the fragile bonds the docs are trying to rebuild. So the reporter reports rumor as fact without a clue as to the difficult task of rebuilding a psyche as well as a body.
34 posted on 02/18/2007 6:33:22 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Prevent Glo-Ball Warming ... turn out the sun when not in use)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: andysandmikesmom
Well, I'm glad to hear that, and no doubt that there are others who have had experiences similar to yours. But, many others including myself have seen a less satisfactory result.
35 posted on 02/18/2007 6:39:48 AM PST by centurion316 (Democrats - Supporting Al Qaida Worldwide)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: centurion316
OH, that is for sure..I was actually in the emergency room, one evening, at Madigan...something did not seem right..but no one would be forthcoming with what was wrong...
I found out a day or two later, when I read in our local paper, that a little boy, who had split his lip, in a tricycle accident I think, had been taken to the hospital emergency room...the doctor said he need stitches, and apparently, there was some sort of what they call a 'cocktail' that they gave this little boy, I guess its like a sedative to keep kids still while they are getting stitches...
I guess the routine that is supposed to be followed, is that the nurse stays with the child, after he is given the sedative to make sure that he does not have an adverse reaction...in this case I speak about, the nurse apparently did not stay with the boy, she was busy doing something else, and in the meantime, and the little boy had a violent adverse reaction, and died...
I dont know why the mother was not with the child, I cannot remember the explanation for that...but there was a big lawsuit, and a large out of court settlement for the parents...but no money can replace a beloved child...
Bad things can and do happen in hospitals, military and civilian...
36 posted on 02/18/2007 6:50:17 AM PST by andysandmikesmom
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: centurion316
if you view the pictures from the article there is only one picture that shows the conditions described and that is of one soldier's room showing peeling wall paper and mold.
No hole in the ceiling,
No Mouse turds and belly-up cockroaches,
No stained carpets and cheap mattresses (call cheap mattresses to lead the reader to envision not a hospital bed but instead a smelly stained mattresses on the floor)
In fact the building they show as being the quarters for these soldiers was at least 1970's vintage or newer, not one built between the two world wars as described in the story.
The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.
This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That building 18 isn't some 1920's 1930's vintage building built between World War's to house our soldiers, That building is newer then almost all the barracks at any of our recruit depots or Marine Corps bases.
Being called a journalist is not a license to lie or distort the facts, and clearly the facts are being manipulated here.
37 posted on 02/18/2007 8:23:46 AM PST by usmcobra (I sing Karaoke the way it was meant to be sung, drunk, badly and in Japanese)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: NonValueAdded
Regarding one patient being responsibile for another. I have no medical training but the program sounds to me like there might be decent science behind it.
I don't think they're talking about medical type care. What I'm aware of is soldiers there from long term outpatient care being assigned to the look after the administrative matters regarding the other soldiers assigned to their care.
The Army is a huge organization even after Clinton drunken spent the "peace dividend". Bureacracy isn't necessarily a bad management tool for routine, well defined tasks in a large organization. You lay out the rules and you assign a manager who can determine the facts of a situation, apply the rules and get an answer on what to do.
The problem I've observed with the military is that there are so many rules, they change and it's tough to find out what the rules are. A lot of younger troops are goal oriented and want to bore in straight ahead. It's the one with some experience that realize that admin can be an art form in getting results. It's like a violin, it's hard to play but an expert makes beautiful music.
I've heard "Med Hold" used as a single four letter word more than once.
The Carter jokes have given me a idea to look into that might help.
38 posted on 02/18/2007 8:35:07 AM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies > |
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
