thedrifter
10-02-07, 08:58 AM
Wounded in service, neglected at home …
Wilmington Morning Star, NC
Politicians, generals and experts talk about war as if it were a chessboard exercise. They talk about "casualties" and "collateral damage" - abstract nouns.
It wasn't an abstract noun that limped into the Star-News on a cane last week. It was a grievously wounded young man, slight, small and young. Lead slugs had smashed through his head, and one remained behind the plastic plate that replaced a big piece of his skull.
The medical care that saved the life of this 22-year-old Marine was wonderful. The Veterans Administration program to help him regain use of his body was not.
Fortunately, he and a few other seriously injured veterans are finding the care they deserve in the rehabilitation program at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. There, they are not just another hard case among many. They are people - people who work intensely hard to get their bodies working again.
VA officials say their hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of patients and the severity of their injuries. That's hardly an excuse. And there's no excuse for the inhuman neglect experienced by another wounded vet who talked with the Star-News.
A bomb victim who went through 56 surgeries, this Marine gunnery sergeant says he was given showers twice a month, given injections by incompetent nurses, and left for hours waiting for therapy - and sometimes even left for hours in his own excrement.
Aside from being treated with competence and compassion at New Hanover, these Marines and others point out that choosing treatment here allows them to get care closer to home. That's better for them and their families.
Which raises another obvious question: Why is such rehabilitative care not available close to Camp Lejeune and every other home base for the men and women who risk their lives and their bodies in the murderous chaos of other countries' civil wars?
Ellie
Wilmington Morning Star, NC
Politicians, generals and experts talk about war as if it were a chessboard exercise. They talk about "casualties" and "collateral damage" - abstract nouns.
It wasn't an abstract noun that limped into the Star-News on a cane last week. It was a grievously wounded young man, slight, small and young. Lead slugs had smashed through his head, and one remained behind the plastic plate that replaced a big piece of his skull.
The medical care that saved the life of this 22-year-old Marine was wonderful. The Veterans Administration program to help him regain use of his body was not.
Fortunately, he and a few other seriously injured veterans are finding the care they deserve in the rehabilitation program at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. There, they are not just another hard case among many. They are people - people who work intensely hard to get their bodies working again.
VA officials say their hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of patients and the severity of their injuries. That's hardly an excuse. And there's no excuse for the inhuman neglect experienced by another wounded vet who talked with the Star-News.
A bomb victim who went through 56 surgeries, this Marine gunnery sergeant says he was given showers twice a month, given injections by incompetent nurses, and left for hours waiting for therapy - and sometimes even left for hours in his own excrement.
Aside from being treated with competence and compassion at New Hanover, these Marines and others point out that choosing treatment here allows them to get care closer to home. That's better for them and their families.
Which raises another obvious question: Why is such rehabilitative care not available close to Camp Lejeune and every other home base for the men and women who risk their lives and their bodies in the murderous chaos of other countries' civil wars?
Ellie