Dear Conservative,
For the past few weeks, the Obama administration has been the focus of attention as allegations of widespread corruption within the Department of Veterans Affairs continue to surface.
All across the United States, employees in VA hospitals are accused of cooking the books and altering medical records to make the hospitals appear to be better than they actually were. Meanwhile, our military veterans were forced to languish in endless waiting lists, many of whom died while waiting to see a doctor for the first time.
President Obama was briefed on this back in 2008 and even though he pledged that reforming the VA would be one of the main focuses of his presidency, nothing was ever done to fix these problems. In the past week, the VA has approved veterans using private medical facilities in situations with exceptionally long VA backlogs, a crushing blow to those who support government-run healthcare.
These are baby-steps forward and there is nothing that can be done to bring back those who perished as a direct result from this scandal. But the VA seems to be moving in the right direction. That is, until I learned of another disgusting 'scandal' that made me absolutely sick to my stomach.
Today is Memorial Day. This is the day where we all celebrate the sacrifices made by so many veterans who fought and died to protect our way of life. While it is certainly nice to thank active duty military personnel or veterans for their service, this day is specifically devoted to honoring those who sacrificed themselves for the preservation of this great country.
A story coming out of California alleges that the VA left dozens of deceased veterans to rot in the county morgue for over a year without them ever receiving a burial. Many of these deceased veterans had been in the morgue so long that County officials didn’t know their names and were racing to find ways to identify them. For the past year and a half, there have been more than SIXTY deceased veterans who were left to rot at the LA County Morgue.
So not only do VA employees drop the ball when it comes to processing sick veterans, but the Department can’t even deal with the backlog of deceased veterans?! This is absolutely deplorable and the fact that the VA allowed this to happen proves that even in death, the Department of Veterans Affairs simply cannot take care of our vets!
The law on this is simple: Military veterans who pass away without any family or friends to manage the services must still receive a burial. This law is designed for exactly these circumstances. If a veteran passes away and no one claims the body, they still must receive a proper burial. The premise of 'no man left behind' carries on even in death...
This is the least that we can do, as a country, for those men and women who sacrifice so much to preserve our way of life!
But for the dozens of veterans left to rot in the LA County Morgue, the system failed them. These deceased veterans went a year and a half without receiving a proper burial, apparently because the VA couldn't be bothered checking up to see if their bodies were ready.
That's what it ultimately comes down to: an employee picking up the phone and calling for an update. And the VA couldn't even be bothered to do that!
Our veterans deserve more, both in life and death, than what the VA is currently giving them. At every level, the Department of Veterans Affairs is utterly broken. From the nurses cooking the books in the hospitals, all the way up to Secretary Shinseki himself, the corruption and negligence touches everyone connected to the VA!
On this Memorial Day, more than ever, we must fight to ensure that our nation's heroes receive the medical care and burial rights that they have EARNED!
They fought for our rights, now it is time to turn around and fight for theirs!
You should be mad as hell about this! I know I am!
The media only began covering the VA scandal because brave patriots like YOU let their voices be heard. Now with this news of deceased veterans being left to rot in county morgues, we absolutely must force our representatives to hold those who allowed this to happen accountable!
Just as in the beginning of the VA scandal there was only one affected hospital, I suspect that if we turn over a few stones, we’ll find that across the country, deceased veterans are being denied burial rights because of bureaucratic incompetence.
Memorial Day is about honoring those veterans who sacrificed life and limb to protect this great country. The news coming out of LA County leaves me mortified and ashamed at just how the VA has let our veterans down. They deserve more than what they were given, all of our veterans deserve more, and I urge you to join me in raising our voices to DEMAND that Congress stop this gross negligence and protect our vets!
This must end!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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