Quote:
Originally Posted by ClydeFrog
I'd add that if you are a veteran & get VA treatment, if you have a complaint or dispute, go to the Veteran's rep office.
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If you are referring to what my VA hospital calls the "Patient Advocate Office," you'd be wasting your time. I had a complaint a couple or three years ago. I stopped by the PA office and made a verbal report. Nothing happened. Six months later I wrote a letter. They claimed they never received it. So I hand-carried a copy of the letter and ensured that it WAS delivered. Another six months went by. On my next visit I stopped and asked. I was told that, "due to the nature of [my] issue" it had been referred to a higher level.
Four months later, still nothing. I stopped in again and asked, and got the same story about "referred to a higher level." I finally gave up and called my U.S. Representative's office. That got action -- but not "results." I was invited to sit down with the assistant head of the hospital, who informed me that the doctor I was complaining about was highly qualified and that the VA only gets the best doctors available. The fact that this doctor had prescribed a medication which he
personally knew I was allergic to was, apparently, not important.
Bottom line -- the Patient "Advocate" office is NOT there to advocate for the patients. They are there to bury and delay complaints until the patient dies or gives up.