Outcomes differ at VA hospitals

Re “In praise of VA hospitals,” Opinion, April 2

I have utilized my veteran status for medical care these last five years and have experienced excellent service at all levels. In addition to my routine physicals, I have been tested for and received hearing aids, tested for and did not need glasses and received several weeks of physical therapy for an arthritic hip.

I was reluctant to sign up for Department of Veterans Affairs medical care because I had the idea that the treatment was substandard. It may have been at one time, but that is certainly not the case now, based on my experience.

GLEN R. BURCH

Orange

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I note that the Op-Ed article praising the VA focuses on its electronic records and fighting off infections in hospitals. It concludes: “Patients in VA hospitals are also more likely to receive optimal care than patients in other hospitals.” Where’s the proof?

I’ve been filming a documentary on female veterans with Persian Gulf War illnesses. These women have had 16 years of misdiagnosis and poor treatment, medically and personally, at VA facilities across the country, experiences they share with other sick Gulf War veterans.

The VA has some dedicated personnel, but the system as a whole works against the veteran. To get benefits and treatment, a female veteran in Georgia needs the constant intervention of her congressman and the pressure of a film being made about her to get any help from her local VA as she struggles with war-related illnesses that confine her at times to a wheelchair. It’s a constant battle, and most veterans give up rather than jump through the VA’s abusive bureaucratic hoops.

It’s been 16 years since Operation Desert Storm, but for sick Gulf War veterans, their war is not over.

CHRISTIE DAVIS

Los Angeles