Predators and “Care”
While the media and many non-profits address the issue of rape and sexual harassment in the military, few expand their discussion to include how the “VA Crisis” is perhaps part and parcel of the same profoundly unfriendly friendly fire. Just as there is an inherent conflict of interest in adjudicating rape through the Chain of Command, so too the expectation that the VA is going to fix itself is bogus. The delays in getting benefits, the difficulty veterans have in getting copies of their own charts, and the documented mismanagement and crime in the system all contribute to the secondary traumatization of all veterans, no matter what kind of injury they suffered. The magnitude of the fallout of all this, the cascade of inflammation our
While the media and many non-profits address the issue of rape and sexual harassment in the military, few expand their discussion to include how the “VA Crisis” is perhaps part and parcel of the same profoundly unfriendly friendly fire. Just as there is an inherent conflict of interest in adjudicating rape through the Chain of Command, so too the expectation that the VA is going to fix itself is bogus. The delays in getting benefits, the difficulty veterans have in getting copies of their own charts, and the documented mismanagement and crime in the system all contribute to the secondary traumatization of all veterans, no matter what kind of injury they suffered. The magnitude of the fallout of all this, the cascade of inflammation our veterans suffer should not be underestimated. Take a look at this discussion from the open Service page. It speaks volumes.
Mary Ellen Salzano: Medical records at the VA are incorrect. How to change them? and why can’t your doctors use Dragon technology so what is put in your file is recorded while you sit there?
Laura Lee Follett: Some of our providers do you use dragon, but I don’t know that they enter everything while patient is there. The provider I used to work for doesn’t use it. Imagine recording aloud while the patient is sitting there that he is demanding his morphine or otherwise he will go to his congressman, and provider has to state that he failed his UDS or refuses to give one and fell asleep several times during the appointment. That’s a rumble waiting to happen. The provider is putting herself at risk. Now, for the patient with no behavioral issues it might be a great idea.
Darlene C. Matthews: They are supposed to allow us to add input but when i tried in the past they had a million excuses why i couldn’t .
Laura Lee Follett: You couldn’t add info to the chart, as in a rebuttal or something akin to that if the provider puts something in chart you don’t agree with? I think all that would take is a letter being written and sent to scanning. The entire image of the letter would then be scanned into your chart.
Mary Ellen Salzano: Laura so many are re traumatized when they view their records for their C and P exams…and find out the wrong information that is included…What can be done to stop this?
Mary Ellen Salzano: The little I have found is to request your medical records…of which these men and women have done…have become infuriated, depressed because of what is in the records…omissions, commissions, etc..and they do not know how to amend these records…I have seen where the same office does a release of information…and you can also amend. I think this needs to be the next influx of information to the VA
Darlene C. Matthews: we have to be able to make sure it gets in. records did not include mine. who can help insure our record gets in?
Mary Ellen Salzano: Wonder if the VA person is still working with Mr MST and we could ask one of their members to ask how to amend records…? Brian Lewis?
Guy Terrill Gambill: Yeah, been a problem for years…you can now do some level of protection on these sorts of things by using the messaging utilities in MyHealthyVet, but I am only now in the process of exploring the parameters of that tool.
Fred Nolen: I have seen many submissions by the patient into their chart. Just write the letter and give it to the record keeper or your service rep.
Mary Ellen Salzano: Fred who would the record keeper be? and how can a service rep get your letter into your VA file to get records amended/changed? I need a bit more clarification…please…I am the type of person, as you are finding out…that wants to have the exact information in front of me, if possible…
Fred Nolen: Mary Ellen I don’t know specifically but I see it all the time. People who have VFW “sponsors” use them, I suppose. Hand write it, type it, doesn’t matter.
Guy Terrill Gambill: The problem is, Fred, that if you submit a hand-written letter it may become part of a local paper file and it may receive some annotation or note, digitally, within a given VISN from a specific staff member. However, whether or not it is available to VHA and VBA staff across all VISNs is an entirely different matter. The purpose of writing letters, in my view, is for the veteran to protect him or herself within the record…..without veterans requesting their own patient file or files there’s no way to know what is being said….and what is being said is always reflective of the provider(s) and administration, which may vary considerably from the veteran’s version. Like I wrote above, MyHealthyVet now has a way to message digitally…I am still figuring out how that all works….but I can see that it is a good thing in terms of veterans generating a digital recounting of their view of how things are going that all will see.
Barbara Ross: asked to have wrong information removed from my file…denied
Mary Ellen Salzano: Barbara who did you ask…did you ask in writing…and was this denied in writing? Trying to ascertain how to start correctly the problem…
Guy Terrill Gambill: I’ve had this same problem…removing incorrect information…good luck!
Barbara Ross: was requested in writing and denied in writing by the head “information and records” officer at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland
Patricia Lee Stotter: this thread speaks to the common lack of faith in the system and little trust in individuals within those systems…this dynamic feels to me like an extension of the lack of faith in the COC regarding sexual assault…it is no less harmful to be sure…but the media find it a bit less sexy…it is YOUR chart and the fact that it is made extremely difficult for you to get is illegal.
SOURCE: Disruptive Women in Health Care – Read entire story here.
