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“This is the most difficult, and yet the most important, podcast that I’ve done.” With those words, Dave Carter told us of the conversation he had with author and military mom, Phyllis Hardin, whose son lost his life while in the care of a military medical system rife with mismanagement and unaccountable malpractice. The conversation takes us from the circumstances surrounding Master Sergeant William Cornett’s death, to a comprehensive discussion on needed reforms and current initiatives to enact those reforms. For a small glimmer into the people whose lives were forever altered by military medical malpractice, you can watch the House Armed Services Committee hearing on the topic just a few days ago:
https://armedservices.house.gov/2019/4/feres-doctrine-a-policy-in-need-of-reform. Read Hardin’s book, “The Dead American Dream: The Hidden Face of Military Non-Combat Healthcare 1981-2013, Master Sergeant William Cornett,” here: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-American-Dream-Non-Combat-Healthcare/dp/1644245299/.
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Although I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, that’s never stopped me from commenting.
I’m all for privatization of the VA. Get rid of it. Give our vets a card to use in the medical facility of their choice.
One of my cousins was a B-36 navigator during the Cold War. His closest treatment facility was in Columbia, SC, so he would come and stay with us whenever he went in. When he finally got word he needed heart surgery, he made an appointment for the operation, but it would be six months later. We made plans for his visit later that year. Within a month or two after he left us to go home, he died of heart failure. I’m convinced if he’d gotten an earlier appointment and had the operation, he would have lived another ten or more years.
I understand completely. To be clear, though, MSgt Cornett’s death (and the area which Mrs. Hardin is addressing) resulted from active duty military medicine, and it is that specific area (base hospitals and clinics, etc.,) that she addressing, rather than the VA.
Which is better?
But why have “active duty military medicine” in the US at all? I suspect it would be a lot cheaper, and provide better health care, with all the existing checks, to simply purchase health insurance for all active duty military. Just like any large employer in the US, including other branches of government.
Overseas deployment may be different. Theaters of War are definitely different and need a different approach. But why have two separate systems, and two standards of health care in the US? Didn’t we decide 60 plus years ago that separate was inherently unequal?
Jim O (Physician)
http://Excellent point, sir. I’ll pass this along to Phyllis. Thank you!