Walter Reed Not the Only Hospital Providing Substandard Care
If the Bush Administration thought that Walter Reed is the only veterans hospital needing fixing, it's in for a huge awakening. In the aftermath of the publicity about the deficient conditions at Reed, soldiers elsewhere are weighing in, with similar stories about treatment across the country.
Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system. They describe depressing living conditions for outpatients at other military bases around the country, from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey. They tell stories -- their own versions, not verified -- of callous responses to combat stress and a system ill equipped to handle another generation of psychologically scarred vets.
...much deeper [than Reed] has been the reaction outside Washington, including from many of the 600,000 new veterans who left the service after Iraq and Afghanistan. Wrenching questions have dominated blogs, talk shows, editorial cartoons, VFW spaghetti suppers and the solitary late nights of soldiers and former soldiers who fire off e-mails to reporters, members of Congress and the White House -- looking, finally, for attention and solutions.
The hearings that begin Monday come none too soon. They need to be expanded. We trusted the Government to treat our returning wounded soldiers with the best care possible. This is just such an outrage.
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