(Video) War veterans over-medicated to death at VA hospital

This sort of treatment might seem unheard of to many Americans.  But for those that are familiar with the VA system, they know that neglect is common occurrence.

Jonathan Alter, one of the top tier reporters in the entire news business, did some digging into a VA hospital in Los Angeles County that has reported five deaths in just the last three months as a result of drug overdosing.  This was from Monday's Hardball -- part of NBC's four year anniversary special on the Iraq war that ran all day long:

ALTER: The VA in West Los Angeles: a top facility for veterans.  But hospitals confirm a rash of overdoses from both prescription and illegal drugs. ... That's five deaths in less than three months in dorm-like residential halls.

If you have ever been extremely ill and in a hospital, you know how difficult it is to keep track of your own dosage.  For that reason, you are monitored.  A lot of the patients at these VA hospitals suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.  They need constant supervision -- that part should be obvious!

Comments

[Tony]

Once the hospital officials were given documentation that the patient was abusing his medication, they should have taken action immediately, and they should monitor the patients more closely. If they can track down the officials that ignored the documents, they should be held accountable.

However, supervised medication isn't a reality in every case. The majority of out patients (both military & civilian) are capable of taking their medication as prescribed and in a responsible manner. The ones that may have "recall" issues might need "alerting devices" and or someone to administer the meds, AND let's not forget to monitor the people. For example a patient running out of their medication before the prescription time has run out, either needs something stronger or is abusing the meds. The operative word here is MONITOR.

[bev trigilio]

Husband was WWII vet, medical records show he was over anti coagulated with Coumadin (intentionally) at VA hospital in Shreveport LA, 2002. He died of a cerebal bleed. His death is the tip of the iceberg. That is called murder, Folks. A look at the deaths national wide that were a result of cerebal bleed is likely to show a very black picture of the medical care an institution appears to be delivering. An overdoses of Coumadin saves the Government thousands and thousands of dollars. Our brave young men will be in the same line of danger as they age. It will be cheaper to end their lives with pharmacology (whoops, another mistake) than to to provide long term treatment