EDITORIAL – VA neglect a disgrace to veterans

The Army fired the general in charge of Washington, D.C.’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center… The Army fired the general in charge of Washington, D.C.’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center yesterday after reports surfaced documenting the hospital’s inadequate treatment of war vets and other wounded soldiers.

The firing of Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was the commanding general of both Walter Reed and the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, was likely the Army’s response to a series of investigative reports published by The Washington Post last week that detailed the problems in both outpatient facilities and administrative decision making at Walter Reed.

The reports specifically singled out the apparent neglect of Building 18, a former hotel and current outpatient facility of the hospital that houses wounded Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans. Walter Reed administrators have wildly neglected the building in recent years, with patients sharing beds and living space with mice, mold, rot and cockroaches.

One interview in the report details a volunteer’s visit to the outpatient facility in which she observed a patient lying in his own urine on a mattress pad.

Hospital administrators have been made aware of these conditions for years, but they have failed to respond to or correct the problems, often skirting around patients’ complaints with promises of “ongoing reviews and discussions.”

After the reports were published, in a move that some soldiers have seen as punishment for speaking with media outlets, the wounded troops staying at Building 18 were told that early-morning room inspections would be held and that further contact with reporters was prohibited.

It has not been made clear what prior knowledge the Army might have had regarding the conditions and administrative actions taken at Walter Reed, but we commend their decision to dismiss Weightman, and we hope that they begin to work toward offering our nation’s veterans the quality of medical care that they deserve.

Walter Reed’s treatment of our nation’s veterans and soldiers is despicable. The conditions reported at the outpatient facility would be inadequate at any hospital. No patient deserves to be treated in this way, especially our veterans. Is this how we repay them for years of service, fighting abroad to protect our nation’s security?

Walter Reed is not the only government faction that is mistreating our veterans, either. President Bush recently proposed a measure that would drastically cut V.A. hospital funding (Yes, he did this while our country is embroiled in a devastatingly long and bloody war.) This proposal is incredibly irresponsible and disrespectful to our nation’s veterans.

We’d like to praise The Washington Post for its bold actions in investigative journalism. The actions taken by the Army in response to these reports are a shining example of what journalism can do at its best. Had these reports not surfaced, Walter Reed might have continued to shortchange and neglect our nation’s veterans for years.