OPINION:
As a 100% disabled Marine Vietnam War veteran who was wounded five times in combat, I was sent home from the war after having a ruptured disc removed from my lower back. Another disc was later repaired, but not before it cost me my job in law enforcement and left me at the mercy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Health Administration.
In 1987, the VA denied me treatment and gave me a bottle of muscle relaxers when I went to a veterans hospital in Florida. That cost me the use of my left leg, which has been paralyzed ever since.
In 2014, I was denied a biopsy at the VA in Augusta, Georgia, for a bulge on the top of my thigh on the same leg. I went to an outside doctor, who diagnosed me with a rare and deadly cancer. An operation above the knee to remove the cancer has left me unable to bend my leg, so I need a special bathroom.
After the Department of Veterans Affairs denied me reimbursement for the shower and two toilets I desperately needed, I contacted Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina. The VA had told me I needed an appointment to get qualified, and the next available appointment was in three months. I couldn’t wait that long, so I paid upfront.
In 55 years of dealing with the VA, I have never asked the agency for anything that big, choosing instead to use my own disability money to pay for what I needed.
Mr. Wilson’s office looked into the matter and sent me the following from the VA, which differs drastically from what we vets were told by President-elect Donald Trump: “The VA has no knowledge of any policies that require mandated minimum waiting periods for HISA and Occupational Therapy. Appointments are made according to availability, not according to mandatory wait times.”
GREGORY J. TOPLIFF
Aiken, South Carolina
Please read our comment policy before commenting.