As Nation Honors Veterans, Capito Announces Legislation to Improve Veterans TBI Care

Capito Re-Introduces Bill to Increase Access to Care for Rural Veterans Suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury

CHARLESTON – As the nation honors America’s military men and women, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., today announced that she has re-introduced legislation designed to improve access to care for rural veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Capito’s bill – the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Access to Care Act – would establish state-level pilot programs with partnerships between local medical professionals and the Department of Veterans Affairs, enabling local providers to support treatment efforts for geographically-isolated veterans.

Currently there are only four Veterans Affairs facilities equipped to undertake TBI treatment, which necessitates lengthy travel for those in need of treatment. The Richmond VA medical facility is the nearest treatment center for West Virginia veterans.

“Traumatic brain injury is one of the most challenging afflictions facing our military men and women,” said Capito. “Treatment is extensive and specialized, placing an incredibly difficult burden on military families who must often travel great distances for treatment. My legislation is geared towards easing that burden by creating avenues for treatment closer to home.”

An injury commonly associated with U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, TBI can lead to a wide range of symptoms that range from persistent head-aches to extreme memory loss, seizures and dramatic personality changes. Approximately 20 percent of all injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan involve TBI and is often accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which can complicate TBI recovery efforts.

The congresswoman on Wednesday also offered her words of thanks and remembrance for U.S. service men and women, particularly in light of Tuesday’s memorial service at Fort Hood.

“As our nation continues to mourn the tragic and incomprehensible loss of life at Fort Hood, it’s even more important that we re-commit ourselves to supporting and honoring our nation’s military men and women,” said Capito.

“On this day when we remember and honor our nation’s veterans, let us also remember the burden carried by our military families. Just as we thank our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, we must also thank their loved ones who support them and serve along-side them.”

“Our nation is truly in their debt, and I hope all West Virginians will take a moment today to reflect on the sacrifices made by our service members and their families. Our veterans have earned at least as much.”

Who Says There's Death Panels In Obama Care? Obama!

Hat tip, Erick Erickson of RedState.com

In their own words:

One of Obama’s health-care advisors, the brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel wrote in January 2009 that health care should be rationed in a way that “promot[es] and reward[s] social usefulness.” He said age could play a factor in determining who can and cannot access health-care resources and “[S]ervices provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens [in the body politic] are not basic and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.”

Obama himself said, "Whether, sort of in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question. … And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance.” The example Obama used should not distract us from the fact that he wants a death panel to decide who gets care and who does not after individuals paid into the Medicare fund over their working lifetimes.

They won't cut alcoholics and drug addicts from SSI, but they want grandma to die sooner so they can save money.

Call it what you want, it's a death panel. Add this to the Obama Administration placing "Hurry Up and Die" booklets into Veterans' Administration hospitals and you have a serious threat against the sanctity of elderly care in this country.

After all, they paid into it. Now Obama wants to deny them the care they need when it is most necessary.

As for Sarah Palin, who has adopted this as her crusade, her decision to leave the governorship of Alaska looks better and better. We need a visible and national leader to take the left wing grandma and baby killers head on.

So What If You Sacrificed For Your Country? Hurry Up and Die Already!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html

The above link takes you to a column explaining the re-released "death book" given to elderly and sick veterans from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Long story short, it was written by a euthanasia advocate and tries to create a sense of guilt among sick and elderly veterans for having the audacity to remain alive.

President Bush, horrified at the content, ordered the booklet's removal from VA Hospitals. Under Barack "Dr. Death" Obama, they have been restored to use.

What kind of message do we send to anyone, much less veterans, when our government tries to guilt people into dying sooner? What kind of monstrous society are we transforming into when this becomes standard operating procedure and few people raise an eyebrow.

Basically Obama's health care policies tell a veteran "yeah, we know you came ashore at Normandy, were pinned down at Omaha Beach, and fought one of America's most tenacious foes into their heartland. Dude, sorry that was seventy years ago. You're wasting our time and money, so hurry up and die."

Sickening, just sickening. I don't see Teddy Kennedy making the end of life decisions that they want our World War II and Korean War era vets to make. And I would never want him to choose death over life because it is convenient for other people.