Will the problems at the VA ever stop?

The Boston Globe and USA Today recently released a report of the VA's performance at a hospital in Brockton, MA. The report concluded that the hospital showed a “blatant disregard for veteran safety”. Some of the findings:

investigators found two nurses fast asleep during their shifts, even though the facility knew it was under scrutiny and inspectors were coming to visit.nurses and aides did not empty the bedside urinals of frail veterans, failed to provide clean water at night and didn’t check on the veterans regularly.care at many VA nursing facilities, according to the agency’s own secret internal ratings, was worse than at private nursing homes.

The VA has 133 nursing homes across the country that serve 46,000 veterans annually. Newly released VA data show that 95 of them — about 71 percent — scored worse than private nursing homes on a majority of quality indicators, such as rates of infection, serious pain and bed sores. Roughly the same number, 93, received one or two stars out of five for quality in the agency’s own ratings.