THE VA’s TRAGIC MISSTEPS:
Masking Veterans' Pain with Opioid Overload.
If this is how the government medical system treats the brave men and women who served and sacrificed for our nation, imagine the nightmarish consequences if the entire U.S. population were trapped in a single-payer healthcare scheme run by the same bureaucracy.
For years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has blatantly disregarded medical ethics and basic standards of care through its systemic overprescription of dangerously addictive opioid painkillers as an easy "solution" for veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other service-related injuries.
This widespread malpractice has shattered hundreds of thousands of lives, contributing to skyrocketing rates of opioid addiction, overdoses, and suicides among American heroes.
If the VA's appalling opioid over-prescribing to our nation's honored veterans serves as a sober preview, imagine the reckless disregard for human lives that could pervade if the federal government was given complete control over the healthcare of every citizen without competition or accountability.
When fundamental freedoms and treatment choices are stripped away under a bureaucratic single-payer system, transforming America's best into jobless addicts is an all-too-preventable fate.
The facts are staggering.
Between 2010 and 2015, the VA witnessed a 51% increase in opioid distribution to veterans.
In 2017 alone, VA healthcare providers wrote over 3.7 million opioid prescriptions to just 500,000 veterans.
Easy access and liberal dispensing of highly addictive opioid drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl became the norm rather than the last resort.
What led to this tragic overreliance on prescription opioids?
For starters, the VA's mental health services have been woefully underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped to provide comprehensive, evidence-based care for PTSD's complex psychological symptoms.
Opioids became an easy band-aid solution to mask pain without addressing the underlying trauma and emotional turmoil.
Furthermore, the VA failed to listen to patients and ignored the risks, safeguards, and careful prescribing protocols necessary when administering opioids long-term.
Overprescription, lacking monitoring, and turning a blind eye to potential drug abuse created a perfect storm.
The human toll has been catastrophic.
Opioid overdose rates among VA patients are staggering, nearly twice the national average.
Even more heartbreaking, the suicide rate among opioid-prescribed veterans is 61% higher compared to their peers not prescribed these dangerous narcotics.
While the VA has recently acquiesced and implemented overdue reforms and safety measures, this dark chapter represents a sobering reminder that shortcuts with prescription drugs are not a viable remedy for mental health conditions like PTSD.
Our veterans deserve competent, comprehensive treatment - not a temporary opioid salve with life-threatening consequences.
We owe it to those who served to provide genuine care, not pill that permanently shatter lives.
-Rojas out.