What Myths Have You Heard About VA?

"I can only get treatment for injuries that I received while in the service."

"The VA is antiquated, only has doctors that can't make it as civilians, and is made up of bureaucrats that are more interested in getting a paycheck for doing nothing."

"I can't apply for benefits because I should have done that 20 years ago."

Adding the following a few months later because of the misunderstanding that seems to be common about eligibility for VA healthcare: "I am only eligible for VA healthcare if I have a disability rating from the VA."

"If I get a disability rating, it takes resources away from other veterans"

"VA will take my guns"
"Going to the VA will kill my career"

"VA care is worse than private sector care"

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s1 [login to see] 7-2

I've been told that all disabled Vets qualified to enter military installations to shop at Post Exchanges, is this correct? Please clarify.

"You have to be off of active duty for at least five years before you can go to the VA for care."

"The V.A. is where you go to die"

Call the crises line and the cops do show up at your door.. No myth. Its fact

Excuse me, but the "if I call the Veterans Crisis Line, the cops will show up at my door" is NOT a myth, it is a FACT. It happened to me. I was forcibly institutionalized for almost two weeks, even after swearing up and down that I was no longer a danger to myself after having called there crisis line and getting the help I called for, and talked to someone, but I was literally carried by three cops out of my door by force and then kept in an isolated room at the local hospital for over 100 hours receiving NO treatment and not allowed to speak to any doctor or patient advocate, and then taken forcibly by ambulance over seven hundred miles away to the nearest inpatient VA facility without any identification although I had begged them to get it for me and kept there until the ID was mailed to me, over a week later. This took place between April 29th, 2023, and May 11th, 2023. Do NOT call the crisis line or this could happen to you! I have not been able to get representation for this, and still live in constant fear after this has happened to me personally. Reach out if you need help, but not to 988, or the same could happen to you when you swear up and down you are not suicidal and will not hurt yourself, they will still take away your freedom for weeks possibly.

That patient advocates only advocate for the staff.
Investigations are never pursued.
All complaints and concerns are found in favor of the doctor and staff.

It is pretty obvious from the comments that I read that there are many veterans who are very much dissatisfied with the experience and treatment that the VA provides them with. I am one of them. My experience with the VA is that it is one of the most unprofessional, uncaring, disorganized organizations that I have ever encountered. It is only because I have found a few people and some departments that truly care about their veterans, that I continue to use their services.

For example, in 2019, I was seen by a Long Beach podiatrist who, while cutting my toenails, decided to remove a callus from the bottom of my big toe. While doing so, he created a wound on the bottom of my foot that took more than three years to heal. When I tried to claim service connection because of his error, the VA denied that because they said that there was never an entry in my record that he ever removed a callus.

In April of this year, I had an appointment with the Podiatry wound care clinic at the VA Long Beach because a sore had developed on my right second toe. I have a service dog, and was told by the Department head, who was running the clinic, that he was allergic to dogs and would only treat me if I allowed somebody to handle my dog outside the examination room. I said OK. Before leaving, he told me that I would have to see another doctor the following month, which I agreed to.

When I attended my May appointment, there was a sign on the check-in window that said "No Service Dogs Allowed" in the examining rooms. When I protested and told him that his actions were bulls***, the Department head kicked me out of the clinic. It took two months of complaining before I was allowed to come back in WITH MY SERVICE DOG. In the meantime, I filed a civil rights complaint with the VA more than three months ago, and I have never received an answer.