You might not know Steve Cooper. He’s a U.S. Army veteran and former business owner dying from prostate cancer that could have been treated, if he had been given the right care by a VA hospital in Phoenix in 2011. Because of an act of medical negligence, Steve’s life has been cut tragically short. He cannot have children. He lives in constant pain. His doctors have given him just five more years to [...]

Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps. Base camp in the country, has been back in the news recently, thanks to a last-minute act by former President Barack Obama. As we previously discussed, an additional $2 billion has been set aside for Marines and their family members who spent at least 30 days at Camp Lejeune between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, and developed one of eight different conditions as a result [...]

Camp Lejeune is a Marine Corps base camp in Jackson, North Carolina. Since 1941, it has been the home of multiple commands, teaching our Marines how to effectively train in both water and on land. It was the third official Marine boot camp set up in the country, and its largest one, as well. What it is known for now, however, is the half a million men, women and children who may have [...]

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been plagued in recent years for its systematic failure to address the health and wellness concerns of our nation’s veterans. In essence, the system is failing at the very thing it was designed to do. While new leadership is supposedly working to address the long wait times and crumbling facilities, our countries veterans continue to die. VA budget allocated $19.7 million to... artwork An investigation by COX [...]

Barry Coates, the man who would become the face of the Veterans Affairs scandal over delays in care, passed away in January of this year. His story is heartbreaking and poignant, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they continue to adjust to his absence from their lives. However, his story is more relevant now than ever, as new reports of the mistreatment of our nations’ finest surface again. In [...]

The VA has been making headlines since 2014, when reports surfaced that patients were dying while waiting for appointments and important procedures. While officials have been replaced and rules have been implemented to hold the agency to a higher level of accountability, a study by the US Government Accountability Office in April of this year showed that the agency is still suffering massive scheduling issues. A growing threat Compounding the agency’s problems is [...]

Americans owe a debt of gratitude to our veterans for their brave service to their country. However, that gratitude is not always evident when it comes to some of the obstacles they face when they return from combat and transition back into civilian life. A group of bipartisan lawmakers as introduced new legislation last year that would require states to offer a percentage of construction jobs related to transportation projects to veterans. According [...]

Our military service members face risks that most of us can’t imagine. Active duty members are at risk from blast exposures, increasing the chances of suffering a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. Even veterans and reserve duty members are at higher risk of sustaining these types of injuries because of their service. SoldierStrong is a non-profit that is working to help service members with these types of injuries. Psychological effects of [...]

The Depart of Veterans Affairs William Jennings Bryan Dorn Medical Center in Columbia has a fairly good reputation, especially considering the major issues that have plagued the VA in the past few years. The hospital was recognized as a Top Performer for four years running by the Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations. However, recent information calls the hospital’s hiring practices into question. The WJB Dorn Medical Center confirmed in [...]