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Vets Sue Rumsfeld
Topic Started: May 25 2005, 11:37 AM (583 Views)
gvok
Unregistered

source

Quote:
 
Home's retirees sue Rumsfeld

ASSOCIATED PRESS
   
Residents of a historic retirement home for war veterans filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asserting that the Pentagon chief has imposed excessive and illegal cutbacks in on-site medical and dental services.
   
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the nearly 1,000 residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, one of two such institutions managed by the Defense Department.
   
In their complaint, the home's residents said Mr. Rumsfeld has a ready remedy for the financial problems that led to the cutbacks in services and staffing, but he has chosen not to act.
   
They said Congress gave the Pentagon authority in 1994 to increase one source of the home's operating funds -- a 50-cent-per-month payroll deduction paid by every enlisted member and warrant officer in the military. Raising it to $1 per month would generate $7 million a year in new revenue, the lawsuit says.
   
The Pentagon declined to comment on the lawsuit.
   
The retirement home's operating costs are borne mainly by a trust fund and by monthly fees paid by its residents. Other sources of revenue are the fines and forfeitures levied upon members of the active-duty military in judicial proceedings.
   
The lawsuit also named as a defendant the Pentagon official who manages the home, Timothy Cox.
   
By law, the Armed Forces Retirement Homes, in Washington and in Gulfport, Miss., must provide ?on-site primary care, medical care and a continuum of long-term care services.? In an April 27, 2004, letter to the residents group that was pushing for a reversal of cutbacks, Mr. Cox asserted that the reduced level of services was in compliance with the law, the lawsuit said.
   
A spokesman for the group, Homer C. Rutherford, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who has lived at the home for three years, said he had appealed to staff members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to address the problem, but to no avail.
   
This is why we're following through with this class-action suit,? he said. ?We feel we have nowhere else to go, and we feel that it is something that is vitally necessary for the health and welfare of the American veterans who are here at the home.?
   
Among the cutbacks cited by Mr. Rutherford and other residents are the closing in 2003 of the home's main clinic and an on-site pharmacy, elimination of on-site X-ray and electrocardiogram services and reductions in annual physicals as well as the number of on-site dentists.
   
The retirement home, previously known as the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, was opened in 1851 for wounded and disabled war veterans. Four of the original buildings are still standing and are registered as national historic landmarks.
   
Veterans can live there if they are 60 or older and have served on active duty for at least 20 years. Also eligible are veterans unable to earn a living because of a service-related disability or whose disability is not service-related but who served in a war zone.

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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
Given that the administration has ignored the Gulf War syndrome testimony before Congress and decided to create a new generation of vets, I am glad someone is at least attempting to hold this administration accountable.
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gvok
Unregistered

It's a shame that the rich people of this country got their big tax cut and the Vets who served their country get their benefits cut.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
Says a lot about supporting the troops if you ask me.
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gvok
Unregistered

I guess tax cuts are more important than the troops to some people.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
That is obviously true.
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
Dr. Noah
May 25 2005, 10:39 AM
Given that the administration has ignored the Gulf War syndrome testimony before Congress and decided to create a new generation of vets, I am glad someone is at least attempting to hold this administration accountable.

Um, don't start bringing the Clinton Administration into this... it was that administration that ignored so-called Gulf War syndrome.
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who
Have light saber. Will travel.
gvok
May 25 2005, 11:37 AM
source

Quote:
 
Home's retirees sue Rumsfeld

ASSOCIATED PRESS
   
Residents of a historic retirement home for war veterans filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asserting that the Pentagon chief has imposed excessive and illegal cutbacks in on-site medical and dental services.
   
[snip]
Among the cutbacks cited by Mr. Rutherford and other residents are the closing in 2003 of the home's main clinic and an on-site pharmacy, elimination of on-site X-ray and electrocardiogram services and reductions in annual physicals as well as the number of on-site dentists.
[snip]   


This sounds like a frivolous lawsuit. I do not believe that many retirement homes provide:
- on-site pharmacy
- on-site X-ray and electrocardiogram services
- annual physicals
- on-site dentists

The main person that benefits here is the trial lawyer.
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24thcenstfan
Member Avatar
Something Wicked This Fae Comes
This isn't the first disgruntled Vets story we have heard lately.

Gvok,

Didn't you post an article a while back about Vets or current military personnel receiving substandard care? Something about the military not paying for meals.

What a shame. If we can't take care of our current military, and Veterans, then we need to pull back overseas and reorganize. We should never extend ourselves to the point that those that are serving and have served have to suffer.

Let's hope Bush/Rumsfeld's new reoganization (redeployment) of the military that has begun rectifies some of these problems.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
Well, the testimony was before Congress which was majority Republican, mainly people who are still serving now.
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
Dr. Noah
May 25 2005, 10:52 AM
Well, the testimony was before Congress which was majority Republican, mainly people who are still serving now.

Meaningless. Stop sidestepping.
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Dr. Noah
Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
I disagee. I think the fact that Congress has ignored Gulf War Syndrome and approved another war in the region is significant. I don't know what you mean by sidestepping.
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Darthsith
Ensign
I wonder if they will win the lawsuit? ie is it valid? One undeniable truth about human nature is that people always believe they are getting the short end of the stick and always want more. Now by no means am I accusing these vets of doing this, just pointing out that it is a possibility to examine.
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gvok
Unregistered

Interesting and related website:

http://www.optruth.org/main.cfm
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
gvok
May 25 2005, 11:13 AM
Interesting and related website:

http://www.optruth.org/main.cfm

Pity that website only accepts SUBMISSIONS from vets, gvok, and then are edited and posted to suit the owner's political agenda. They don't accept POSTS.
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