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Another Military Health Care Hearing, Another Horror Story

March 27, 2007 10:10 AM

it is very hard to read denise mettie's testimony.  it is about her son, army spc. evan mettie. 

on new years day in 2006 he was blown up on a highway just outside baji.  he was left for dead, but 15 minutes later a medic discovered he was still breathing.  doctors performed a "left side cranectomy and removed shrapnel from his brain." 

2 days later he was at bethesda naval hospital where he would spend the next 86 days, enduring fevers of 106 and dropping from 190 to 99lbs.  he would be in a coma for 17 days.

denise was told her son would most likely remain in a vegetative state, not breathe or eat on his own and be paralyzed on his right side.  but during the next few months he began to move his head from side to side, opened his right eye, squeezed his mother's fingers and when his sister came to visit he lifted his head and shoulders and "outstretched his arms as if he were trying to sit up."

when the doctors at bethesda decided it was time for army spc. evan mettie to go, denise asked about rehab and was told he wasn't ready. 

"AT NO TIME DID ANYONE MENTION THE POSSIBILITY OF GOING TO ONE OF THE VA's POLYTRAUMA CENTERS." 

instead on march 26th her son was medivaced to the seattle va and that is where the real trouble started.  evan's medical records didn't go with him. 

ISN'T IT REMARKABLE THAT A MILITARY THAT SO EASILY SENDS YOUNG PEOPLE TO BATTLE CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO TRANSFER MEDICAL RECORDS? 

evan's mother had to fill in the doctors on her son's condition.  soon she was told he was NOT SICK ENOUGH to be in ICU yet one va doctor said evan's brain injury was one of the most devastating she had ever seen and recovery was unlikely.  but denise told that doctor, "we've seen evan do things no one else has and we have a strong faith, so you have your prognosis and i will have mine."

next he was shipped to a civilian skilled nursing facility "which was a HORRENDOUS experience due mostly to their inattention to evan's needs, their DISREGARD for his constant pain and their BLATANT DISRESPECT of a patient unable to speak for himself." 

the story goes on and on--some good, mostly bad and now a ct scan shows a buildup of fluid in evan's brain.  denise wonders who will pay for continued care.   

IT JUST SHOULDN'T BE THIS WAY!

March 27, 2007 in Weblogs | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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