Kathrine Frich
97% of VA hospitals report severe doctor shortages
Hospital emergency rooms are built to race against the clock.
When someone walks through the doors in agony, every minute counts, yet one military survivor recently learned what happens when the people meant to save you are no longer there.
Seven hours waiting
John Falchetto survived rocket fire on a river gunboat in Vietnam, only to face a fatal wait at the Veterans Affairs hospital in East Orange, New Jersey, according to Huffpost
When the 80-year-old arrived in February with a burst, gangrenous appendix, the operating room was closed because short-staffed mechanics had not fixed a broken air system.
Instead of getting immediate surgery, Falchetto waited roughly 12 hours before reaching a Manhattan facility.
He developed sepsis, suffered a massive heart attack, and died on March 7, leading one doctor on his case to tell ProPublica: “If I were the family, I’d sue everyone. He should have been operated on immediately.”
East Orange has lost nearly a tenth of its staff since President Donald Trump returned to office, leaving 90 roles with severe shortages, ProPublica reported. “It’s scary,” an East Orange administrator said in a meeting this year. “We have no one.”
Forced out the door
After canceling union contracts, ordering remote staff back to cramped offices, and offering buyouts, the agency lost around 5,100 doctors, nurses, and critical workers nationwide by late spring, according to Huffpost.
Even so, VA Secretary Doug Collins testified that “there’s actually an excitement about what’s going on,” while spokesperson Quinn Slaven pointed to record appointment numbers.
Behind the scenes, an East Orange medical provider told ProPublica: “It felt like bullying. It was very, very stressful.”
When the facility’s medical physicist quit, radiation therapy stopped for months. That forced a 72-year-old Vietnam veteran named Dennis, who had advanced colorectal cancer, into an overloaded private care referral program, where he died on September 4 before his first consultation, Huffpost found.
Similar crises have paused surgeries or closed beds in Minneapolis, Albuquerque, and St. Petersburg, while 97% of VA hospitals report severe doctor shortages, according to a watchdog report cited by Huffpost.
“Care is collapsing from the inside,” a longtime VA oncologist told the outlet, and by last week, a failed backup generator had shut East Orange’s operating room once again.
