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Braley angered by care for vets

(Des Moines Register)Washington, D.C. — Rep. Bruce Braley of Waterloo ripped into Army officials Tuesday for their treatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, saying he was "outraged" by families' stories of neglect told at a congressional hearing.

But the Iowa Democrat also said the problems ultimately are the responsibility of the Bush administration and a lack of planning as the war in Iraq was launched.

The medical facility was the centerpiece of a Washington Post series that told of bureaucratic bungling, dilapidated rooms and more, and Braley took part in a hearing on Monday probing how such conditions developed.

President Bush on Tuesday named former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole to lead an administration inquiry into Walter Reed and delivery of health care to service members returning from Iran and Afghanistan.

Braley said that during soldiers' testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he was struck by how little help they had received in navigating the complex system of medical and physical evaluation boards.

"It also became apparent ... that the case managers working on behalf of the individual wounded soldiers are not patient advocates, and in many instances there was no one advocating on behalf of the patients," Braley said.

He said he was "shocked and appalled" by Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley's responses to lawmakers' questions. Kiley, who was the head of Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, said at the hearing that the scientific tools for dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury were just being established in 2002 and 2003. Braley called that statement "hogwash."

Army witnesses offered apologies and said they would do better, but also said the swelling population of wounded veterans at Walter Reed had put a strain on the system.

Braley said that "many of these problems were the result of a lack of planning, a failure to be prepared in dealing for the consequences of this war. ... That problem lies squarely in the Bush administration and the people responsible for executing that strategy."

Braley at the hearing also brought up Dennis Clark of Waterloo, a specialist in prosthetics who worked for 18 months with amputees at Walter Reed, receiving what Braley termed "minimal" Medicaid-based payments in exchange for his firm's services. Clark spent his own money to fly back and forth, stay in hotels in Washington and ship prosthetic limbs, Braley said.

The level of other care provided to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan pales in comparison to Clark's "sacrifice," Braley told Kiley.

Kiley said he "was not aware we had someone who was coming here and providing services like that outside of a contracted service, because the amputee center at Walter Reed was fully funded" as part of the budget for the war on terrorism.