Letter to First lady Laura Bush

From: donttreadonvets@hotmail.com
To: first.lady@whitehouse.gov
Subject: VA hospital ER's
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 09:38:37 -0400

ATTENTION....... Mrs. Bush...urgent     (as of December 25, 2008, yet to be answered)
July 4th, 2008
Dear Mrs. Bush,
    As a woman who loves her husband I am hoping you can help me. I took my husband to the Tampa, FL James A. Haley VA hospital last Thursday. 
    We had to spend the night at the Clarion Hotel's "Haley House" where they put up VA family's. It was a dump like a welfare motel for dirt bags off the street. The room smelled, the rug was stained, I went to pour his prep for a Barium test the next am., lipstick on the cup! The air conditioner unit rattled all night and we couldn't sleep. 
    At 4 in the morning my honey was moaning so bad, I got up because I could not make him wait until 7:30 am and went to shower and there's no hot water! The last funny memory of us I have is my honey telling me I can't go to the lobby in my Mickey Mouse T-shirt & boxer shorts. I said "just watch me hon" and off I went.
    The last night I spent in bed holding him in my arms when he was not on life support was in a flea bag dump! Some memory!
    It's a long story, but to cut it short, The next am I took him for the test, left him in their "capable" hands, went down stairs and filed a grievance against the Clarion "Haley House" Hotel. 
    I went back upstairs and the test was done. They told me I could help my honey dress. I went in the test room, the table was smeared with feces, I turned to the dressing room and there was my poor baby, all 158 lbs of him ( he lost 50 lbs. since Jan. ) shaking with his Parkinson's, huge belly and his bottom and legs dripping with feces. I had to ASK FOR A TOWEL TO CLEAN HIM.
    I put him in a wheel chair because he could barely walk any more, ran him up stairs to a Physician Assistant I had met, she was not there but our Lord sent me an angel , "*****" an other Physician Assistant.   He wrote a note to the ER to admit my honey "STAT" for he had possible Volvulus (twisted intestines) and needed decompression or emergency surgery STAT !! 
    The witch behind the 2 inch thick glass told me to sign him in and take a seat. I handed her the note, she glanced at it and said "I don't know what that means, have a seat & wait"! I waited 35 minutes and called ***** from a wall phone, he ran down and asked the witch why my honey wasn't in the ER. She pointed to the double doors and said "There's the ER".     
    We took him in, the nurses took one look at him and called a surgeon. 
    By now my honey couldn't even talk or give permission for the surgery or tell me he loved me for the last time. He died on the operating table, they bought him back and he was on life support for 3 days trying to save him until there was no more hope and on Monday, June 30  we had to let him go peacefully.
    The Tampa VA ER and every other VA ER in this country needs a triage nurse behind a desk, not a window and  not some moron that can't understand a nurse practitioner's note that a man needs to be admitted STAT!!! , then tells you to have a seat & wait .
    My companion for 18 1/2 years would probably have passed away from the poisoning his body got when his intestines ruptured either way, but she didn't help any by chatting with a new employee that appeared to be a friend, then taping a mask to the porthole in the window so she wouldn't catch germs while my honey sat there going down hill fast. 
    I am a ex VOLUNTEER EMT from NJ , I did it because I loved it and not for a paycheck nor a pension and know better triage than she does.
    Right know I am not interested in the medical facts of why he died, I just want to know how many more of our vets has she helped kill since last Friday morning!!!  And how many others have died waiting in VA ER waiting rooms across the country!
    I have filed at least 4 grievances with the Chief of Staff, the Director of James A. Haley, contacted Senator Bill Nelson, Barack Obama ( NO answer yet, so he sure isn't getting my vote), Senator John McCain, Governor Charlie Crist, John Paul, the Choice Hotels International,   Congressman Gus Bilirakis here in FL who's office said Tony Orlando was doing a
"Support our Vets" show here in Tampa next month, Geraldo Rivera, Anderson Cooper and Glenn Beck.   It is a holiday weekend and no one's around or EVERY ONE wants stuff in writing! 
    I am determined to have all the VA's emergency room system's across the country changed so this does not happen again to another one of our vets, especially these kids that are losing arms, legs and everything else for us over in Iraq and the older vets that gave bits and pieces for our country also.
    All I want from the VA is a qualified person behind the ER desk, not some moron who should be flipping burgers some place.
    The VA attorney called me and said they would mail me a letter to sign and return before they could discuss his medical records because of the privacy act. I said I don't want to discuss his medical records right now, I just want to know how many vets have died in that ER since Friday & every other VA ER across the country since that Friday!!!
    Sorry if I am rambling , but I went to my honeys memorial yesterday, one of my son's birthday is today, the 4th , the 8th is an other son's birthday and the 12 would have been my babies 65th and I was so glad Medicare was kicking in so we could have to outside Doctor's.
Mary Lee Nicholl

                                                                          
              Happier Times         
            
             Rich & Mary                                                         Kissey Face
          At Fred Howard Park                                                 on the beach

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Thank you very much,  Mary