Hi Jim,

My father in law is at the VA in Texas.

He came here to get a diagnoses about his cancer, he was being treated in New Orleans the doctors there told him had had stage four cancer under his arm and at the base of his skull .

We finally got him I'm to the VA here ( my husband and I live here) and we were hoping to start some kind of treatment .

He has been there over a week and we still have no answer as to what type of cancer he has, his care has been horrible from nurses not bringing him his meds to dr not talking to my husband ( who does have a medical power of attorney )we have repeatedly asked dr to call him if he is not in the room because his father can not remember any thing they say.

The room he is in is so dirty! How do we get him help when it seems like every one there really does not care. The doctors have been rude as well as the nurses. We just want him to get help they have told us they can not really do much to save his life but they can try to prolong it, but we still don't know what kind of cancer he has. He has had three biopsy's no one can tell us anything.

What do we do ?

Reply:

The first step is to contact a patient advocate within the medical center. All VA health care facilities have a patient advocate and the larger facilities will have many advocates in every service area. It's our experience that the advocates are usually very good at sorting out problems like the ones you present.

If you aren't satisfied with the response you receive, call this number 800-634-4782.

That's the VA Medical Inspector's direct line in D.C. Tell them the VAWatchdog sent you in their direction. These are really good people who are problem solvers. I've seen some instant resolution to health care issues once they get involved.