tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498674929523264462.post5097239158603025365..comments2024-03-26T12:20:35.110+00:00Comments on Theo Spark: Parking lot suicides by veterans....................Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498674929523264462.post-90611013235650456822018-03-23T05:06:11.845+00:002018-03-23T05:06:11.845+00:00Cilla was incorrect about the VA system, and she k...Cilla was incorrect about the VA system, and she knew better. She was just crotchety because the doctors at the Kerrville, Texas, VA facility would not provide her with morphine as fast as she wanted it. Diagnosed with treatable cancer of the throat, she rejected any treatment and demanded palliative care on her own terms. The VA medical staff did not think providing unlimited morphine to a woman who had had a heroin habit was a good idea. So she found some other friendly civilian doctors who weren't so bound by ethics and concern for the patient's life.<br /><br />I had argued with her about her thesis, which is that the number of vet suicides on vet campuses are rocketing. She wrote this after two attempts at suicide on the grounds of the Kerrville hospital. The first incident-- last week -- an elderly man stopped by her car with his dog and asked if she wanted to pet him. She did, and went home. The second time, she realized there was an unfairness in making some government groundskeeper come across a corpse in the line of duty. <br /><br />Instead, today she found a lovely, isolated site on the banks of the Llano River. She called me and we talked for an hour, her voice and mind becoming vaguer and weaker until I could hear nothing except the country ambiance through the phone, 1200 miles away. I spent the next two hours frantically dealing the the local police, and especially the VA suicide hotline. The people working for the VA were heroically persistent in locating her, tracing the cell tower pings from her phone: 30 degrees, 70', 4.16" North by 98 degrees, 95', 90,0: West. As she had planned, she was not found until the overdose of morphine was effective. In case the OD wasn't enough, she had washed the pills down with scotch, and had three loaded handguns ready. <br /><br />If it were not for the VA and the Llano County Sheriff's office, her body might not have been found for days. My baby died today about 1:00 in the afternoon.Tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02368280949773845818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6498674929523264462.post-88072747548231727772018-03-21T12:58:25.273+00:002018-03-21T12:58:25.273+00:00The consumer uses the services, the customer pays ...The consumer uses the services, the customer pays the bills. The difference is most obvious in large IT projects where the customer is perfectly willing to accept crappy service levels for the consumer/user if it cuts costs (and there is a VIP queue for the customer). <br />For government services, you can expect this effect to be even worse, as the primary focus of government is not even on providing service, but on staying in power (hence loyalty is valued over competency).Freddonoreply@blogger.com