Could any of you ever imagine your doctors making appointments for you without

It's not a perfect world, but it works most of the time. My husband is a Vet. The vet can call and reschedule if the appointed time does not work for him or her. Unfortunately, the new time may be well into the future, if the required service is with a doctor that is already overbooked. Speaking of rights of Vets. When a Veteran makes a claim it seems the first answer is always no. Once the battle is fought and won, all benefits are retroactive. It's funny how they work. Seems that is true for all government agencies - VA, SSA...you name it.

Social security has the nasty habit of doing this as well and it is wrong. You can usually re-schedule but if you do your benefits might be suspended. It is wrong because often it does conflict with other schedules and appointments, work or other things. I know if a regular doctor did this I would be finding a new one and letting them know not to do this sort of scheduling or I would move on. We are human beings and should be treated with common courtesy and dencency like everyone else but often some agencies think they are God and can dictate.

:Sigh: First of all, Ted, you're talking about annual physicals. These can't be scheduled a year in advance because the scheduling system doesn't go that far into the future, so a vet who doesn't have any medical conditions that require regular visits to Primary Care does receive a yearly appointment letter, yes. Those who are seen more often (like my husband) don't have the standard annual physical because their primary care doctor can see on the computer if anything is due during the visit. The last time my husband was due for a colonoscopy, the computer system indicated it on his Primary Care doctor's screen. She picked up the phone, called that department and was able to get him in for the pre-visit (where he's given instructions and picks up the colon cleansing stuff) that same day. While he was there the colonoscopy was scheduled for a day and time that was convenient for us. I don't know how long ago you worked for the V.A. but I do know that a veteran can indeed call in and reschedule an appointment that has been made for him at a day and/or time that is not convenient. This has happened to us with the Cardiology Dept. because he's only seen there yearly and an appointment came due which wasn't on the system when he was at Primary Care. I called the number on the letter, which included the extension of the Cardio Dept. at West Palm Beach, rescheduled the appointment because it was too early in the day and had no problem doing so. Simply putting veterans due for their annual physicals back into the system to be rescheduled again and again is not only a waste of time but the number of vets needing physicals would pile up and that clinic would be in violation of it's primary goal which is to provide excellence in patient care to our veterans. There are also many outpatient clinics across the country which seek to reduce the distance vets have to travel for their medical care so driving over 100 miles to receive care is definitely not the norm. We could go to a clinic 30 minutes away...actually gave it a try a few years ago...but my husband is more comfortable being seen at the medical center in West Palm Beach. No one told him that he couldn't go back there, no one tried to force him to stay at the clinic, and his appointments are always scheduled with our travel time in mind. When he recently had outpatient dental surgery, requiring us to arrive at 6:00A.M. we were offered the option of spending the night before at Fisher House, which is on the property. Since my husband wasn't comfortable with that a room was reserved for us at a nearby motel, paid for by the V.A. So, Ted, I disagree with you that nothing at the V.A. is geared around the veterans who go there. It's been our experience for over 6 years, in Maryland and in Florida, that the V.A. works hard to meet the needs of our vets.

This is a common practice in the mental health system as well. It drives me insane(no pun intended) that they don't take into consideration other apppointments you may have or other places you need to go. I certainly understand that in our mental health system there are people that certainly need help caring for themselves, but many do a fine job on their own. No matter, they will be set up in a halfway house more than likely where they'll live their life.