A good but shocking episode. Two homeless men are beaten to death by three people, one of them a Iraqi veteran suffering from a mental illness and lived in Ward 5 of the V.A. hospital in New York with a history of unsanitary conditions and beds in shambles. It is really depressing for that man to live in a deplorable place like that, especially for a sodier. Jack McCiy could have some contempt charges brought against him for showing the jury the hospital conditions during the trial but it is unlikely he will be disbarred from prosecutions of criminals. When I watched this episode, I could just imagine how badly those patients have suffered all that pain for living in that disgusting New York hospital. This is similar to when pets were left behind in unsanitary places to die or suffer from starvation and malnutrition. it's scary.

The episode goes beyond artistic license to driving without a license. The part about the Army cheating Iraq war vets out of proper Post Traumatic Stress Disorder recognition is correct. Everything else is almost incredibly wrong for L&O. The VA is made the culprit, and there is no sign the writers know what the VA is. The "VA" doctor testifying is in an Army uniform. The VA is a civilian agency, military personnel do not work in it. The filthy ward is shown in a VA hospital. It was building 18 of Walter Reed ARMY hospital. There is no record of anything like that in a VA hospital. It is shown as an in-patient ward. Building 18 was for people no longer bed patients. The show depicted the ward as filthy. Videos of building 18 showed it to be completely unnacceptable, but not anything like that. The "VA" doctor sputters there's no money. Wolf's admirable recent turn to using political outrages might have used this opportunity to note that the VA budget has been effectively cut every year since 2000. I don't know the VA's record on treating PTSD sufferers. The VA hospital I know of has established a PTSD unit. The sloppy research for this episode leaves viewers with an grossly wrong idea of what the VA is and an inexcusably false impression if its medical care standards. (I'm a vet, don't work for the VA.)

I thought that this was a really solid episode, and the writing was good. I think whole Law & Order crew have really been stepping up their game in a effort to save the show. I hope it works!

Beg to differ with you about military personnel working in VA medical centers. I've worked at a VA medical center for the past 18 years and have personally assisted the woman in charge of the Women Veterans program at the hospital; she's a colonel in the National Guard. There are several other Guard members working there as well, and I knew of a doctor who was also a colonel, either Army retired or in the Guard, I don't recall which.

The writers seemed to equate events at Walter Reed with being the status quo at all VA medical centers; I personally have never seen swarms of cockroaches or grossly moldy ceilings at the hospital where I work.

Concerning the VA budget, the following material was found as a press release on a US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs web page.
<a href="http://
<a%20href="http://veterans.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Newsroom.PressReleases&id=1008"%20target="_blank">http://veterans.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseA...ses&id=1008</a>
" target="_blank">
http://veterans.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseA...ses&id=1008
</a>
Text appears below:
CHAIRMAN AKAKA EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT VA BONUSES
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, sent a letter to R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, expressing concerns about bonus awards paid to some of VA’s highest-ranking civil servants. The letter indicates that personnel based in Washington, D.C. received higher bonuses than their colleagues outside of DC, and that some employees received large bonuses in spite of their role in the budget shortfall in 2005.
“Just one year after VA’s notorious budget shortfall, when VA management was forced to request emergency funds based on a determination that the budget was short billions of dollars, several senior budget staff each received VA’s highest bonus award of $33,000,â€� Akaka said. “I am concerned by this generous pat on the back for those who failed to ensure that their budget requests accurately reflected VA’s needs.â€�
A copy of the letter is attached below.

April 30, 2007
The Honorable R. James Nicholson Secretary of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420
Dear Secretary Nicholson,
I am writing to share with you my thoughts and concerns about bonus awards paid to some of VA’s highest ranking civil servants. The staff of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has reviewed the summary of bonus awards paid in FY 2006 to VA Senior Executive Service (SES) personnel that you forwarded to me earlier this year. The staff found that bonuses to SES personnel were not distributed evenly across the organization, and that some employees received large bonuses in spite of questionable performance outcomes.
For example, SES personnel based in Washington, DC received, on average, significantly higher bonuses than their counterparts in other geographic areas. In the VBA, SES bonus recipients based in Washington received an average of $6,800 or 41 percent more than their counterparts elsewhere. In the VHA, bonus awards were an average of $4,600 or 30 percent higher for SES personnel based in Washington. While I understand that these higher bonuses may to some extent constitute an informal cost of living adjustment, there are many U.S. cities where the cost of living is equally high if not higher than here.
VISN directors were the only non-Washington based cohort to receive high bonuses as a whole, and were among the most generously rewarded in FY 2006. 18 VISN directors across the country received bonuses, to an average of $24,000. Their subordinate system and facility directors received, on average, over 40 percent less, and accounted for virtually all recipients of bonuses of under $10,000, the bottom end of the SES bonus range.
It is evident to me that, on average, managers based outside of Washington received significantly lower bonuses in FY 2006. It is also clear that award size rose in relation to proximity to the center of the organization. On the whole, medical center directors received the lowest bonuses, while VISN directors nationwide and top managers in Washington received the largest. This is despite the fact that all personnel earned roughly the same base pay, and held the same rank in the sense that they were all at the top of the Federal salary pyramid and mostly ineligible for substantial increases in pay.
Another concern is that just one year after requesting emergency funds based on a determination that the FY 2005 budget and FY 2006 budget request included insufficient funding, several senior VA budget staff each received the VA’s highest award of $33,000.
I am not concerned that VA’s SES bonuses are among the highest of any agency, because I believe that VA has some of the most dedicated and hard-working employees of any agency. But I also believe that in the Federal government, awards should be determined according to performance and retention considerations, and should not give the appearance of an entitlement for the most centrally placed or well-connected staff.
I would appreciate your thoughts on the FY 2006 bonus awards as well as on what steps you will take to ensure that future bonus awards are more fairly distributed throughout the Department.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,

DANIEL K. AKAKA
Chairman

i think these things could happen. He probably suffered from some psychological damage from the war and the conditions probably left him even more hurt.

I liked this episode but it was scary!