It all started with a cough.

I had a bad cough. My PCP sent me for a chest x-ray. I messaged him a few days later asking for an update. Was it pneumonia like he suspected? He responded by cutting and pasting the radiologist’s report. It came back stating no pneumonia, however, evidence again of ILD and specific patterns of fibrosis. There was also a link to a medical dictionary to look up what those medical terms meant. I looked it up. It meant a death sentence. I quickly learned you could look up your VA medical records online and I did so. I found that this terminal illness had been discovered some two years earlier and my PCP had conveniently decided not to tell me about it (which is a violation of the VA handbook by the way). In any event, I discovered that I was suffering from an irreversible and progressive lung disease by happenstance. When I messaged my PCP to ask why he hadn’t told me he was very condescending. Basically, what did I expect after smoking for 30 years. Shows what he knows because later they believed I had IPF and the I stands for idiopathic which means they don’t know the cause. My PCP just discriminated against me because of my smoking history and could care less to share my fate with me. I immediately requested a new PCP. The facility manager called me to inquire why and when I explained, all he could do is stick up for my PCP. They DO NOT care about the health of the veterans they serve. They actually hope we will just die so they don’t have to care for us. The employees either act like they hate their jobs or they hate that you are expecting literally anything from them at all. The entire system is a joke. I come from a family of military veterans and I can attest to the fact that we all share this experience. I am just the only one now willing to speak out about it.