140226

Honorable Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary, Veterans Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, D.C., U.S.20420 Certified mail: #7013 2630 001 1963 4181
John A. Brandecker, Director, Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, 1201 Broad Rock Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23249 Hand delivered

Letter located with links at ww.Timism.com\Timism\BBNfo\VetAdmn\2014\VA-modafinil14Feb26.htm

Greetings,

Once again, I am denied VA healthcare, forcing me to buy illegal drugs for narcolepsy. Yesterday, a postcard reminded me of a March 7 clinic appointment. Why can the V.A. email me of an appointment when  it could not contact me about dis-enrolling me from V.A. benfits?

In a January 17, 2014, letter to my V.A. physician, I requested a Modafinil refill to treat my narcolepsy. I have used Modafnil for years. A telephone message said I was no longer enrolled. Traveling to the hospital, I was assisted in re-enrolling with a wait period.

Since I ran out of the modafilnil which is standardized in doses, I have had to buy whatever stimulant I can find on a corner. I don't like dealing with people I don't know. I don't like taking substance of unknown quality that either don't work or keep me awake for 24 hours.

My narcolepsy troubles me. I will be sitting at my workstation only to find myself waking up with no recollection of getting sleepy. So far, while driving, I have managed to realize an impending sleep by a "yawn jag." I pull and snooze. Once I woke up to honking horns as my car inched into the intersection with the light still red--whew! I take the bus as often as I can. I do not have these problems when I have modafilnil.

If arrested buying illegal stimulants or worse, my defense will be the V.A. canceling my benefits.

This latest sequence of events is another example, for me, of how when I complained about denial of treatment I was further discriminated against. I have a timeline log of incidences and names. I have been obviously marked in your computer system as a person who requires close watching. The latest example was when I went to the emergency room in the middle of the night with excruciating leg pain.

I sat for almost an hour in the waiting room until a security guard showed up to sit across from me. Then the nurse came out to bring me in. The emergency room had no other patients! The staff was standing in a corner with me being directed to a gurney in a far corner. The doctor lectured me on being a better V.A. patient before addressing my pain. At no time was I given any pain-killers as was the case in years past when I had a similar situation. The doctor order medication from the pharmacy. After waiting about 15 minutes, I left saying just to mail the pills since I'd prefer to be in pain at home than waiting in an emergency room. (Adding insult to injury, in my haste to get home in the dead of the night, I illegally turned right on a red-light which led to a police stop. In my pain, I did not see the sign. I just wanted to get home.)

While my V.A. experiences started going downhill after my complaint about being mistreated when I feel asleep in the blood clinic, I have had some very positive moments. When I evidenced the signs of a stroke, the V.A. emergency room was top notch. In appreciation, a few days later I took two bundles of roses to the E.R., one for the receptionist who sprang into action and one for the E.R. staff. In addition, I finished a section of my website with a YouTube vid on the "meaning of life" which I dedicated to the McGuire V.A. staff.

I find my mistreatment (from denial of treatment and my treatment as a threat) to be disgusting. Any thought that I would go ballistic or postal is not only absurd but a waste of V.A. resources. I have more important things to live for which would be harmed by a petty act of a common criminal--see Timism, the Morality of More Time. In 1982 I wrote an essay on global warming. Since then, I have researched numerous aspects and consequences--see GlobalDying. Importantly, and currently, people do not realize that this climate extreme of the "polar vortex" portends very long heatwaves, droughts and fires because the summer-moderating polar moisture and coldness is not being replenished ... instead it is coming further south (see Polar Timebomb).

This latest incident at the V.A. is an example of why I abdicated from academia, preferring the freedom of researching and thinking without any illogical politics. My resume shows I completed UG requirements in just over two years at a large state university (29,000 student body)  cum laude. One semester I ace'd 24 hours of credit. Most importantly for my understanding of climate change and extremes is how I did the nine-months of pre-med organic chemistry in two-months as an independent study while carrying a normal class load. If you want to understand the mechanism of climate change, apply the simple, most common property of CO2, hydrophila (see OrganicThesis).

Edmund Burke said that evil triumphs when good men don't act. The idea is laughable that I would harm V.A. staff when I think I know the mechanism to reverse global warming. By my doing nothing, a far greater evil would triumph. Having lived a long, better-than-expected life, a part of me wants to be sadistic with my knowledge, that is, do nothing. Mistreatment by the V.A. fuels my monkey in the zoo attitude.

So, if you want me to continue researching and developing a website to implement the needed two generalities to reverse global warming (better democracy via brainbees and better capitalism via Lifehours), please write a script for the modafilnil and let me know so I can pick at the V.A. pharmacy (demcapu@comcast.net, 804-233-7541). Please do not make a psychiatric consult for me which would mean you either have not the motivation or the intelligence to read the afore-provided references. If you get the feeling that I think you need me more than I need you, good feelings.

Sincerely, and sleepily,

Robert S. Barnett 6096
3600 Anne Street
Richmond, VA 23225

P.S. Despite my disappointments with the V.A. itself, I still intend to leave my estate, large or small, to the V.A. volunteer service. The military was the best thing that happened to me which prepared me for a great life.