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Ill Iraq veteran: 'I need medical care'

Sgt. Vanessa Turner, left, and Leo Mackay discuss her case Wednesday on CNN's American Morning.
Sgt. Vanessa Turner, left, and Leo Mackay discuss her case Wednesday on CNN's American Morning.

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SPECIAL REPORT
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(CNN) -- Sgt. Vanessa Turner served in Iraq until she became very ill and was hospitalized. When she got home after treatment in Germany, she says the military turned its back on her. She is battling a life-threatening illness but the Army declared her medically retired. It took a call to her home state of Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy to get the care she needed.

CNN's Bill Hemmer discussed the case Wednesday with Turner and Dr. Leo Mackay, the deputy secretary of veterans affairs.

HEMMER: Sergeant, I want to start with you. I'm told the doctors told you that you did not have much of a chance, probably about a 5 percent chance of living. You're doing pretty well today. Give us an update on your condition. How are you?

TURNER: Yes, I'm doing better than expected to be. But I still have trauma to my head, and I still have trauma to my right leg, which has no feeling from the bottom half all the way down to the foot.

HEMMER: You're going to have your first treatment today at a V.A hospital, is that right? You're going to see a doctor today?

TURNER: Yes, sir, at 10 a.m.

HEMMER: It's been about a month waiting for that. Why did it take so long, sergeant?

TURNER: I really don't know. Once I got back from the Walter Reed Medical Center I went directly to my nearest V.A. hospital, which was West Roxbury, [in Boston, Massachusetts] and told them my conditions, showed them my discharge papers. And apparently I must have missed the first orientation, because one of the admission guys said the next appointment, orientation, wouldn't be until October 12th.

Now this was July 12th. My leg is hurting, it's swollen, I'm on nerve medication, what do I do? He made a comment as to well, from July to October, go to the emergency room every day until October 12th.

That doesn't make sense. So yes, I was irate. I questioned like, 'Come on now, I need medical care,' and I just walked away.

HEMMER: Dr. Mackay, how does this happen?

MACKAY: In this instance, a plain and simple mistake was made. The returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have priority, to get priority treatment at V.A. medical centers. They are entitled, since they come from a combat theater operation, to two free years of health care, regardless of what their ultimate rating or service disability is.

In this instance and it's regrettable, this is our highest priority. But a mistake was made here, and I regret deeply...

HEMMER: You used the word mistake two times. [Massachusetts] Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry say it's not a mistake, in fact it's [typical] for many, many veterans. Not just the ones that come being from Iraq. Why is that the case, that returning soldiers cannot get the treatment they need when they could be, in fact, as in this case, on their death bed?

MACKAY: Well, we have certainly been under great strain. The truth of the matter is that we are caring for more veterans now than we have ever in our history. Almost 5 million this year are going to seek care. We have reduced by two thirds those that are on waiting lists from a year ago some 300,000 now down to about 110,000.

The system works for hundreds of thousands, for millions of veterans. But in this system, in this instance, it did not work.

HEMMER: Doctor, can you give the veterans watching this or the active military personnel and our viewers a guarantee that things like will not happen to returning veterans coming home from the war in Iraq?

MACKAY: I will give you a guarantee that we're going to do our absolute level best. We are actively reviewing cases like this. This caused a bombshell -- yesterday in the V.A. headquarters. We had a series of emergency meetings. But that's not important. What's important is that we are going to reemphasize and reissue our directive. We're going to look at the proceedings ...

HEMMER: But you can't give us at this point 100 percent guarantee. Is that right?

MACKAY: I'll give you 100 percent guarantee that it is our policy, our intent and it is going to be our actuality that we give priority to those who are returning from combat theater operation.

HEMMER: All right. To the sergeant, one last time here. You have about a year that you have to sit out before you can reapply to enter the Army. Will you go back and make it your career again or not?

TURNER: I'm 50-50 with that, because in the medical system, I'm classified as having vascular heart disease, and I'm a soldier. I want to return back, but I'm just scared I might have a heart attack and this time not return. So I'm still thinking.


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