VA makes vet prove leg amputation with X-ray

'Dude, I'm not a starfish. It isn't going to grow back'

By Cheryl Chumley
Published April 1, 2015 at 12:15pm

A former 75th Ranger Regiment soldier who lost his leg during military service described the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as so inept and bureaucratic that a medical official at one affiliated facility insisted on an X-ray of his artificial limb as proof of his amputation.

Veteran Chad Fleming told Glenn Beck the VA opted against reviewing his medical history – or simply having an official look at the space on his body where his leg should have been – in favor of taking a costly X-ray of the limb that "doesn't exist," he said.

And it's just such bureaucratic moves that show how willing the VA is to waste money, he suggested, The Blaze reported.

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"[The doctor] actually laughed," Fleming said, the news site reported. "And I told him, I said, 'You wonder why the country is in such a deficit? It's because you're wasting money taking X-rays of a leg that doesn't exist.' It's like, 'Dude, I'm not a starfish. It isn't going to grow back.'"

The VA has faced considerable fire for providing inadequate service to veterans and for delaying necessary medical treatment on purpose to meet budgets.