My father passed away recently (no, that is not a picture of us, but it does represent his final day on this planet with us). He was a WWII veteran who fought for this country in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. He volunteered to take on the evil in this world in the late 1930’s, before there was even a declaration of War for the United States. He was the epitome of the Greatest Generation.

His passing was gentle, but made that way from a great hospice service provided by private medical insurance. Though he was eligible for VA medical services, my father wisely stayed clear of them most of his life.

So when I see a story like this, and think of what kind of torture and pain my father would have suffered if someone had stolen his final medications and replaced them with water I seethe with anger:

Vials of morphine were systemically stolen from a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and replaced with water and saline so that dying veterans got the wrong treatments, a longtime VA nurse told The Daily Caller.

“A nurse taking care of hospice patients over the past year had been diverting vials of morphine,” said Valerie Riviello, a 28-year veteran nurse at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, New York. “Those patients that were dying in hospice were not getting their intended pain medication.”

Management became aware of the recurring theft without reporting it to higher levels of governance within the VA system, said Riviello, a Florence Nightingale Award winner for nursing.

Both the thieving nurse and her management should be in jail.  I know why management hid this from upper levels.  This kind of act, going on for a year, would rightfully impact their compensation packages. Greed. Plain and simple.

Stealing a veterans pain medication is the lowest of low – right up their with child rape. It is a vicious and callous act.

Where is America’s Department of JUSTICE