*length=42:37

The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 42:37 - length declared by lucky760.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by kulpims.

I had such a difficult time watching this. Clearly, this is a case where euthanasia should be possible if it were legal for him to do so. It also highlights poor support on part of the VA and substandard/abusive state of medical practices in this country. And I am not turning a blind eye to the greed and the fact that the War, like many, was a farce. Too depressing.

As compassion & understanding are in the mix here, I'm gonna invoke *Humanitarian.

Adding video to channels (Humanitarian) - requested by Barseps.

I wish I could watch this but I have to be honest, it was too much for even my callous self.

once you see
where they have been
to win the earth
just wont seem worth
your night
or
your day

who'll hear what i say.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Iraq, Soldier, War, Bush, Obama, Suicide, Democracy Now, Body of War' to 'Iraq, Soldier, War, Bush, Obama, Suicide, Democracy Now, Body of War, Tomas Young' - edited by brycewi19

Putting, subject matter of this video aside, I had a HUGE problem with the lack of respect both hosts Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez was showing their guests, Young and his wife by not addressing them after they spoke and cutting them off.
Gonzalez, I believe rudely, would simply address Donahue after Young would speak, without even a recognition of the words he just spoke, let alone a follow-up question.
And Goodman straight up cut off Young's wife during the interview.
Even as a liberal myself, I can start to understand the conservative's argument that liberals are agenda driven.
Compassion for Mr. Young was not very present with these two hosts, just the agenda to stop the war. That bothered me, because both could have been accomplished.

Anyone who has ever spoken with any veteran who has needed to avail themselves of the VA's care tells their own frustrating tales-The serious and particular nature of this guy's injuries physical, mental, spiritual...If this guy had access to Mayo, Bethesda, or John's Hopkins levels of care and expertise he may now have a different outlook perhaps....Funny??-How all the fuckers who invent the wars go straight to one of the hospitals mentioned above to get polyps removed from their asses found during a routine check-up and the soldiers get the V.A.'s network of Ghetto General Hospitals to choose from??

How is this "poor support on the part of the VA"? Yes, clearly his pain was not being adequately addressed, but he got an extreme surgery at a private hospital without relief of his symptoms. In my opinion, the VA doctors did the right thing by not operating without knowing that it would improve his pain. Now he is in pain without bowel function, worse off than he was before. I don't know the details of his injuries, but some spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury patients have neurogenic pain that is unrelieved by any intervention let alone surgery.

TOMAS YOUNG: "In July of last year, I began to experience sharp pains in my abdomen. And I went to the VA, and they treated me like I was a second-class citizen, a junkie looking for pain medicines just to get high, even though I was genuinely in pain."

Yeah. I heard that part.

He makes it seem as if there is something that the medical community could have done to relieve his pain and that the VA docs purposely and sadistically withheld it. I think it was a lack of communication between him and his doctors which is failure enough, but there is probably nothing that could be done to make him pain free. I mean, putting him on strong pain meds will only make him constipated. Chronically, his pain tolerance will reset and he will require higher and higher dosages to obtain relief to the point that it is unsafe to increase the dose because of respiratory depression. I'm not saying his pain isn't real; I'm saying there were no good solutions to solving his problem.