Word Of Mouth

Two years ago, VA employees blew the whistle on what they called bad care for veterans at the Manchester VA , kicking off a scandal that made national news. This week, we’re taking a look at what happened in New Hampshire’s only VA Medical Center after the scandal. Thirty years ago, Joseph Maloof underwent spinal surgery after rupturing a disk in his lower back. The procedure left him with back pain whenever he stood straight. “I was never the same after that,” he says. “My back never really regained my vertical posture.” He began to walk with a hunch, as though scanning the ground for a lost contact. “I bought a couple of things you see on TV, back braces and whatnot, which helped me walk a little bit straighter,” he says. “But the more I tried to straighten out my spine, the more it hurt.” Maloof, a sixty-six-year-old Army veteran, lives in Conway. In 2014, he met a doctor named Ed Kois at the Manchester VA Medical center. Kois had recently been hired as a physiatrist and recommended