Author’s Note: This article contains disturbing, but real content and is not for the faint of heart.
Stringing Christmas lights two stories above the driveway, Timothy Kuncl’s could never in his wildest dreams and haunting nightmares realize the arduous pathway his life would take over the next five years.
Reported by the Seattle Times, Kuncl lost his footing on his roof in 2011 and plunged towards solid ground with his leg absorbing the majority of the impact. As a Coast Guard veteran, he was whisked to the VA hospital for treatment on the battered remains of a completely fractured tibia and after multiple failed surgeries and attempts at physical therapy, rehabilitation efforts and a constant battle for pain-free quality of life, the leg had to be ultimately amputated.
Kuncl’s experience with the VA is another egregious footnote for an organization with a proven track record of negligent incompetence in providing shoddy and unacceptable health care for US military veterans, a situation that crumbled during Obama’s watch. Currently, Kuncl is involved in a lawsuit against the VA and his “missing leg” may be the best evidence to the ominous treatment that he endured.
After the amputation in 2014, Kuncl “donated” his severed appendage to the Northwest Disaster Search Dogs, an organization that specializes in readying animals for search and recovery efforts, through rigorous field training exercises. As Kuncl’s detached leg is the next best tool to a more complete subject in disaster simulations, it has been well-preserved by employees and ironically is a viable and influential piece of forensic evidence in his pending court case. The presence of tangible physical evidence only strengthens the claim of malpractice as is an obvious upgrade in swaying opinion over two – dimensional mediums and records such as x-rays.
While Kuncl is fortunate to enjoy the inadvertent good karma of making a bizarre yet effective donation, the reality of the VA’s vast shortcomings is evident and citizens must lead politicians in an efforts to advance the priorities in providing veterans with world class healthcare in exchange for their sacrifices in defending liberty and freedom.
Read the full Seattle Times article here.
