Political Quotes

“Madam President, the front page of yesterday's San Antonio Express News featured the heartbreaking story of a former Army combat medic by the name of Anson Dale Richardson, a man from East Texas who did multiple tours in Vietnam and went on to work as a heavy equipment operator. Last September Dale was diagnosed with a very serious form of throat cancer. His doctor says he told medical officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs to put Mr. Richardson on an immediate course of chemotherapy. What happened next is the sort of tragedy that is becoming all too familiar, with revelations from Veterans' Affairs clinics and hospitals around the country. According to the Express News, after being told to start chemotherapy right away, Mr. Richardson waited to hear from the VA about his appointment. He waited and waited, but he never heard back. On November 4, Dale Richardson died. We will never know whether he would have or could have survived cancer because he wasn't given that chance because he wasn't able to start the chemo treatments when his doctor first diagnosed him. But we do know that the Veterans' Administration's reported failure to give him any chemo treatments took away his one last hope of beating this terrible disease. When he died, Dale left behind a wife named Carolyn.…”