# “We Have No One”: How Trump’s Dismantling of the VA Left a Veterans Hospital in Crisis

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/we-have-no-one-how-trumps-dismantling-of-the-va-left-a-veterans-hospital-in-crisis/
- Published: 2026-11-11T10:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-11T10:22:36+00:00
- Original publisher: ProPublica (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.propublica.org/article/east-orange-va-hospital-veterans-decline-new-jersey
- Topics: Health, Medicine, Politics

## Key points

- An East Orange veteran waited seven hours for urgent surgery.
- VA staffing fell by 3,800 mission-critical workers in six months.
- The article connects the hospital’s crisis to wider VA changes.

## Summary

John Falchetto, an 80-year-old Vietnam veteran, waited seven hours for emergency surgery at the East Orange VA hospital in New Jersey after a ventilation failure left its operating room closed. The delay, during treatment for a burst and gangrenous appendix, illustrates how staffing and operational problems at the hospital have worsened amid wider upheaval at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The article links the strain to Trump administration policies that encouraged staff departures and shifted more veterans’ care to private providers. VA data showed 3,800 fewer doctors, nurses and other mission-critical staff six months into Trump’s term, adding to longstanding shortages; many departures had not been replaced. The article says the VA serves about nine million veterans and notes research has found it can achieve better outcomes than private care.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.