Army Veteran Goes Viral on TikTok After Detailing ‘Frustrating’ Experience With VA

Retired Army sergeant Joe Cantasano recently posted an emotional TikTok detailing his frustrating experiences with the Department of Veterans Affairs. In the video, Cantasano tearfully explains that he feels as though he doesn’t receive the continuity of care that he desires. 

In the TikTok, which Cantasano deleted and reuploaded, the Army veteran says that he desperately wants “continuity of care with mental health providers.” He adds, “What the f—k? These doctors keep quitting. They keep switching.” 

Emotional Army Vet Explains Frustrations With VA

Cantasano explained that he found a doctor who agreed with him but ended up falling out-of-network. When the said doctor became in-network again, Cantasano was rejected from his care.

Cantasano, who was visibly upset by the predicament that he was put in by the VA, said, “Now I get to go back to some new f—king doctor, and then they’re going to open f—king Pandora’s box again because they’re going to want to know everything, and then I’m going to have to live through working through that f—g muck. I just want some f—king continuity of care….”

Cantasano continued, “If you want to see a mental health provider outside of the VA because you’re, you know, put yourself in my shoes where you go through five [or] six providers over the course of 15 months for a multitude of different reasons…and you decide you want to find somebody in your community, somebody stable…have a continuity of care that you generally have to go through your primary care provider…So you make an appointment [and] that can take upwards of 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes a month, depending on where you’re at and if your VA is busy.”

After his video went viral, Cantasano was informed that his rejection of care occurred because of the mistake of a worker, who has since been fired. In an update video, Cantasano said that he was in contact with the physician he was originally seeing and setting up an appointment.

Regarding his viral TikTok, Cantasano said “What I do know is that at a very minimum, you know, putting this conversation on the table will hopefully get the ball rolling in the right direction. And I just feel like I know that my instance and my experience is not special. It happens hundreds of times a day that, you know, veterans are told that they can’t see their primary mental health care provider any longer or [they are] no longer authorized to go back to that individual.” 

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