NEGLIGENCE AT THE VA

CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE AT THE VA

Ed Ross | Monday, May 19, 2014

How many veterans that lingered on secret waiting lists at Veterans Affairs hospitals gave their lives so hospital administrators could receive bonuses and promotions?

America has over 16 million veterans. Many of them, especially the handicapped and elderly, rely on the VA for their healthcare. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in over 50,000 wounded warriors, the overwhelming majority of which are treated at VA medical facilities after they leave the military.

That the VA healthcare system is stressed is nothing new; but maintaining off-the-books waiting lists so hospital administrators could report to VA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. that they were complying with VA policy, making them competitive for awards and bonuses, is criminal.

Department of Veterans Affairs policy requires that patients obtain appointments within 15 to 30 days of their request. To cope with more requests than many VA hospitals could accommodate, they maintained secret waiting lists to hide appointment delays of up to six months or more.

Delayed medical treatment for veterans suffering from life-threatening disease such as cancer, kidney failure, and heart disease condemns them to premature death.

As we learned recently, this practice may have led to the deaths of 40 veterans served by the Phoenix, Arizona, VA hospital. Subsequent reports indicate that the practice of maintaining off-the-books waiting lists is common at VA hospitals in at least 10 other states.

To be fair, we don’t know what the 40 veterans in Arizona died from; and we can’t say for certain that the inability to obtain timely appointments at the Phoenix VA facility directly contributed to their deaths. To determine that would require an autopsy and an opinion of competent medical authority that a timely appointment would have saved their lives or postponed their deaths. In most cases, we’ll likely never know.

Be that as it may, there is no excuse for the practice of off-the-books waiting lists. Nor is there any excuse for the Obama administration and Congress for not having addressed this problem sooner. Inspectors general and media organizations have reported on excessive wait times for the VA to process veterans’ benefit claims and for veterans to obtain medical appointments at VA hospitals for years.

It wasn’t until whistle blowers from the Phoenix VA hospital came forward and the media reported on the deaths of the 40 veterans in Arizona, however, that the story became headline news with people all over Washington, D.C., demanding action.

Despite its reputation and all the horror stories we hear about VA hospitals, I know many veterans who speak favorably about the care they have receive from the VA; and we shouldn’t paint all employees of the VA healthcare system with a broad brush. Most, no doubt, are conscientious people who want to give our veterans the healthcare they deserve.

The question now is what the Congress and the Obama administration should do about this. President Obama can’t claim, as he has often done, that he just learned about all this on the evening news; and Congress can’t just blame the administration. Both branches of government must take immediate action.

Attorney General Eric Holder should appoint a special investigator to get to the bottom of all this and take it out of the realm of partisan politics. But Holder has said that the Justice Department has no plans to conduct a criminal investigation into these matters.

Eric Holder is loath to conduct any criminal investigation of the Obama administration, even when criminal wrongdoing is apparent. The justice department has stonewalled investigations into Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the IRS.

The attorney general is a political animal and he does his job, showing more concern for the political health of the Obama administration than for the health of American veterans. That’s why if criminal negligence is indicated, a special investigator/prosecutor should go directly to a grand jury.

Secretary of Veterans affairs, GEN Eric Shinseki, should resign immediately. He has been the Secretary of Veterans since January 2009. He should have known about this, there was enough public ink on the issue, and done something about it.

Some argue that because GEN Shinseki is a decorated veteran, wounded in combat in the Vietnam War, that he’s the best person to clean this mess up. Others argue against GEN Shinseki stepping down because it would precipitate another round of contentious confirmation hearings for his successor that would obscure the investigation in to this scandal.

I disagree; it is precisely because he is a decorated and wounded Vietnam War veteran that he should resign. He should have done a better job of protecting his fellow veterans.

We must stop the practice in America of top officials never accepting responsibility unless they are found with a smoking gun in their hand. Until we hold department secretaries responsible, we will never curb incompetence, corruption and dereliction of duty in the federal government.

Unlike during the Vietnam War, when GEN Shinseki and I both served as artillery forward observers in the 9th Infantry Division, Americans today hold men and women serving in uniform and our veterans in high regard. But it’s not enough to wave the flag, put “support the troops” bumper stickers on our cars and thank current and former military warriors for their service. We must assure that Veterans who served their country receive timely medical treatment in VA facilities. We can do that by demanding accountability for those responsible for that treatment,

Finally, if you want a preview of what government-run healthcare will look like in the United States in a few years, the VA scandal is a preview. Obamacare will result in fewer doctors and hospitals available for the growing U.S. population and the intended greater amount of people with health insurance. Long wait times, secret wait lists, and prematurely dead people are the inevitable result.