Yahoo Finance VA Watchdog Finds Outrageous Abuses, but No Direct Link to Deaths
After months of controversy over reports that at least 40 U.S. veterans had died while waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, the Veterans Affairs Department inspector general concluded in a report issued Tuesday that there was no direct connection between prolonged scheduling delays and patient deaths.
Acting IG Richard J. Griffin and his investigative team documented a nightmare of abuses of patients desperately trying to get in to see a doctor and shocking efforts by VA staff and officials to cover up the long delays, but were “unable to conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veterans,” Griffin wrote.
Related: 7 of the Most Outrageous Abuses at VA Medical Centers
The study found that workers and receptionists left more than 3,500 veterans on unofficial waiting lists in order to appear to be meeting the VA’s goal of scheduling appointments within 14 days. This was done by some VA employees in order to protect their bonuses or merit pay increases.
The report was released on the same day that President Obama pledged in a speech to the American Legion’s national convention in Charlotte, N.C., that he would make good on his “sacred trust” to veterans returning from wars by overhauling and transforming a dysfunctional and scandal ridden veterans’ health-care system, The New York Times and other media reported.
“What we’ve come to learn is that the misconduct we’ve seen at too many facilities — with long wait times and veterans denied care and folks cooking the books — is outrageous and inexcusable,” Obama said.
Related: Obama’s Newest Executive Actions Would Help Vets
Indeed, according to the new IG’s report, “clinically significant delays” were uncovered in the medical and surgical care and mental health treatment of 28 patients in Phoenix, including six patients who had died, four patients with newly diagnosed conditions, 17 patients with chronic conditions and one patient “considered to be a risk to the public.”
In one case, a man in his late 60s who had a history of homelessness, hypertension, congestive heart failure and emphysema had bounced around VA health facilities in New England and Texas before seeking care at the Phoenix medical center. After waiting days for an appointment, the patient checked into a non-VA hospital for abdominal swelling and weakness. Eleven weeks after that admission, he was hospitalized at another non-VA hospital for a serious disorder of the liver.
“More than three months after the patient’s death, [the Phoenix VA hospital] staff attempted to call the patient to schedule a primary care appointment,” the IG report stated.
Another veteran waited nine weeks for a biopsy to confirm that he had lung cancer, while another had to wait 10 months for a physician to examine him for troubling signs of spreading melanoma.
“This report cannot capture the personal disappointment, frustration, and loss of faith of individual veterans and their family members with a health care system that often could not respond to their mental and physical health needs in a timely manner,” Griffin wrote. “Immediate and substantive changes are needed.”
Related: New Scandal at VA: Workers Hid and Shredded Benefits Claims
The IG’s report echoes earlier studies of the scandalous behavior of the VA health system that led to a major shakeup in the department and congressional action this summer to beef up staffing and to allow some veterans to utilize private hospitals when they can’t get ready access to a VA facility.
In June, the independent Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency, informed Obama that administrators of VA medical centers across the country repeatedly suppressed whistleblowers’ reports about substandard medical care, gross neglect of mental patients and other examples of malpractice that may have jeopardized the lives of patients.
The scandal first erupted April 30 when CNN reported that at least 40 U.S. veterans had died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA medical center. The controversy ultimately triggered investigations by Congress, the White House, and the Justice Department, and led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on May 30.
The inspector general said yesterday that investigators pursued the CNN allegation, but that “the whistleblower did not provide us with a list of 40 patient names.” Investigators’ review of electronic records at the Phoenix facility subsequently turned up the identity of 40 patients who had died while on the waiting list between April 2013 and April 2014. However, the IG said that investigators could not determine a causal relationship between those patients’ deaths and prolonged waiting periods.
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