Posted on 05/28/2014 7:16:17 PM PDT by smoothsailing
By Matthew Clark
5:26 PM May. 28, 2014
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Veterans Affairs has just issued a scathing report confirming deadly allegations that VA hospitals have been hiding inordinately long and abusive wait times for our nation’s heroes to receive the medical care they deserve.
The OIG report alleges “criminal misconduct” of senior VA officials that has led to “possible wrongful deaths” of veterans. It also confirms that the VA scandal is not limited to a single VA hospital. The report states that “inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout VHA [Veterans Health Administration].”
This interim report, however, focuses on the VA facility in Phoenix, Arizona, at the heart of the burgeoning scandal. The results are disturbing to say the least.
The report “substantiated serious conditions” at this VA hospital which led to hidden wait times for veterans. 1,700 veterans, more than half of those waiting for care, were not included on the official Electronic Waiting List. For these veterans, their wait time exceeded 115 days average for care, far in excess of the reported 24-day average wait time.
The report notes that the discrepancy in reported and actual wait time was used in calculating “awards and salary increases.” VA officials would actually get a raise if it looked like the wait times were low, so they apparently used the bogus wait times in the official reports, instead of accurately reporting the actual excessive wait times. If in fact veterans died to pad the paychecks of bureaucratic fat cats, it would be one of the worst travesties in our nation’s history.
Even worse the OIG report warns:
Most importantly, these veterans were and continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost in Phoenix HCS’s convoluted scheduling process. As a result, these veterans may never obtain a requested or required clinical appointment. The report further left open the possibility that these delays directly contributed to numerous deaths.
The OIG recommends that the Secretary of the VA immediately reach out and ensure that the 1,700 veterans not yet even on the official wait list be assured prompt medical care and proposes to undertake a massive review of the entire VA hospital system.
We owe a solemn duty to our veterans. They have fought and risked their lives for our freedoms. It is a moral and legal imperative that we provide them medial care.
Disturbingly, it is unlikely that anyone will truly be held accountable as the bloated bureaucracy of the federal government does what it does best, protect its own.
It’s an utter disgrace. The VA has been entrusted to care for our heroes. Those who fought in WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere in-between depend on the VA. We put our lives in their hands and they put their lives in the hands of the VA. In just one VA hospital, our government has left 1,700 vets behind. It must end.
First and foremost, we must ensure that these veterans are cared for through whatever means necessary. And then we must fight the bureaucratic trend of endless, pointless investigations and actually hold those responsible accountable and make drastic changes to the VA.
The VA scandal, under the Obama Administration, has gone from bad to worse.
Obama’s outraged. Let’s see if he appoints an independent special prosecutor.
He’ll appoint Michelle to put all veterans on her healthy school lunch program.
Steny Hoyer: Republicans are politicizing the Veterans Affairs scandal (Worried about bureaucrats!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3161152/posts
In other words, Hoyer's base constituents.
Unionized bureaucrats that can't be fired.
Far more important to Hoyer than any stinking veteran.
What amazes me is that the Office of the Inspector General is doing the right thing here (by reporting truthfully).
Evidently, there are still some honest people left in the federal hierarchy.
Another IG who has been sounding the alarm is J. Russell George at Treasury.
The IG’s may be one area that Obama can’t infiltrate.
Did you see what the doctor in Harlingen, Texas said? His boss issued a rule that to get a colonoscopy the patient had to have three stool screenings with blood. The doctor said by this time it was at stage 4 cancer.
People should be tried for murder. Couldn’t the states charge these people? Murder is a state crime.
I got to give it to Montel Williams. He’s fuming! He pointed out that only 20% of congress are vets.
The answer to this is to require every VA employee to be a veteran themselves. Only 25% of the employees are veterans. How can they care about these people.
The VA set up a Stockholm syndrome situation with our vets being the hostages. Recreated in a college basement (prisoners and guards) things went badly so quickly the experiment had to be cancelled. End the system, give out vouchers for care...
There is bipartisan grilling of VA uppity ups about this OIG report.
BTW, why isn’t this hearing in Breaking News?
This has long since cease being a “scandal.” It’s something ghastly. The allegations are not only that treatment for eligible service members was delayed, to the point that some of them may have died because of that delay - The allegation is that good people died, and the M/F BASTARDS got BONUSES for it!
Good try Kempster, but no cigar. What you are proposing is that the Government cease and desist from hiring Affirmative Action types, with a system run by H/R politically correct jackasses. Not going to happen.
C’mon Nanners, get out front and dispute this report.
You’ve got the idiots behind you, make it happen.
It is murder by death panel. Welcome to Obamacare.
I didn’t say it could happen. I just said it is the solution. To your point though, I am betting that the staff could be maintained by all types of races, colors and creeds and they could all be vets if there was a will to do it.
The answer is to give every veteran a free pass to any hospital in America. Don’t ask me to die in combat for my Nation if my Nation lies to my oath.
I was guaranteed life health benefits 35 years ago for 1 term of 6 years. They took those years and threatened the hell out of Communism for it.
I want my healthcare.
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