Sunday, August 16, 2015

Truthdiggers of the Week: Whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans Affairs (from @Truthdig)

Truthdiggers of the Week: Whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans Affairs (from @Truthdig)

2 comments:

Tim Nolan said...

Internal memos leaked by Veterans Affairs employees over the years have shown that dishonest bookkeeping encouraged by department managers has resulted in the widespread denial of medical care to combat veterans.

This month, an agency document—leaked by staffer Scott Davis—showed that more than 35,000 veterans had been denied care because of an “error” in the department’s computer system. Nearly half of these veterans have waited more than five years for coverage, and one document indicated that nearly one-third of those who had been waiting have died.

Tim Nolan said...

The VA’s problems and the charges of mismanagement against it are not new. There have been a number of revelations that cast the organization in a bad light. A former doctor at a VA facility in Arizona said last year that the delays related to rigged bookkeeping may have contributed to the deaths of 40 patients.

Davis, a program specialist at the Health Eligibility Center (HEC) in Atlanta, where eligibility claims are processed for VA hospitals nationwide, is one of four VA employees from across the country who told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs in July 2014 that whistleblowers who accused the department of mismanagement, waste and excessive patient wait times were targeted and punished by their superiors. Davis said his employment records were altered and he was placed on administrative leave after his manager learned of his complaints.