The Veterans Administration hospital system has been under fire for as long as I can remember. They certainly have had their share of mishaps and scandals. From false waiting lists to canceled appointments that may have even cost some veterans their lives to just plain dishonesty, the VA has seen rough times.
Not to go too far back, and only to mention the major scandals and problems since the Gulf War, the list is troubling.
The Problem with the VA
Here is a list of the significant issues for which the VA was called to task:
1991 — Doctors at the VA’s North Chicago hospital repeatedly ignored test results, failed to timely treat patients and conducted unnecessary surgeries. In light of these revelations, the VA took responsibility for the deaths of eight patients. This led to the suspension of most surgeries at the North Chicago hospital facility.
1993 — VA Deputy Undersecretary of Benefits R.J. Vogel testified before Congress that in 1988, a federal court established to look at and oversee appeals from veterans whose benefits had been denied was creating a growing backlog. Vogel tells the lawmakers the VA is “reeling under this judicial review thing.”
1999 — After six years of investigations the hospitals and clinics of the Veterans Affairs of Greater Los Angeles Health Care System which includes one of the largest research hospitals, the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, was ordered to halt all of their animal and human experiments. The problems mainly involve experiments carried out on veterans who are mental patients. In some experiments, subjects in the trials were purposely taken off their medicines. This resulted in relapses so that researchers could study the course of their symptoms. In other experiments, the subjects were given drugs that intentionally made the symptoms worse so that doctors could observe them as they occurred.
2000 — In a continuing investigation, the GAO finds “substantial problems” with the VA’s handling of research trials involving human subjects and that the issues noted in the 1999 finding had not been corrected.
2003 — President George W. Bush appointed a commission to address the wait-time issue, and as of January 2003, close to a quarter million veterans had been waiting for six months or more for initial or follow-up visits. The report determined the VA had “a clear indication,” the commission said, “of lack of sufficient capacity or, at a minimum, a lack of adequate resources to provide the required care.”
2005 — Reports of “significant problems with the quality of care” for surgical patients at the VA’s Salisbury, North Carolina hospital resulted in congressional testimony. That testimony revealed that one veteran who sought treatment for a toenail injury died of heart failure after doctors did not consider the veterans enlarged heart.
2006 — In a stunning breach of security and protocols, a VA employee took home records containing Social Security numbers and names and birth dates of 26.5 million veterans without authorization. The data was stolen from the employee’s home in a “chance” random burglary.
2007 — Public outrage rises after documents released to CNN show some senior VA officials received bonuses of up to $33,000. The bonus was awarded despite a backlog of hundreds of thousands of benefits cases all the while an internal review found numerous problems, some of them critical, at VA facilities across the nation. Those same officials were in control of or had significant supervisory duties over the troubled facilities.
2009 — The VA discloses the failure of even the most basic protocols. The VA found more than 11,000 veterans who underwent colonoscopies in Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia potentially exposed to viral infections due to equipment not being disinfected after use. Thirty-seven tested positive for hepatitis and six tested positive for HIV.
Mary Berrocal, head of the Miami Veterans Administration hospital, had been under fire since May 2009, when the national VA revealed that as many as 11,000 U.S. military veterans at VA facilities in Miami, Georgia and Tennessee might have had colonoscopies with equipment that had been only rinsed between uses rather than sterilized by steam and chemicals as required by the manufacturer. Berrocal will “transition” to a VA administrative office in St. Petersburg “until placement details are finalized,” according to a statement announcing Berrocal’s removal from the Miami VA. The move does not end Berrocal’s VA career; she said “She will be reassigned.”
2011 — In Dayton, Ohio, unsanitary conditions continue when nine veterans test positive for hepatitis after routine dental work at a VA clinic. The dentist at the VA medical center there acknowledged not washing his hands or even changing gloves between patients for 18 years.
2011 — In Oakland, Pennsylvania, a Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak begins at the VA hospital. Over the next five years, at least five veterans die of the disease.
2013 — William Montague, the former director of Veteran Affairs facilities in Ohio, is indicted on charges he took bribes and kickbacks dealing with contracts to a company that does business with the agency nationwide.
January 2014 — Investigation reveals that unacceptable wait times continue and veterans are still dying at VA hospitals because of delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Eric Shinseki, secretary of Veterans Affairs, became embroiled in the scandal involving the Veterans Health Administration concerning substandard timely care and false records covering up related timelines at some veterans hospitals.
On May 30, 2014, President Obama accepted Shinseki’s resignation as VA secretary. “I can’t explain the lack of integrity among some of the leaders of our health care facilities. This is something I rarely encountered in 38 years in uniform,” Shinseki said. “So, I will not defend it because it is indefensible. But I can take responsibility for it, and I do.”
A Change Under a New White House Administration
One of the issues is the difficulty in disciplining VA employees and administration personnel. It was almost impossible to terminate an unqualified or corrupt individual.
On June 23rd President Trump signed a bill giving top-ranking officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs more power to fire incompetent workers and protect whistle-blowers.
The Trump administration started holding employees accountable. This was done through the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Act, which aims to weed out employees who underperform and increase transparency at the agency.
“Now, when a bad person —maybe a federal employee in this case, but somebody bad— mistreats, or neglects, or abuses our great veterans in their time of need, we can turn to them, look at them in the eye and say, ‘You’re fired. Get out,’” said Trump. “We’ve gotten rid of a lot of people over the past year — only the bad ones. The good ones we cherish.”
Curt Cashour, a spokesman for the VA, said the VA had become more productive because of the changes. “During this administration, the VA has had its most productive year-and-a-half in decades. We have made groundbreaking progress, particularly in the areas of accountability, transparency, and efficiency across the department.”
A New VA
From my perspective, I have seen the changes. The VA facilities I have used in Texas include Audie Murphy Hospital in San Antonio. The Kerrville VA Hospital and the VBA Clinic in Lubbock. In fact, a new facility is being built in Lubbock and will be associated with Texas Tech University. Appointments have been quick, within 30 days of the request. Medications and prescriptions procedures have been streamlined, and now I can request everything online. Prescriptions are sent directly to me through the mail. Checkups, X-rays, MRIs and anything else I have required were accommodated politely and efficiently. One piece of advice I always give to anyone who is going to use the VA is to have your paperwork in order and walk it through. It helps.
In my opinion, most of those that work in the VA system are good people wanting to do the best they can to serve those of us that have served. Many are veterans themselves. It is that rotten few, the seat warmers, and the wasters of oxygen that cause the problems. The new powers the Trump administration granted the VA are working to send those poor-performing, uncaring and corrupt employees packing.
Now when the VA identifies a bad apple, they get to say “You’re fired!”
