American Legion calls on VA secretary to resign over health system

May 9 2014

Accusations that records were kept secret or falsified and over preventable deaths and mismanagement are part of a larger problems within the Veterans Affairs health system, some say.

The New York Times: American Legion, Citing Problems, Calls For Veterans Secretary To Resign
Mr. Dellinger's alarm grew when reports soon emerged that the department's medical center in Phoenix, and possibly other veterans hospitals, was using off-the-books lists to conceal long appointment waiting times. Finally, when the department's under secretary for health insisted in recent congressional testimony that nothing had been found wrong in Phoenix, Mr. Dellinger had had enough. This week the Legion, one of the nation's oldest and most influential veterans organizations, called for Mr. Shinseki and two other senior department officials to resign, the first time the group has sought to oust a public official since 1978 (Oppel Jr., 5/7).

Modern Healthcare: Pattern Of Problems With Veterans Affairs Healthcare System 
As accusations of mismanagement, falsified records and preventable patient deaths rock the Veterans Affairs health care system, some who are familiar with the VA say the failures are consistent with a pattern of well-documented problems. For more than a decade, the department's inspector general and the Government Accountability Office have pressed the health administration to address breaches of the requirement to schedule timely appointments and problems with its recordkeeping on wait times (Landen, 5/7).