Veterans deserve better than deception
On Memorial Day we remember those who lost their lives while defending the country. This year we’re also thinking about veterans who reportedly died while waiting weeks and even months for appointments at Veterans Affairs medical centers.
The mushrooming VA scandal — with its shameful treatment of veterans and disgraceful, possibly criminal, cover-up — began with allegations from a former clinic director in Phoenix that up to 40 veterans died while waiting for treatment. Then came revelations that VA staffers manipulated records, including keeping a secret list of patients, to disguise long delays for treatment.
The Los Angeles Times reported the depressing story of Navy veteran Thomas Breen, 71, who was in remission for bladder cancer. Last September, he went to the Phoenix VA emergency room. He was examined and told someone would call to schedule an appointment. The hospital conducted no tests to see if the cancer had returned. His family tried in vain for weeks to book an appointment. He died two months after he went to the emergency room.
The scandal has now led to congressional hearings, and President Obama last week finally reacted by dispatching Ron Nabors, a White House deputy chief of staff, to assist top VA officials in probing allegations of wrongdoing by staffers in Phoenix and elsewhere.
The VA’s Office of Inspector General is looking at 26 VA facilities. Richard J. Griffin, the acting inspector general, indicated at a Senate hearing that prosecutors are interested to see if criminal wrongdoing occurred.
Obama has asked beleaguered Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki for a review of VA facilities nationwide and to deliver it this week.
“If these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it,” the president said at a news conference.
Well, the evidence shows they are true, but so far Obama has done relatively little given the case’s magnitude. He’s sticking with Shinseki, a retired Army four-star general who’s led the VA since 2009. Calls for Shinseki’s resignation are growing louder, though. Legislators from both parties said last week they want him out.
The situation now appears to be spinning from Shinseki’s grasp with little hope he can corral this mess. Obama must take it out of first gear. The VA needs a new leader who is capable of overhauling an agency with a history of subterfuge and poor service — from Agent Orange, toxins in the Gulf wars, neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to long delays of processing veterans’ claims and now this debacle. The time is overdue for this appalling performance to stop.
On a day when we honor those who have died on the field of battle, we must remember those wounded warriors who are battling for proper, timely care. Anything less should indeed not be tolerated.
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