VA misconduct killed veterans

As more and more information reveals itself about the abominable treatment that many military veterans receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the scope of the inquiry is expanding.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The VA's Office of Inspector General has called for a nationwide review to determine whether veterans at other locations besides the medical center at Phoenix have fallen through the cracks.

Pray for our military veterans who have not received desperately needed care.

According to a report released publicly on May 28, 1,700 veterans who were scheduled to see a doctor at the VA's medical center in Phoenix were never scheduled for an appointment or placed on a wait list. As a direct result of these practices, dozens of veterans may have died.

There are 42 other VA medical centers across the nation are also under investigation for similar scheduling practices and abuses, said the report.

According to the report, one consequences of manipulating appointments for the veterans was understating wait times, which is a factor considered for employee bonuses and raises.

This report has sparked outrage from all over the nation. The Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki called the findings "reprehensible," and then ordered the 17,000 effected veterans to be "triaged," immediately. Other lawmakers called for the resignation of the VA's chief.

"To date our work has substantiated serious conditions at the Phoenix facility," the report said. It also found that another 1,400 veterans were on Phoenix VA's formal electronic wait list but were not scheduled for an appointment.

There were "numerous allegations" of "mismanagement, inappropriate hiring decisions, sexual harassment, and bullying behavior by mid- and senior-level managers," the report also found.

The House Veteran's Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, (R-Florida), said the report's findings were "damning," and that "you can only imagine," what might be revealed once the full investigation is completed later this summer.

The American Legion called for a full criminal investigation. "We want every VA employee who participated in these cover-ups to be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law," the veterans group said in a written statement.

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